Language of the Future, Language of the PRC –Representations of Putonghua in South China Morning Post

As the national language of the PRC, the world's growing economic power and the sovereign of Hong Kong, Putonghua is a language with multiple facets of relevance for the current Special Administrative Region. This paper seeks to explore and explain different representations of Putonghua in Hong Kong's leading English-language newspaper South China Morning Post in articles published between January 2012 and February 2013. The representations are studied in the context of the different discourses in which they appear, some of which feature language(s) as a central theme and some more marginally. An overview is first presented of the scholarly research on the most important developments in Hong Kong's complex language scene from the beginnings of the colony until present day, with the aim of detecting developments and attitudes with potential relevance or parallels to the context of Putonghua today. The paper then reflects on the media and its role in producing and perpetuating discourses in the society, before turning to more practical considerations on Hong Kong's English and Chinese language media and the role of South China Morning Post in it. The methods used in analysing the discourses are those of discourse analysis, with textual analysis as its starting point, in which close attention is paid to linguistic forms as the concrete representations of meanings in a text. Particularly the immediate contexts of the appearances of the word “Putonghua” in the articles were studied carefully to detect vocabulary, grammar and semantical choices as signs of different discourses, potentially also revealing fundamental underlying assumptions and other “hidden meanings” in the text. Some of the most distinctive discourses in which different representations of Putonghua appeared were the Instrumental value for the individual (in which Putonghua was represented as a form of social capital); Othering of the mainlanders (in which Putonghua served as a concrete marker of distinction); Belonging to China (Putonghua as a symbol of unity); and Cultural distinctiveness of Hong Kong (Putonghua as a threat to Hong Kong's history and culture, as embodied in Cantonese). Some of these discourses were more prominent than others, and for example the discourse of Belonging to China was relatively rarely enacted in Hongkongers' voices. In general, the findings were not surprising in the light of the history, but showed a fair degree of consistency with what has been written earlier about the languages and attitudes towards them in Hong Kong. It has often been noted that Putonghua and its relation with Cantonese is a matter linked with the social identity of the colony and its citizens. While it appeared that there were no strict taboos in the representations of Putonghua in the societal context, the possibility of self-censorship cannot be ruled out as a factor toning down political discourses in the representations.

Cell lineage relationship in the stomach of normal and genetically manipulated mice

The oxyntic mucosa of the mouse stomach is lined with a heterogeneous population of cells that form numerous short pits continuous with long tubular glands. Tritiated thymidine radioautography has made it possible to pinpoint the origin of all cell types and to follow the differentiation/migration of different cell lineages along the pit-gland unit. The proliferating multipotent stem cells functionally anchored in the upper glandular region, the isthmus, give rise to three main lineage precursors: 1) pre-pit cells, which migrate upward to the pit while differentiating into mucus-producing pit cells; 2) pre-neck cells, which migrate downward to the glandular neck while differentiating into mucus-producing neck cells that, by approaching the glandular base, gradually change their phenotype into pepsinogen- and intrinsic factor-producing zymogenic cells; 3) pre-parietal cells, which differentiate into acid-producing parietal cells in the isthmus and then undergo bipolar migration towards the pit and the glandular base. Thus, parietal cells are the only cells that complete their differentiation in the isthmus and then migrate to be scattered throughout the pit-gland unit. To determine whether parietal cells play a role in controlling decisions about cell fate within the pit-gland unit, the gastric epithelium has been examined in transgenic mice expressing the H,K-ATPase ß-subunit-1035 to +24/simian virus 40 large T antigen fusion gene. The blockade in parietal cell differentiation in these mice produces an amplification of lineage precursors, a marked depletion of zymogenic cells and an increase in pit cell census. Ablation of parietal cells in another transgenic mouse model expressing the H,K-ATPase ß-subunit-1035 to +24/diphtheria toxin fragment A fusion gene also produces amplification of lineage precursors, and similar effects on zymogenic and pit cell census. These findings strongly suggest that parietal cells produce regulatory signals that control the cellular differentiation program of both pit and zymogenic cell lineages, and would hopefully improve our ability to identify the cellular pathways leading to malignant transformation

Studies on membrane properties of cholesterol and 3-beta modified sterol analogs

Cholesterol (Chol) is an important lipid in cellular membranes functioning both as a membrane fluidity regulator, permeability regulator and co-factor for some membrane proteins, e.g. G-protein coupled receptors. It also participates in the formation of signaling platforms and gives the membrane more mechanical strenght to prevent osmotic lysis of the cell. The sterol structure is very conserved and already minor structural modifications can completely abolish its membrane functions. The right interaction with adjacent lipids and the preference of certain lipid structures over others are also key factors in determining the membrane properties of cholesterol. Because of the many important properties of cholesterol it is of value to understand the forces and structural properties that govern the membrane behavior of this sterol. In this thesis we have used established fluorescence spectroscopy methods to study the membrane behavior of both cholesterol and some of its 3β-modified analogs. Using several fluorescent probes we have established how the acyl chain order of the two main lipid species, sphingomyelin (SM) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) affect sterol partitioning as well as characterized the membrane properties of 3β-aminocholesterol and cholesteryl phosphocholine. We concluded that cholesterol prefers SM over PC at equal acyl chain order, indicating that other structural properties besides the acyl chain order are important for sphingomyelin-sterol interactions. A positive charge at the 3β position only caused minor changes in the sterol membrane behavior compared to cholesterol. A large phosphocholine head group caused a disruption in membrane packing together with other membrane lipids with large head groups, but was also able to form stable fluid bilayers together with ceramide and cholesterol. The Ability of the large head group sterol to form bilayers together with ceramide was further explored in the last paper where cholesteryl phosphocholine/ceramide (Chol-PC/Cer) complexes were successfully used to transfer ceramide into cultured cells.

Regulation of the expression of NADP-malic enzyme by UV-B, red and far-red light in maize seedlings

The induction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-malic enzyme (NADP-ME) in etiolated maize (Zea mays) seedlings by UV-B and UV-A radiation, and different levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400-700 nm) was investigated by measuring changes in activity, protein quantity and RNA levels as a function of intensity and duration of exposure to the different radiations. Under low levels of PAR, exposure to UV-B radiation but not UV-A radiation for 6 to 24 h caused a marked increase in the enzyme levels similar to that observed under high PAR in the absence of UV-B. UV-B treatment of green leaves following a 12-h dark period also caused an increase in NADP-ME expression. Exposure to UV-B radiation for only 5 min resulted in a rapid increase of the enzyme, followed by a more gradual rise with longer exposure up to 6 h. Low levels of red light for 5 min or 6 h were also effective in inducing NADP-ME activity equivalent to that obtained with UV-B radiation. A 5-min exposure to far-red light following UV-B or red light treatment reversed the induction of NADP-ME, and this effect could be eliminated by further treatment with UV-B or red light. These results indicate that physiological levels of UV-B radiation can have a positive effect on the induction of this photosynthetic enzyme. The reducing power and pyruvate generated by the activity of NADP-ME may be used for respiration, in cellular repair processes and as substrates for fatty acid synthesis required for membrane repair.

Application and development of numerical methods for the modelling of innovative gas cooled fission reactors

Innovative gas cooled reactors, such as the pebble bed reactor (PBR) and the gas cooled fast reactor (GFR) offer higher efficiency and new application areas for nuclear energy. Numerical methods were applied and developed to analyse the specific features of these reactor types with fully three dimensional calculation models. In the first part of this thesis, discrete element method (DEM) was used for a physically realistic modelling of the packing of fuel pebbles in PBR geometries and methods were developed for utilising the DEM results in subsequent reactor physics and thermal-hydraulics calculations. In the second part, the flow and heat transfer for a single gas cooled fuel rod of a GFR were investigated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. An in-house DEM implementation was validated and used for packing simulations, in which the effect of several parameters on the resulting average packing density was investigated. The restitution coefficient was found out to have the most significant effect. The results can be utilised in further work to obtain a pebble bed with a specific packing density. The packing structures of selected pebble beds were also analysed in detail and local variations in the packing density were observed, which should be taken into account especially in the reactor core thermal-hydraulic analyses. Two open source DEM codes were used to produce stochastic pebble bed configurations to add realism and improve the accuracy of criticality calculations performed with the Monte Carlo reactor physics code Serpent. Russian ASTRA criticality experiments were calculated. Pebble beds corresponding to the experimental specifications within measurement uncertainties were produced in DEM simulations and successfully exported into the subsequent reactor physics analysis. With the developed approach, two typical issues in Monte Carlo reactor physics calculations of pebble bed geometries were avoided. A novel method was developed and implemented as a MATLAB code to calculate porosities in the cells of a CFD calculation mesh constructed over a pebble bed obtained from DEM simulations. The code was further developed to distribute power and temperature data accurately between discrete based reactor physics and continuum based thermal-hydraulics models to enable coupled reactor core calculations. The developed method was also found useful for analysing sphere packings in general. CFD calculations were performed to investigate the pressure losses and heat transfer in three dimensional air cooled smooth and rib roughened rod geometries, housed inside a hexagonal flow channel representing a sub-channel of a single fuel rod of a GFR. The CFD geometry represented the test section of the L-STAR experimental facility at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the calculation results were compared to the corresponding experimental results. Knowledge was gained of the adequacy of various turbulence models and of the modelling requirements and issues related to the specific application. The obtained pressure loss results were in a relatively good agreement with the experimental data. Heat transfer in the smooth rod geometry was somewhat under predicted, which can partly be explained by unaccounted heat losses and uncertainties. In the rib roughened geometry heat transfer was severely under predicted by the used realisable k − epsilon turbulence model. An additional calculation with a v2 − f turbulence model showed significant improvement in the heat transfer results, which is most likely due to the better performance of the model in separated flow problems. Further investigations are suggested before using CFD to make conclusions of the heat transfer performance of rib roughened GFR fuel rod geometries. It is suggested that the viewpoints of numerical modelling are included in the planning of experiments to ease the challenging model construction and simulations and to avoid introducing additional sources of uncertainties. To facilitate the use of advanced calculation approaches, multi-physical aspects in experiments should also be considered and documented in a reasonable detail.

Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments: Changing Banking Services in Finland

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how mobile banking and mobile payments services will change the banking sector in Finland, and what role non-bank companies from the IT and telecom industries will play in this process. The thesis consists of a literature review and a qualitative study. The literature review forms a comprehensive overview of mobile banking and mobile payments services. The qualitative research was conducted as a descriptive study, focusing on the views of bank and non-bank players. The results show that banks have a significant advantage over their IT and telecom rivals in regards to their service offering, financial buffer, and status as trustworthy institutions. The banks’ embrace of mobile financial services will change the Finnish banking sector into one, with a light branch network focused on sales power, and a heavy emphasis on new mobile devices providing service power regardless of time and place.

Validation of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C) in a sample of Brazilian children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C), an instrument developed in the United States and applied to a sample of Brazilian schoolchildren. The process included the translation of the original material from English into Portuguese by two bilingual psychiatrists and a back translation by a bilingual physician. Both the front and back translations were revised by a bilingual child psychiatrist. The study was performed using a cross-sectional design and the Portuguese version of the SPAI-C was applied to a sample of 1954 children enrolled in 3rd to 8th grade attending 2 private and 11 public schools. Eighty-one subjects were excluded due to an incomplete questionnaire and 2 children refused to participate. The final sample consisted of 1871 children, 938 girls (50.1%) and 933 boys (49.8%), ranging in age from 9 to 14 years. The majority of the students were Caucasian (89.0%) and the remainder were African-Brazilian (11.0%). The Pearson product-moment correlation showed that the two-week test-retest reliability coefficient was r = 0.780 and Cronbach's alpha was 0.946. The factor structure was almost similar to that reported in previous studies. The results regarding the internal consistency, the test-retest reliability and the factor structure were similar to the findings obtained in studies performed on English speaking children. The present study showed that the Portuguese language version of SPAI-C is a reliable and valid measure of social anxiety for Brazilian children.

High expression of human carboxypeptidase M in Pichia pastoris: Purification and partial characterization

Carboxypeptidase M (CPM) is an extracellular glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol-anchored membrane glycoprotein, which removes the C-terminal basic residues, lysine and arginine, from peptides and proteins at neutral pH. CPM plays an important role in the control of peptide hormones and growth factor activity on the cell surface. The present study was carried out to clone and express human CPM in the yeast Pichia pastoris in order to evaluate the importance of this enzyme in physiological and pathological processes. The cDNA for the enzyme was amplified from total placental RNA by RT-PCR and cloned in the vector pPIC9, which uses the methanol oxidase promoter and drives the expression of high levels of heterologous proteins in P. pastoris. The cpm gene, after cloning and transfection, was integrated into the yeast genome, which produced the active protein. The recombinant protein was secreted into the medium and the enzymatic activity was measured using the fluorescent substrate dansyl-Ala-Arg. The enzyme was purified by a two-step protocol including gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography, resulting in a 1753-fold purified active protein (16474 RFU mg protein-1 min-1). This purification protocol permitted us to obtain 410 mg of the purified protein per liter of fermentation medium. SDS-PAGE showed that recombinant CPM migrated as a single band with a molecular mass similar to that of native placental enzyme (62 kDa), suggesting that the expression of a glycosylated protein had occurred. These results demonstrate for the first time the establishment of a method using P. pastoris to express human CPM necessary to the development of specific antibodies and antagonists, and the analysis of the involvement of this peptidase in different physiological and pathological processes

Wrist ultrasound analysis of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

In the present study, we evaluated 42 wrists using the semi-quantitative scales power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS) and gray scale ultrasound (GSUS) with scores ranging from 0 to 3 and correlated the results with clinical, laboratory and radiographic data. Twenty-one patients (17 women and 4 men) with rheumatoid arthritis according to criteria of the American College of Rheumatology were enrolled in the study from September 2008 to July 2009 at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). The average disease duration was 14 months. The patients were 66.6% Caucasians and 33.3% non-Caucasians, with a mean age of 42 and 41 years, respectively. A dorsal longitudinal scan was performed by ultrasound on the radiocarpal and midcarpal joints using GE LOGIQ XP-linear ultrasound and a high frequency (8-10 MHz) transducer. All patients were X-rayed, and the Larsen score was determined for the joints, with grades ranging from 0 to V. This study showed significant correlations between clinical, sonographic and laboratory data: GSUS and swollen right wrist (r = 0.546), GSUS of right wrist and swelling of left wrist (r = 0.511), PDUS of right wrist and pain in left wrist (r = 0.436), PDUS of right wrist and C-reactive protein (r = 0.466). Ultrasound can be considered a useful tool in the diagnosis of synovitis in early rheumatoid arthritis mainly when the anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide and rheumatoid factor are negative, and can lead to an early change in the therapeutic decision.

Plasma cytokine response, lipid peroxidation and NF-κB activation in skeletal muscle following maximum progressive swimming

Our objective was to determine lipid peroxidation and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation in skeletal muscle and the plasma cytokine profile following maximum progressive swimming. Adult male Swiss mice (N = 15) adapted to the aquatic environment were randomly divided into three groups: immediately after exercise (EX1), 3 h after exercise (EX2) and control. Animals from the exercising groups swam until exhaustion, with an initial workload of 2% of body mass attached to the tail. Control mice did not perform any exercise but were kept immersed in water for 20 min. Maximum swimming led to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in skeletal muscle, as indicated by increased thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) levels (4062.67 ±1487.10 vs 19,072.48 ± 8738.16 nmol malondialdehyde (MDA)/mg protein, control vs EX1). Exercise also promoted NF-κB activation in soleus muscle. Cytokine secretion following exercise was marked by increased plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels 3 h post-exercise (P < 0.05). Interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels were reduced following exercise and remained reduced 3 h post-exercise (P < 0.05). Plasma levels of other cytokines investigated, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin-12 (IL-12), were not altered by exercise. The present findings showed that maximum swimming, as well as other exercise models, led to lipid peroxidation and NF-κB activation in skeletal muscle and increased plasma IL-6 levels. The plasma cytokine response was also marked by reduced IL-10 levels. These results were attributed to exercise type and intensity.

Functional and morphological effects of resistance exercise on disuse-induced skeletal muscle atrophy

Abstract The reduction of skeletal muscle loss in pathological states, such as muscle disuse, has considerable effects in terms of rehabilitation and quality of life. Since there is no currently effective and safe treatment available for skeletal muscle atrophy, the search for new alternatives is necessary. Resistance exercise (RE) seems to be an important tool in the treatment of disuse-induced skeletal muscle atrophy by promoting positive functional (strength and power) and structural (hypertrophy and phenotypic changes) adaptive responses. Human and animal studies using different types of resistance exercise (flywheel, vascular occlusion, dynamic, isometric, and eccentric) have obtained results of great importance. However, since RE is a complex phenomenon, lack of strict control of its variables (volume, frequency, intensity, muscle action, rest intervals) limits the interpretation of the impact of the manipulation on skeletal muscle remodeling and function under disuse. The aim of this review is to critically describe the functional and morphological role of resistance exercise in disuse-induced skeletal muscle atrophy with emphasis on the principles of training.

The effects of 6-gingerol on proliferation, differentiation, and maturation of osteoblast-like MG-63 cells

We investigated whether 6-gingerol affects the maturation and proliferation of osteoblast-like MG63 cells in vitro. Osteoblast-like MG63 cells were treated with 6-gingerol under control conditions, and experimental inflammation was induced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Expression of different osteogenic markers and cytokines was analyzed by real-time PCR, Western blotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzyme activity and biomineralization as markers for differentiation were measured. Treatment with 6-gingerol resulted in insignificant effects on the proliferation rate. 6-Gingerol induced the differentiation of osteoblast-like cells with increased transcription levels of osteogenic markers, upregulated ALP enzyme activity, and enhanced mineralized nodule formation. Stimulation with TNF-α led to enhanced interleukin-6 and nuclear factor-κB expression and downregulated markers of osteoblastic differentiation. 6-Gingerol reduced the degree of inflammation in TNF-α-treated MG-63 cells. In conclusion, 6-gingerol stimulated osteoblast differentiation in normal physiological and inflammatory settings, and therefore, 6-gingerol represents a promising agent for treating osteoporosis or bone inflammation.

Cotransfected human chondrocytes: over-expression of IGF-I and SOX9 enhances the synthesis of cartilage matrix components collagen-II and glycosaminoglycans

Damage to cartilage causes a loss of type II collagen (Col-II) and glycosaminoglycans (GAG). To restore the original cartilage architecture, cell factors that stimulate Col-II and GAG production are needed. Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and transcription factor SOX9are essential for the synthesis of cartilage matrix, chondrocyte proliferation, and phenotype maintenance. We evaluated the combined effect of IGF-I and SOX9 transgene expression on Col-II and GAG production by cultured human articular chondrocytes. Transient transfection and cotransfection were performed using two mammalian expression plasmids (pCMV-SPORT6), one for each transgene. At day 9 post-transfection, the chondrocytes that were over-expressing IGF-I/SOX9 showed 2-fold increased mRNA expression of the Col-II gene, as well as a 57% increase in Col-II protein, whereas type I collagen expression (Col-I) was decreased by 59.3% compared with controls. The production of GAG by these cells increased significantly compared with the controls at day 9 (3.3- vs 1.8-times, an increase of almost 83%). Thus, IGF-I/SOX9 cotransfected chondrocytes may be useful for cell-based articular cartilage therapies.

Benchmark of routing protocols regarding green considerations

In Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET) the participating nodes have several roles such as sender, receiver and router. Hence there is a lot of energy consumed by the nodes for the normal working of the network since each node has many different roles. Also in MANET the nodes keep moving constantly and this in turn consumes a lot of energy. Since battery capacity of these nodes is limited it fails to fulfil the high demand of energy. The scarcity of energy makes the energy conservation in mobile ad-hoc networks an important concern. There is several research carried out on the energy consumption of mobile ad-hoc networks these days. Some of this research suggests sleep mode, transmission power control, load balancing etc. In this thesis, we are comparing various proposed energy efficient models for some of the ad-hoc protocols. We compare different energy efficient models for Optimised Linked State Algorithm (OLSR) and Ad-hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV). The routing protocols are compared for different parameters such as average remaining energy, number of nodes alive, payload data received and performance with different mobility speed. The simulation results helps in benchmarking the various energy efficient routing models for OLSR and AODV protocols. The benchmarking of the routing protocols can be based on many factors but this thesis concentrates on benchmarking the MANET routing protocols mainly based on the energy efficiency and increased network lifetime.

Weldability of powder bed fusion fabricated stainless steel 316L sheets to cold rolled sheet metal

Weldability of powder bed fusion (PBF) fabricated components has come to discussion in past two years due to resent developments in the PBF technology and limited size of the machines used in the fabrication process. This study concentrated on effects of energy input of welding on mechanical properties and microstructural features of welds between PBF fabricated stainless steel 316L sheets and cold rolled sheet metal of same composition by the means of destructive testing and microscopic analysis. Optical fiber diameter, laser power and welding speed were varied during the experiments that were executed following one variable at a time (OVAT) method. One of the problems of welded PBF fabricated components has been lower elongations at break comparing to conventionally manufactured components. Decreasing energy input of the laser keyhole welding decreased elongations at break of the welded specimens. Ultimate tensile strengths were not affected significantly by the energy input of the welding, but fracturing of the specimens welded using high energy input occurred from the weld metal. Fracturing of the lower energy input welds occurred from the PBF fabricated base metal. Energy input was found to be critical factor for mechanical properties of the welds. Multioriented grain growth and formation of neck at fusion zone boundary on the cold rolled side of the weld was detected and suspected to be result from weld pool flows caused by differences in molten weld pool behaviour between the PBF fabricated and cold rolled sides of the welds.