Compositional Techniques in Hodie by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Hodie (This day) is Vaughan Williams\u27s last large choral work. It is important because Vaughan Williams used not only complicated and innovative compositional techniques but also the largest instrumentation among his choral-orchestral compositions. It gives a challenging opportunity for composers who wish to learn innovative compositional techniques for vocal or choral-orchestral music. This research project will present Vaughan Williams\u27s compositional techniques in a major choral-orchestral composition consisting of multiple movements. First, unification as a compositional method to link multiple movements by using recurring musical themes will be examined. Secondly, the treatment of biblical and non-biblical texts will be studied. Therefore, Hodie will be seen to represent a synthesis of compositional techniques based on the unique individuality of the musical style of Vaughan Williams. This project is divided into four chapters, \u27Hodie: An Overview of the Work,\u27 \u27The Relationships of Biblical Narratives and Poetic Insertions,\u27 \u27Recurring Themes in Narrations and Other Movements,\u27 and \u27Hodie, Dona Nobis Pacem, and Sancta Civitas: A Comparison of Stylistic Change.\u27 Various tables and musical examples in chapters are used to compare poetry and themes as well as musical ideas

A Comparative Study of Anxiety, Pain and Maternal-fetal Attachment between Women who became Pregnant after Infertility Treatment and became Pregnant Naturally

PURPOSE: This study was a comparative study to understand the levels of anxiety, pain and maternal-fetal attachment between women who became pregnant after infertility treatment and became pregnant naturally. METHODS: This study used a comparative survey design. Data were collected by 50 couples of natural pregnancy and of who became pregnant after infertility treatment who visited delivery room in C Medical hospital, Seoul. These couples were to have first baby, and cervix dilatation of women was less than 3 cm regardless of diagnosis. RESULTS: The score of anxiety of infertile women was significantly higher than that of naturally pregnant women; however, that of spouses showed no difference. The pain score for infertile women was significantly higher in both the active and transition phases. Pain scores that reported by their spouses did not show differences in either phase. The score of maternal-fetal attachment showed no difference between two groups of women. CONCLUSION: The result showed the importance of nursing intervention to reduce women's anxiety and pain, through both antenatal-childbirth education programs and assertive nursing interventions. It is necessary to develop and evaluate new intervention which would be more effective for reducing pain and anxiety for couples who became pregnant after infertility treatment

Heterologous expression of tylosin polyketide synthase and production of a hybrid bioactive macrolide in Streptomyces venezuelae

Tylosin polyketide synthase (Tyl PKS) was heterologously expressed in an engineered strain of Streptomyces venezuelae bearing a deletion of pikromycin PKS gene cluster using two compatible low-copy plasmids, each under the control of a pikAI promoter. The mutant strain produced 0.5 mg/l of the 16-membered ring macrolactone, tylactone, after a 4-day culture, which is a considerably reduced culture period to reach the maximum production level compared to other Streptomyces hosts. To improve the production level of tylactone, several precursors for ethylmalonyl-CoA were fed to the growing medium, leading to a 2.8-fold improvement (1.4 mg/ml); however, switching the pikAI promoter to an actI promoter had no observable effect. In addition, a small amount of desosamine-glycosylated tylactone was detected from the extract of the mutant strain, revealing that the native glycosyltransferase DesVII displayed relaxed substrate specificity in accepting the 16-membered ring macrolactone to produce the glycosylated tylactone. These results demonstrate a successful attempt for a heterologous expression of Tyl PKS in S. venezuelae and introduce S. venezuelae as a rapid heterologous expression system for the production of secondary metabolites.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45861/1/253_2006_Article_318.pd

Automated DNA Extraction Monitoring System Based on MTConnect Technology

MTConnect standard technology provides simplicity, flexibility, and scalability in integrating various equipment and operating systems and enabling accurate and consistent data collection from any MTConnect-compatible system. Using MTConnect technology, it is possible to immediately identify the cause of a problem and respond quickly when a problem occurs. Molecular genetic diagnostic point-of-care testing (POCT) devices have received attention in recent years because they enable rapid disease diagnosis. A molecular genetic diagnostic POCT device is under development by the authors. The system consists of a gene extraction process and a real-time PCR-based gene amplification process. In this study, we propose and demonstrate a system based on MTConnect technology to monitor an automated DNA extraction process. The proposed system consists of an automated DNA extraction system, an MTConnect adapter, an MTConnect agent, and a client application. The adapter and agent were developed on a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. The agent publishes the collected data in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format over a network. The performance and reliability of the system were evaluated by verifying the request response time between the implemented system’s agent and the client application. The results demonstrate the feasibility of monitoring the DNA extraction process over a network

Automated DNA Extraction Monitoring System Based on MTConnect Technology

MTConnect standard technology provides simplicity, flexibility, and scalability in integrating various equipment and operating systems and enabling accurate and consistent data collection from any MTConnect-compatible system. Using MTConnect technology, it is possible to immediately identify the cause of a problem and respond quickly when a problem occurs. Molecular genetic diagnostic point-of-care testing (POCT) devices have received attention in recent years because they enable rapid disease diagnosis. A molecular genetic diagnostic POCT device is under development by the authors. The system consists of a gene extraction process and a real-time PCR-based gene amplification process. In this study, we propose and demonstrate a system based on MTConnect technology to monitor an automated DNA extraction process. The proposed system consists of an automated DNA extraction system, an MTConnect adapter, an MTConnect agent, and a client application. The adapter and agent were developed on a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. The agent publishes the collected data in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format over a network. The performance and reliability of the system were evaluated by verifying the request response time between the implemented system’s agent and the client application. The results demonstrate the feasibility of monitoring the DNA extraction process over a network

A New 9,10-Dihydrophenanthrene and Cell Proliferative 3,4-δ-Dehydrotocopherols from Stemona tuberosa

A new compound, 9,10-dihydro-5-methoxy-8-methyl-2,7-phenanthrenediol (1), was isolated from the roots of Stemona tuberosa Lour. (Stemonaceae) together with two new optically active compounds, (2S,4'R,8'R)-3,4-δ-dehydrotocopherol (2) and (2R,4'R,8'R)-3,4-δ-dehydrotocopherol (3). The structures of compounds 1–3 were determined on the basis of spectroscopic data analysis. Compounds 2 and 3 were each purified from a stereoisomeric mixture of 2 and 3 by preparative HPLC using a chiral column for the first time. The absolute configurations at C-2 of 2 and 3 were determined by Circular Dichroism (CD) experiments. As a part of the research to find natural wound healing agents, all isolates and the mixture of 2 and 3 were evaluated for their cell proliferative effects using a mouse fibroblast NIH3T3 and a HeLa human cervical cancer cell line. As a result, 1, 2, 3, or the mixture of 2 and 3 showed 41.6%, 78.4%, 118.6%, 38.2% increases of cell proliferation in the mouse fibroblast NIH3T3 respectively, compared to 28.4% increase of δ-tocopherol. Moreover, none of them induced cancer cell proliferation. Therefore, 3,4-δ-dehydrotocopherols, especially pure isomers 2 and 3 can be suggested as potential wound healing agents

Rosmarinic Acid Methyl Ester Inhibits LPS-Induced NO Production via Suppression of MyD88- Dependent and -Independent Pathways and Induction of HO-1 in RAW 264.7 Cells

In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of rosmarinic acid methyl ester (RAME) isolated from a mutant cultivar of Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton. We found that RAME inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production, with an IC50 of 14.25 µM, in RAW 264.7 cells. RAME inhibited the LPS-induced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, interferon-β, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Moreover, RAME suppressed the activation of nuclear factor kappa B. These results suggest that the downregulation of iNOS expression by RAME was due to myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88)-dependent and -independent pathways. Furthermore, RAME induced the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) through activation of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2. Treatment with tin protoporphyrin, an inhibitor of HO-1, reversed the RAME-induced suppression of NO production. Taken together, RAME isolated from P. frutescens inhibited NO production in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells through simultaneous induction of HO-1 and inhibition of MyD88-dependent and -independent pathways