Conflict of Exchange Rates

Conflict between economic interests of two or more countries can take place in the inflation prone floating exchange regime and thus affect monetary policies of each other. This paper tries to examine whether the exchange rates of the currencies of the industrial countries are affecting India’s currency and making the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervene in the foreign exchange market. It is found that limitation of RBI data is a major factor constraining the progress of research on the above kind of conflict.Exchange Rate,IMF, stochastic, trend stationary, dollar

Effects of hydrostatic pressure on the mechanical behavior of body centered cubic refractory metals and alloys

Hydrostatic pressure on mechanical behavior of body centered cubic refractory metals and alloy

Evolving concepts of lunar architecture: The potential of subselene development

In view of the superior environmental and operational conditions that are thought to exist in lava tubes, popular visions of permanent settlements built upon the lunar surface may prove to be entirely romantic. The factors that will ultimately come together to determine the design of a lunar base are complex and interrelated, and they call for a radical architectural solution. Whether lunar surface-deployed superstructures can answer these issues is called into question. One particularly troublesome concern in any lunar base design is the need for vast amounts of space, and the ability of man-made structures to provide such volumes in a reliable pressurized habitat is doubtful. An examination of several key environmental design issues suggests that the alternative mode of subselene development may offer the best opportunity for an enduring and humane settlement

Wayfinding and Glaucoma: A Virtual Reality Experiment.

PurposeWayfinding, the process of determining and following a route between an origin and a destination, is an integral part of everyday tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of glaucomatous visual field loss on wayfinding behavior using an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 31 glaucomatous patients and 20 healthy subjects without evidence of overall cognitive impairment. Wayfinding experiments were modeled after the Morris water maze navigation task and conducted in an immersive VR environment. Two rooms were built varying only in the complexity of the visual scene in order to promote allocentric-based (room A, with multiple visual cues) versus egocentric-based (room B, with single visual cue) spatial representations of the environment. Wayfinding tasks in each room consisted of revisiting previously visible targets that subsequently became invisible.ResultsFor room A, glaucoma patients spent on average 35.0 seconds to perform the wayfinding task, whereas healthy subjects spent an average of 24.4 seconds (P = 0.001). For room B, no statistically significant difference was seen on average time to complete the task (26.2 seconds versus 23.4 seconds, respectively; P = 0.514). For room A, each 1-dB worse binocular mean sensitivity was associated with 3.4% (P = 0.001) increase in time to complete the task.ConclusionsGlaucoma patients performed significantly worse on allocentric-based wayfinding tasks conducted in a VR environment, suggesting visual field loss may affect the construction of spatial cognitive maps relevant to successful wayfinding. VR environments may represent a useful approach for assessing functional vision endpoints for clinical trials of emerging therapies in ophthalmology

Cell migration and division in amoeboid-like fission yeast

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Yeast cells are non-motile and are encased in a cell wall that supports high internal turgor pressure. The cell wall is also essential for cellular morphogenesis and cell division. Here, we report unexpected morphogenetic changes in a Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant defective in cell wall biogenesis. These cells form dynamic cytoplasmic protrusions caused by internal turgor pressure and also exhibit amoeboid-like cell migration resulting from repeated protrusive cycles. The cytokinetic ring responsible for cell division in wild-type yeast often fails in these cells; however, they were still able to divide using a ring-independent alternative mechanism relying on extrusion of the cell body through a hole in the cell wall. This mechanism of cell division may resemble an ancestral mode of division in the absence of cytokinetic machinery. Our findings highlight how a single gene change can lead to the emergence of different modes of cell growth, migration and division.This work was supported by grants to R.R.D. from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Inovación BFU2010-21310 and P09-CTS-4697 (Proyecto de Excelencia) from La Junta de Andalucia. I.F.-P. was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación (Juan de la Cierva Program). M.B. was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación (FPI Fellowship, BES-2008-004018). J.Z. was supported by grant P09-CTS-4697.Peer Reviewe

Generation of thermo-sensitive allele of the TPR like protein Nup211by PCR mutagenesis

Motivation: TPR proteins are conserved large coiled-coil proteins that localize at the nucleoplasmic side of the nuclear pore complex and participate in multiple aspects of DNA metabolism. The protein Nup211, fission yeast homolog of Mlp1/Mlp2/Tpr, participate in the mRNA export and is essential for vegetative growth. The aim of this work is to create a collection of thermo-sensitive alleles of nup211.Methods: To create the collection, we have generated a new strain with the nup211 gen tagged with GFP at the amino terminal extreme and confirmed by fluorescent microscopy that the protein Nup211 localized in the nuclear envelop. Then, we have carried out a Taq PCR-based Random Mutagenesis with reduced concentration of dATP. The PCR products were transformed into a wild type strain to generate conditional mutants. The transformants obtained whose growth was impaired at 36ºC were preselected as thermo-sensitive mutants. To confirm the growth deficiency of these clones, a drop assay was performed and the best candidates were selected. These thermo-sensitive mutants were cultivated at 25ºC as well as 36ºC and both cultures were subjected to various experiments in order to study any changes in the localization of Nup211.Results: Up to now, we have demonstrated by fluorescent microscopy that the thermo-sensitive mutants show a modified nuclear distribution of Nup211 and different cellular phenotype, suggesting that the differents clones might represent differents nup211 thermo-sensitive alleles. These alleles are going to be subjected to various experiments to clarify the role of the protein in the mRNA export

Bub1 as a recruitment platform for Spindle Assembly Checkpoint components

Motivation: The Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) is a safeguard mechanism conserved in all the eukaryotes that ensures the correct chromosome segregation in mitosis by preventing the premature mitotic exit in condition of unattached kinetochores. SAC defects lead to chromosome mis-segregation provoking aneuploidies that has been widely associated with cancer. Kinase Bub1 is a key player in SAC function because it maintains a proper centromeric cohesion and serves as a platform for other SAC components such as Mad1, Mad2 and Mad3. In this study, we are characterizing a bub1 mutant allele which exhibits an impaired SAC function. The phenotype shown by this mutant has not been previously described. This mutant can provide new insights about the Bub1-dependent recruitment of SAC components to the kinetochores and the mechanism of mitosis arrest.Methods: We made use of live imaging techniques to study SAC function by using GFP-tagged alleles of the main SAC components (like Mad1, Mad2 and Mad3), comparing the wild type background versus the bub1 mutant allele. Furthermore, we have used a cold sensitive tubulin mutant that allows us to test SAC activity; in response to microtubules damage induced by this mutant, cells activate the SAC and arrest in metaphase. We have also tested Bub1 protein levels in a wild-type and in the Bub1-mutant by Western Blot. Finally, we are performing a two-hybrid screening using a S. pombe library-strain to detect differences in the interactome of the Bub1-mutant compared with the wild-type. Results: We have demonstrated that in the Bub1-mutant background, Mad1 correctly localizes at the kinetochores meanwhile Mad2 does not. Bub1 protein levels turned out to be quite similar in both strain. Additionally, we have observed that the SAC defects notice in the Bub1-mutant in the cold sensitive background partially phenocopies the one seen in the Bub1-deleted cells.Conclusions: Our Bub1-mutant is unable to maintain a proper metaphase block in the cold-sensitive tubulin background and exhibit a SAC failure. We are working in a model where Bub1 could be regulating SAC activity by promoting Mad2 recruitment to kinetochores

Conflict of Exchange Rates

Conflict between economic interests of two or more countries can take place in the inflation prone floating exchange regime and thus affect monetary policies of each other. This paper tries to examine whether the exchange rates of the currencies of the industrial countries are affecting India’s currency and making the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervene in the foreign exchange market. It is found that limitation of RBI data is a major factor constraining the progress of research on the above kind of conflict