Cross-Newell equations for hexagons and triangles

The Cross-Newell equations for hexagons and triangles are derived for general real gradient systems, and are found to be in flux-divergence form. Specific examples of complex governing equations that give rise to hexagons and triangles and which have Lyapunov functionals are also considered, and explicit forms of the Cross-Newell equations are found in these cases. The general nongradient case is also discussed; in contrast with the gradient case, the equations are not flux-divergent. In all cases, the phase stability boundaries and modes of instability for general distorted hexagons and triangles can be recovered from the Cross-Newell equations.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figur

Prunier d'Afrique (Sclerocarya birrea)

Conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of priority food tree species in sub-Saharan AfricaConservation et utilisation durable des ressources génétiques des espèces ligneuses alimentaires prioritaires de l'Afrique subsaharienneLa publicación de esta hoja divulgativa ha sido financiada con la acción complementaria nº AC-2008-00050-00-00, titulada "Publicación de hojas divulgativas: Uso y gestión sostenible y conservación de especies forestales para la alimentación (ELA) en Africa Subsahariana" solicitada por el Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (CITA), investigador responsable: Eduardo Notivo

Cost-Effective Trap qPCR Approach to Evaluate Telomerase Activity: an Important Tool for Aging, Cancer, and Chronic Disease Research

OBJECTIVES: Telomeres are a terminal "DNA cap" that prevent chromosomal fusion and degradation. However, aging is inherent to life, and so is the loss of terminal sequences. Telomerase is a specialized reverse transcriptase encoded by self-splicing introns that counteract chromosome erosion. Telomerase activity is observed during early embryonic development, but after the blastocyst stage, the expression of telomerase reduces. The consequences of either insufficient or unrestrained telomerase activity underscore the importance of ongoing studies aimed at elucidating the regulation of telomerase activity in humans. In the present study, we aimed to standardize a simplified telomerase repeat-amplification protocol (TRAP) assay to detect telomerase activity in unstimulated and PHA-stimulated mononuclear cells. METHODS AND RESULTS: Our optimized qPCR-based can efficiently evaluate telomerase activity. Quantification of protein and DNA between unstimulated and PHA-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed cellular activation and cell-cycle entry. The assay also showed that relative telomerase activity is significantly different between these two conditions, supporting the applicability of the assay. Furthermore, our findings corroborated that telomerase activity decreases with age. CONCLUSIONS: Telomeres and telomerase are implicated in aging and development of chronic diseases and cancer; however, difficulty in accessing commercial kits to investigate these aspects is a critical constraint in health surveillance studies. Our optimized assay was successfully used to differentiate telomerase activity between unstimulated and stimulated cells, clearly showing the reactivation of telomerase upon cell activation. This assay is affordable, reproducible, and can be executed in resource-limited settings

Tap For Battle: Perancangan Casual Game pada Smartphone Android

Smartphones have become a necessity. Almost everyone uses a smartphone in a variety of activities. Both young and old are sure to utilize this technology, for a wide range of activities such as doing the work, doing school work or enjoying entertainment. The purpose of this research is to build a casual-action game with war theme. The game is built for Android smartphone that has multi touch screen capability. The research methods used in this research are data collection and analysis method including user analysis with questionnaire. Furthermore, IMSDD method is implemented for game design and development phase including system requirement analysis, system design, system implementation, finally system evaluation. In this research, we conclude that 83.9% participants enjoyed the game with touch-screen as the game control

Evaluating the Potential of Juice from Some Sweet Sorghum Varieties Grown In Kenya to Crystallize

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) is a crop analogous to sugarcane with similar accumulation of sugars in its juicy stems. An earlier research study on agronomic trials carried out by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology established that some of the imported varieties of Sweet Sorghum had sufficiently high amounts of sugar content in their Juice. The present study was undertaken with the objective of determining the potential of some of these sweet sorghum varieties to produce crystal sugar. This was with the long term goal of trying to find alternative uses for sweet sorghum. The sweet sorghum varieties were planted at the University research farm, and stalks of sixteen varieties were crushed using electrical roller mill to produce SS juice which was then subjected to a number of analyses including, total and specific sugar determination and apparent purity. The total sugars in degree Brix varied from 15.050 to 21.500, sucrose concentration ranged from 6.05g/l to72.77g/l, glucose 2.65g/l to 16.41g/l and fructose 2.66g/l to 17.16g/l whereas apparent purity(AP) ranged from 33.89% to 83.91%.The variation could have been  brought about by varietal differences. The juice of variety RIO had the highest sucrose purity of 83.91% which was further clarified by liming and double carbonation method. The resulting juice was concentrated into syrup by evaporation. Supersaturation for crystallization was attained by cooling, followed by seeding. According to the present study, the following sweet sorghum cultivars; Rio, CMSXS636, IESV91018LT, IESV93042SH and SPV1411 could have potential in crystal raw sugar production because they have AP greater than 75% and a relatively higher sucrose concentration. The Rio sweet sorghum variety with the highest sucrose purity of 83.91% and sucrose concentration of 40.86g/l was selected and subjected to crystal sugar production processes. The Rio juice subjected to crystallization process failed to produce crystals probably due to the presence of dextran, aconitic acid and starch. Key words: Brix, Sucrose, apparent purity, Clarification, Crystal Sugar,

Liquid Xenon Detectors for Positron Emission Tomography

PET is a functional imaging technique based on detection of annihilation photons following beta decay producing positrons. In this paper, we present the concept of a new PET system for preclinical applications consisting of a ring of twelve time projection chambers filled with liquid xenon viewed by avalanche photodiodes. Simultaneous measurement of ionization charge and scintillation light leads to a significant improvement to spatial resolution, image quality, and sensitivity. Simulated performance shows that an energy resolution of <10% (FWHM) and a sensitivity of 15% are achievable. First tests with a prototype TPC indicate position resolution <1 mm (FWHM).Comment: Paper presented at the International Nuclear Physics Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 201