Person to Person in Japan

While still in the midst of their study abroad experiences, students at Linfield College write reflective essays. Their essays address issues of cultural similarity and difference, compare lifestyles, mores, norms, and habits between their host countries and home, and examine changes in perceptions about their host countries and the United States. In this essay, Stacey Strovink describes her observations during her study abroad program at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japan

The ever unfolding story of cAMP signaling in trypanosomatids: vive la difference!

Kinetoplastids are unicellular, eukaryotic, flagellated protozoans containing the eponymous kinetoplast. Within this order, the family of trypanosomatids are responsible for some of the most serious human diseases, including Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi), sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma brucei spp.), and leishmaniasis (Leishmania spp). Although cAMP is produced during the life cycle stages of these parasites, its signaling pathways are very different from those of mammals. The absence of G-protein-coupled receptors, the presence of structurally different adenylyl cyclases, the paucity of known cAMP effector proteins and the stringent need for regulation of cAMP in the small kinetoplastid cells all suggest a significantly different biochemical pathway and likely cell biology. However, each of the main kinetoplastid parasites express four class 1-type cyclic nucleotide-specific phosphodiesterases (PDEA-D), which have highly similar catalytic domains to that of human PDEs. To date, only TbrPDEB, expressed as two slightly different isoforms TbrPDEB1 and B2, has been found to be essential when ablated. Although the genomes contain reasonably well conserved genes for catalytic and regulatory domains of protein kinase A, these have been shown to have varied structural and functional roles in the different species. Recent discovery of a role of cAMP/AMP metabolism in a quorum-sensing signaling pathway in T. brucei, and the identification of downstream cAMP Response Proteins (CARPs) whose expression levels correlate with sensitivity to PDE inhibitors, suggests a complex signaling cascade. The interplay between the roles of these novel CARPs and the quorum-sensing signaling pathway on cell division and differentiation makes for intriguing cell biology and a new paradigm in cAMP signal transduction, as well as potential targets for trypanosomatid-specific cAMP pathway-based therapeutics

Sea Bed Sand Waves Studied To Help Pipeline Planners

The article cites a study that offers information on the variability of sand wave characteristics in the North Sea. The sand waves variability includes a statement that pipelines may start vibrating due to turbulence generated under the free span and navigational channels often need to be dredged for ships to pass safely. The study used multi-beam measurement of three fields in the North Sea in which sand waves occur. Moreover, the study concludes that understanding the variability of sand waves can help determine the optimal depth of a pipeline trench

Einstein crystal as a reference system in free energy estimation using adiabatic switching

CAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOIn this paper we investigate the behavior of an Einstein crystal as a reference system in adiabatic switching procedures. We study the canonical massive Nose-Hoover chain (MNHC) dynamics [G.J. Martyna, M.L. Klein, and M. Tuckerman, J. Chem. Phys. 97, 2635 (1992)] and show it can be used to determine Helmholtz free energies within an adiabatic switching procedure. We calculate the Helmoltz free energy difference between two different Einstein crystals, each consisting of 100 identical independent harmonic oscillators with different characteristic frequencies by a MNHC molecular dynamics adiabatic switching procedure. The simulations were performed using two different switching functions. Applying the quantitative error analysis of Tsao, Sheu, and Mou [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 2302 (1994)], it is found that systematic errors during the switching process can be estimated quantitatively, allowing a correction of the converged results. The corrected results obtained by adiabatic switching deviate less than 1% from the analytical value. It is observed that quantitative correction of converged results can be avoided by choosing a groper switching function.In this paper we investigate the behavior of an Einstein crystal as a reference system in adiabatic switching procedures. We study the canonical massive Nose-Hoover chain (MNHC) dynamics [G.J. Martyna, M.L. Klein, and M. Tuckerman, J. Chem. Phys. 97, 2635 (1992)] and show it can be used to determine Helmholtz free energies within an adiabatic switching procedure. We calculate the Helmoltz free energy difference between two different Einstein crystals, each consisting of 100 identical independent harmonic oscillators with different characteristic frequencies by a MNHC molecular dynamics adiabatic switching procedure. The simulations were performed using two different switching functions. Applying the quantitative error analysis of Tsao, Sheu, and Mou [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 2302 (1994)], it is found that systematic errors during the switching process can be estimated quantitatively, allowing a correction of the converged results. The corrected results obtained by adiabatic switching deviate less than 1% from the analytical value. It is observed that quantitative correction of converged results can be avoided by choosing a groper switching function.531A465474CAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIORCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOSem informaçãoSem informaçãoThe simulations were performed on an IBM RISC/6000 computer of the CENAPAD-SP Computer Center. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support granted by the Brazilian funding agencies CAPES and CNPq

Supporting development and management of smart office applications: a DYAMAND case study

To realize the Internet of Things (IoT) vision, tools are needed to ease the development and deployment of practical applications. Several standard bodies, companies, and ad-hoc consortia are proposing their own solution for inter-device communication. In this context, DYnamic, Adaptive MAnagement of Networks and Devices (DYAMAND) was presented in a previous publication to solve the interoperability issues introduced by the multitude of available technologies. In this paper a DYAMAND case study is presented: in cooperation with a large company, a monitoring application was developed for flexible office spaces in order to reliably reorganize an office environment and give real-time feedback on the usage of meeting rooms. Three wireless sensor technologies were investigated to be used in the pilot. The solution was deployed in a "friendly user" setting at a research institute (iMinds) prior to deployment at the large company's premises. Based on the findings of both installations, requirements for an application platform supporting development and management of smart (office) applications were listed. DYAMAND was used as the basis of the implementation. Although the local management of networked devices as provided by DYAMAND enables easier development of intelligent applications, a number of remote services discussed in this paper are needed to enable reliable and up-to-date support (of new technologies)