‘Tenderstem’ Broccoli for Export Markets: an Analysis Study on the AgroFood Company

Decision case, horticulture, agriculture economics, broccoli production, protected vegetable production, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics,

Prognostic significance of COX-2 and b-catenin in colorectal carcinoma

Background: The high prevalence of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is a driver to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms. Chemoprevention strategy using non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) revealed that these drugs suppress colorectal carcinoma. The best known targets of NSAIDs are cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes. The function of prostaglandins and cyclooxygenase in cancer pathogenesis is unclear. COX-2 regulation of proliferation, apoptosis, and tumor-blood vessel interaction has been suggested. b-Catenin is a component of the WNT (wingless type) signaling pathway, increased protein concentrations promote transcription of genes important in regulating the cell cycle.Aim: To determine the significance of COX-2 and b-catenin expression in colorectal carcinogenesis and prognosis.Patients and methods: Thirty patients with colorectal carcinomas treated by colonic resection were studied for the expression of both COX-2 and b-catenin by immunohistochemistry. Their expression was interpreted in relation to adjacent normal colonic mucosa and analyzed in correlation with various clinicopathologic parameters and patient’s survival after a follow up period of 24 months.Results: Our results showed that in normal adjacent colonic mucosa, COX-2 was completely absent, whereas b-catenin was specifically located in the plasma membranes. Both proteins were expressed in tumorous tissues, COX-2 showed diffuse cytoplasmic positivity, whereas b-catenin accumulated in both the cytoplasm and nuclei. We established statistically significant relationships between pathological grade and both b-catenin, and COX-2 positivity scores, being at the higher end for poorly-differentiated tumors. b-Catenin expression also correlated significantly with higher tumor stage and LN metastasis. Both COX-2 and b-catenin expression correlated with a higher incidence of shorter disease free survival.Conclusion: Both b-catenin and COX-2 expression may play an important role in the evolution of colon carcinogenesis. Increased expression of both could be used as a marker of tumor progression and poor prognosis. This might be of therapeutic value for allocating patients with colorectal carcinoma to different treatment modalities.Keywords: b-Catenin COX-2 Colorectal carcinoma Immunohistochemistry Prognosi

Parameter Estimation for the New Weibull Pareto Distribution under Type II Censored Samples

In this paper, parameters estimation under type II censored samples and the corresponding variance covariance matrix for the new WeibullndashPareto distribution are obtained. Nasiru and Luguterah (2015) Results may be considered as a special case from present results. An illustrative example is carried out by using a simulated data

Vibration Control in MEMS Resonator Using Positive Position Feedback (PPF) Controller

In this paper, the vibration of a micro-electromechanical resonator with positive position feedback controller is studied. The analytical results are obtained to the first order approximation by using the multiple scale perturbation technique. The stability of the steady-state solution is presented and studied applying frequency response equations near the simultaneous primary and internal resonance cases. The effects of the controller and some system parameters on the vibrating system are studied numerically. The main result of this paper indicates that it is possible to reduce the vibration for the resonator system

New types of generalizations of θ-closed sets

The aim of this paper is to introduce and study the class of T-closed sets as a generalization of θ-closed sets, which is properly placed between θ-closed sets and closed sets. A generalization of T-closed sets, namely, generalized T-closed sets is introduced and studied, which is properly placed between T-closed sets and g-closed sets

On modeling two immune effectors two strain antigen interaction

In this paper we consider the fractional order model with two immune effectors interacting with two strain antigen. The systems may explain the recurrence of some diseases e.g. tuberculosis (TB). The stability of equilibrium points are studied. Numerical solutions of this model are given. Using integer order system the system oscillates. Using fractional order system the system converges to a stable internal equilibrium. Ulam-Hyers stability of the system has been studied

Investigation of furo[2,3-h]- and pyridazino[3,4-f]cinnolin-3-ol scaffolds as substrates for the development of novel HIV-1 integrase inhibitors

With the aim to develop novel HIV-1 integrase inhibitors, we obtained a set of condensed ring systems based on the furo[2,3-h]cinnolin-3(2H)-one and pyridazino[3,4-f]cinnolin-3-ol scaffolds bearing a potential chelating pharmacophore, which can be involved in the inhibition mechanism of the enzyme. Herein, we report the design, synthesis, structural investigation and preliminary biological results of these heteroaromatic systems

Task Scheduling Optimization in Cloud Computing by Jaya Algorithm

Cloud computing provides resources to its consumers as a service. The cloud computing paradigm offers dynamic services by providing virtualized resources via the internet for enabling applications, and these services are provided by large-scale data centers known as clouds. Cloud computing is entirely reliant on the internet to provide its services to consumers. Cloud computing offers several advantages, including the fact that users only pay for what they use weekly, monthly, or yearly, that anybody with an internet connection may use the cloud, and that there is no need to purchase resources, hardware, or software on their own. This paper proposes an efficient task scheduling algorithm based on the Jaya algorithm for the cloud computing environment. We evaluate the performance of our method by applying it to three instances. The recommended technique produced the optimal solution in makespan, speedup, efficiency, and throughput, according to the findings

Geophysical investigations of a geothermal anomaly at Wadi Ghadir, eastern Egypt

During regional heat flow studies a geothermal anomaly was discovered approximately 2 km from the Red Sea coast at Wadi Ghadir, in the Red Sea Hills of Eastern Egypt. A temperature gradient of 55 C/km was measured in a 150 m drillhole at this location, indicating a heat flow of approximately 175 mw/sqm, approximately four times the regional background heat flow for Egypt. Gravity and magnetic data were collected along Wadi Ghadir, and combined with offshore gravity data, to investigate the source of the thermal anomaly. Magnetic anomalies in the profile do not coincide with the thermal anomaly, but were observed to correlate with outcrops of basic rocks. Other regional heat flow and gravity data indicate that the transition from continental to oceanic type lithosphere occurs close to the Red Sea margin, and that the regional thermal anomaly is possibly related to the formation of the Red Sea

Role of hydrogen in volatile behaviour of defects in SiO2-based electronic devices

Charge capture and emission by point defects in gate oxides of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) strongly affect reliability and performance of electronic devices. Recent advances in experimental techniques used for probing defect properties have led to new insights into their characteristics. In particular, these experimental data show a repeated dis- and reappearance (the so-called volatility) of the defect-related signals. We use multiscale modelling to explain the charge capture and emission as well as defect volatility in amorphous SiO2 gate dielectrics. We first briefly discuss the recent experimental results and use a multiphonon charge capture model to describe the charge-trapping behaviour of defects in silicon-based MOSFETs. We then link this model to ab initio calculations that investigate the three most promising defect candidates. Statistical distributions of defect characteristics obtained from ab initio calculations in amorphous SiO2 are compared with the experimentally measured statistical properties of charge traps. This allows us to suggest an atomistic mechanism to explain the experimentally observed volatile behaviour of defects. We conclude that the hydroxyl-E′ centre is a promising candidate to explain all the observed features, including defect volatility