Socio-economic conditions of the pond owners of Demra, Dhaka

On the basis of fish culture status 96 ponds of the study area were classified into 4 categories like wild stock (27%), extensive culture (24%), improved extensive culture (33%) and semi-intensive culture (16%). Percentage of small, medium and large ponds were 38, 44, and 18 respectively whereas education levels below SSC, below Bachelor and above were 43, 38 and 19 respectively and single owners belonged to 54% of the ponds. Per hectare yields of extensive, improved extensive and semi-intensive categories of culture were 1.3, 2.12 and 4.0 metric tons respectively and their net return were 46, 63 and 92 thousand taka respectively. Considering the problems of fish culture, multiple ownership was found to be the most important one.

Some observations on the performance of 10.5 m mid-water trawl operated off Veraval

The communication presents the results of fishing trials conducted off Veraval with a 10.5 m four-seam unequal paneled mid-water trawl with vertically curved otter boards. The design and structural details of net and otter boards are described in detail. Particulars such as the fish caught during experimentation, horizontal spread of the net as well as towing resistance offered in action are also incorporated.

Identification of support conditions of buried pipes using a vibrating pig

This paper describes a method for monitoring the variation in support condition of pipelines using a vibration technique. The method is useful for detecting poor support of buried pipelines and for detecting spanning and depth of cover in sub-sea lines. Variation in the pipe support condition leads to increased likelihood of pipe damage. Under roadways, poorly supported pipe may be damaged by vehicle loading. At sea, spanned sections of pipe are vulnerable to ocean current loading and also to snagging by stray anchors in shallow waters. A vibrating `pig' has been developed and tested on buried pipelines. Certain features of pipe support, such as voids and hard spots, display characteristic responses to vibration, and these are measured by the vibrating pig. Post-processing of the measured vibration data is used to produce a graphical representation of the pipeline support and certain `feature characteristics' are identified. In field tests on a pipeline with deliberately constructed support faults, features detected by the vibrating pig are in good agreement with the known construction.

Modelling of waterfront cantilever sheet pile walls subjected to earthquake loading

The seismic performance of waterfront cantilever sheet pile retaining walls is of continuing interest to geotechnical engineers as these structures suffer severe damage and even complete failure during earthquakes. This is often precipitated by liquefaction of the surrounding soil, either in the backfill or in front of the wall. This paper presents results from a series of small-scale plane strain models that were tested on a 1-g shaking table and recorded using a high-speed, high-resolution digital camera. The technique of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was applied in order to allow the failure mechanisms to be visualised. It is shown that using PIV analyses it is possible to obtain failure mechanisms for a cantilever wall in liquefiable soil. These failure mechanisms are compared with those obtained for a cantilever wall in dry soil, previously carried out at a similar scale. It was observed that seismic liquefaction causes significant displacement in much larger zones of soil near the retaining wall compared to an equivalent dry case. The failure mechanism for a cantilever wall with liquefiable backfill, but with a remediated zone designed not to liquefy, is also presented and compared to the unremediated case.

A closely integrated digital image capture device for embedded applications

A modular image capture system with close integration to CCD cameras has been developed. The aim is to produce a system capable of integrating CCD sensor, image capture and image processing into a single compact unit. This close integration provides a direct mapping between CCD pixels and digital image pixels. The system has been interfaced to a digital signal processor board for the development and control of image processing tasks. These have included characterization and enhancement of noisy images from an intensified camera and measurement to subpixel resolutions. A highly compact form of the image capture system is in an advanced stage of development. This consists of a single FPGA device and a single VRAM providing a two chip image capturing system capable of being integrated into a CCD camera. A miniature compact PC has been developed using a novel modular interconnection technique, providing a processing unit in a three dimensional format highly suited to integration into a CCD camera unit. Work is under way to interface the compact capture system to the PC using this interconnection technique, combining CCD sensor, image capture and image processing into a single compact unit. ©2005 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.

Modular Organization in a Cell: Concepts and Applications

Network biology is conceptualized as an interdisciplinary field, lying at the intersection among graph theory, statistical mechanics and biology. Great efforts have been made to promote the concept of network biology and its various applications in life s

Genetic diversity of Yunnan local pig breeds inferred from blood protein electrophoresis

Protein electrophoresis was used to examine the blood protein polymorphism in Yunnan local pig breeds, i.e., the Saba pig, Dahe pig, and Diannan small-ear pig breeds, Of 38 genetic loci surveyed 9 were found to be polymorphic. The percentage of polymorphic loci (P) varies from 0.1875 to 0.2121, and the mean individual heterozygosity (H) varies front 0.0712 to 0.1027 in three pig breeds. The results indicate that blood protein polymorphism in Yunnan pig breeds is high. Yunnan local pig breeds have a wealth of genetic diversity at the level of blood proteins.

烙铁头蛇毒纤维蛋白原溶酶研究Ⅰ: 分离纯化及理化性质

通过DEAE-SephadexA-50、DEAE-SepharoseCL-6B、MonoQ(FPLC) 三步离子交 换柱层析, 纯化得到一新的纤维蛋白原溶酶, 在碱性聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳和SDS- 聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳上均呈单一的蛋白带。纤溶实验表明: 烙铁头蛇毒纤维蛋 白原溶酶(TMVFg)具有激活纤溶作用。纯化的TMVFg对酪蛋白无作用, 无出血活性 , 与凝血酶样酶、出血毒素及β-纤维蛋白原溶酶明显不同。图5表4参14

Cytogenetics, morphology and evolution of four subspecies of the Giant Sheep argali (Ovis ammon) of Asia

Dalai-lamae (Ovis ammon dalai-lamae), Gobi (O. a. darwini), Kara Tau (O. a. nigrimontana) and Tibetan (O. a. hodgsoni) argali share a 2n = 56 diploid chromosome number and a karyotype consisting of 2 pairs of biarmed and 25 pairs of acrocentric autosomes, a large acrocentric X and a minute Y chromosome. The Giemsa-banding patterns of the largest pair of biarmed chromosomes were identical to those of the largest biarmed chromosomes in all wild sheep and domestic sheep of the genus Ovis. The banding patterns of the second pair of biarmed chromosomes (metacentric) were identical to the third pair of biarmed chromosomes in Ovis with 2n = 54 and to the third largest pair of chromosomes in the 2n = 52 karyotype of Siberian snow sheep (O. nivicola). The G-banded karyotypes of dalai-lamae, darwini, hodgsoni and nigrimontana are consistent with all subspecies of argali (O. ammon), except that the Y chromosome is acrocentric instead of metacentric as typical of the argaliform wild sheep and Ovis. The Dalai-lamae and Tibetan argali specimens exhibit the light-colored, long-haired ruffs and body coloration typical of argalis from the Tibetan Plateau. The Gobi argali, from the extreme western Gobi, is similar to the dark phase argali.

Cloning of bradykinin precursor cDNAs from skin of Bombina maxima reveals novel bombinakinin M antagonists and a bradykinin potential peptide

Bombinakinin M (DLPKINRKGP-bradykinin) is a bradykinin-related peptide purified from skin secretions of the frog Bombina maxima. As previously reported, its biosynthesis is characterized by a tandem repeats with various copy numbers of the peptide and sometimes co-expressed with other structure-function distinguishable peptides. At present study, two novel cDNAs encoding bombinakinin M and its variants were cloned from a cDNA library from the skin of the frog. The encoded two precursor proteins are common in that each contains three repeats of a novel 16-amino acid peptide unit and one copy of kinestatin at their N- and C-terminal parts, respectively. They differ in that the first precursor contains two copies of bombinakinin M and the second one contains one copy of a novel bombinakinin M variant. Bombinakinin M was found to elicit concentration-dependent contractile effects on guinea pig ileum, with an EC50 value of 4 nM that is four times higher than that of bradykinin (1 nM). Interestingly, the synthetic peptide (DYTIRTRLH-amide), as deduced from the 16-amino acid peptide repeats in the newly cloned cDNAs, possessed weak inhibitory activity on the contractile effects of bombinakinin M, but not on that of bradykinin. Furthermore, the newly identified bombinakinin M variant (DLSKMSFLHG-Ile(1)-bradykinin), did not show contractile activity on guinea pig ileum, but showed potentiation effect on the myotropic activity of bradykinin. In a molar raito of 1:58, it augmented the activity of bradykinin up to two-fold. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of community-based fisheries management practices on production and species diversity in Turag-Bangshi basin floodplains in Kaliakoir, Gazipur, Bangladesh

The study was conducted to investigate the communities perception and compliance to community-based fisheries management (CBFM) in Turag-Bangshi floodplains under Kaliakoir, Gazipur District. Measures such as ban on use of the harmful fishing gears, seasonal fishing closure, halt of fry fishing, halt of dewatering of beels and the impact of establishment of sanctuaries on fish production and species diversity were introduced by MACH project. Almost all members of the communities in Turag-Bangshi MACH (Management of Aquatic Ecosystem through Community Husbandry) site welcomed the introduction and complied with the implementation of all management measures which helped stopped use of harmful fishing gears, ensured survival and breeding of brood fish in the rainy season, protected and allowed fry to grow big, restored lost and degraded fisheries and organized communities for sustainable development of the fisheries. A total of 51 species of fishes were found in Makosh beel (natural depression). Among these, small indigenous species (SIS) under Cyprinidae family (Puntius sophore) was the most dominant. Many species available in the past recorded disappeared from the Makosh beel due to loss of habitat and industrial pollution that damaged spawning and nursery grounds of fish. Introduction of some selective native endangered species (Nandus nandus, Notopterus notopterus, Ompok pabda and Labeo calbasu) by MACH in the Turag-Bangshi water bodies increased diversity of species from 82 to 95. Over a period of five years during MACH intervention, the average production remained nearly 200% higher than the baseline production of 57 kg/ha to present 207 kg/ha due to maintaining sanctuaries and the closed fishing seasons. Per capita daily fish consumption of the surrounding communities also increased by 78% (from 27 to 48 g/person/day) which is much higher than the national average fish consumption in Bangladesh. The implementation of community-based MACH project management measures substantially improved fish habitat, production, consumption and socio-economic conditions of the surrounding communities. The model can be used to improve the floodplains of Bangladesh.

乳腺增生病p53基因第6外显子突变检测

目的 :探讨p5 3基因在乳腺癌发生早期的作用及早期诊断乳腺癌的分子病理指标。方法 :用PCR -SSCP检测36例乳腺单纯性增生、 31例不典型增生、 30例乳腺癌中p5 3基因第 6外显子突变 ,用DNA直接测序技术确定突变的碱基及其所在的密码子。结果 :乳腺单纯性增生、不典型增生、乳腺癌中p5 3基因第 6外显子的突变率分别为 0、6 5 % (2 / 31)、 13 3% (4/ 30 )。 6个点突变均为碱基替换 ,其中 4个发生于第 192密码子 (CAG→TAG) ,2个发生于第2 13密码子 (CGA→TGA) ,两者均导致多肽链合成提前终止。结论 :乳腺癌不典型增生中存在p5 3基因第 6外显子突变 ,该突变可能在乳腺不典型增生发展到乳腺癌过程中起重要作用 ,可作为早期诊断乳腺癌的辅助指标。

中国5种珍稀绢蝶非损伤性取样的mtDNA序列及系统进化

应用非损伤性取样DNA测序技术测定了4种来自云南白马雪山和1种来自新疆天山的5种珍稀绢蝶的线粒体DNA细胞色素b基因部分DNA序列。PAUP3.1.1(简约法)数据分析软件构建该5个种绢蝶的分子系统树显示,爱珂绢蝶(Parnassius acco)和巴裔绢蝶(Parnassius baileyi)的亲缘关系比较接近,阿波罗绢蝶(Parnassius apollo)、珍珠绢蝶(Parnassius orlears)和西猴绢蝶(Parnassius simo)3种绢蝶均为相对独立的一支,其中西猴绢蝶分化较早,与形态学研究结果相吻合。