Xenopus and Zebrafish Annotation in the UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProtKB)

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis and the zebrafish Danio rerio have both proved to be good model organisms for studying early vertebrate cellular and developmental biology. More recently, the related western clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis has become a popular choice in the laboratory, since its shorter life style and diploid genome make it more amenable to genetic analysis. Ongoing sequencing of the X. tropicalis and D. rerio genomes, together with the growing number of EST/cDNA projects, is generating large amounts of sequence data and revealing many human developmental and disease genes that have counterparts in fish and frog.

UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot curates Xenopus and zebrafish proteins with functional and sequence annotation from the literature and sequence analysis tools, using both controlled vocabularies (including GO terms) and free text. The tetraploid nature of the X. laevis and D. rerio genomes complicates annotation since the protein copies need to be identified and curated as separate UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entries. The recent addition of Xenbase cross-references in Xenopus UniProtKB entries has been the result of cross-talk with Xenbase, and we continue to collaborate with ZFIN to ensure consistency between databases. 

UniProt is mainly supported by the NIH, European Commission FELICS, Swiss Federal Government, PATRIC BRC and NSF grants.
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Research into how different stakeholders value geodiversity within Malta's coastal environment

Geodiversity refers to the variety of geological, geomorphological and soil features, and their assemblages, properties, relationships, systems and interpretations[1].For years geodiversity conservation has come second to biodiversity, with many finding it difficult to define the two separately[2].The research conducted aimed to explore the diverse set of ways geodiversity was valued between tourists and locals, and whether coastal sites were treated differently to others. The question ‘Do tourists and locals value geodiversity differently in three separate coastal environments’ was used throughout the study

Seismological studies at the hengill geothermal area SW Iceland

Iceland is a sub-aerial part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge which has formed above an E migrating ridge centred hotspot. The Hengill area is a ridge-ridge-transform triple point that contains a central volcano-fissure swarm system and a large geothermal area. A seismological study of this triple point was conducted with the main emphasis on natural earthquake studies. The aims were to study the geothermal prospect and tectonic structure and to evaluate the passive seismic method as a geothermal prospecting tool. The area exhibits continuous small magnitude earthquake activity that correlates positively with surface geothermal displays, and negatively with surface faulting. The log (cumulative frequency) magnitude relationship is linear and indicates a b value of 0.74 ± 0.06. Focal mechanisms for 178 events indicated both shear and tensile crack type movements, the latter being confined to the high temperature geothermal area. Teleseismic and explosion data indicate a low velocity body beneath the central volcano in the depth range 0 - 10 km, flanked by higher velocity bodies to the W and E. Two volcanic systems occupy the Hengill area : the presently active Hengill system and the extinct Grensdalur system. The ongoing seismicity of the area is attributed to contraction cracking due to the action of cool groundwater fluids on hot rook, which, in a tensile stress regime, results in tensile crack formation. The high temperature area is fuelled by two heat sources associated with the two volcanic systems and may be divided into two separate fields that exhibit contrasting reservoir characteristics. Local seismioity studies may be applied to other Icelandic high temperature geothermal areas as a tool to map those volumes of rock that are fueling the geothermal reservoirs. The continuous formation of small tensile cracks on accretionary plate boundaries offers an explanation for the mechanism of dyke injection

Water chemistry variations below regulating reservoirs in Great Britain

The downstream influence of storage reservoirs upon river water chemistry is an area largely devoid of literature. Yet approximately fifty per cent of such reservoirs in Great Britain significantly regulate flow, both by flood control, and increasingly through irregular but discrete large-volume releases. Natural patterns of stream water chemistry are shown to be disturbed by the effects of Man, through changing land-use and effluent discharge. Moreover, the establishment of a reservoir in the head waters of a major river, can change the water quality regime for a considerable distance below the dam. [Continues.

A 0-1 integer programming model for the simultaneous allocation of operations of part types and grouping of machine-tool combinations.

In today\u27s competitive world, for manufacturers to survive in the market and to compete on a global level, several innovative strategies are being developed and practised. In industries which manufacture a variety of products in lots, one of the well known manufacturing strategies or systems is cellular manufacturing systems (CMS). CMS has several advantages especially for manufacturers who produce a medium variety of products in medium volumes. The tangible benefits are reduction in cycle time of the product, reduced inventory, improved quality, possibility to meet customer demands on time etc.; the intangible benefits are flexibility in the system, increased control of the process, improvement in employee morale etc. This proposed research is an attempt to group machines into cells, assign tools to the machines, and then to allocate operations of parts to the machine-tool combinations, simultaneously. In this research a 0-1 integer programming model is developed for the purpose mentioned above. The objective of the model is to reduce operation costs, material handling costs and refixturing costs, taking into consideration tooling, machine capacity and tool life.Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1997 .F68. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 37-01, page: 0335. Adviser: Reza S. Lashkari. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1997

Essentially water-free polymerized crystalline colloidal array composites having tunable radiation diffracting properties and process for making

The present invention is directed to a composite having tunable radiation diffracting properties which includes a flexible, water-free polymeric matrix and a crystalline colloidal array of particles having a lattice spacing, the array being embedded in the polymeric matrix and the lattice spacing changing responsive to stress applied to the polymeric matrix, thereby causing the radiation diffracting properties to change, wherein the polymeric matrix, the lattice spacing and the radiation diffracting properties all return to their original state essentially immediately upon removal of the stress. The present inventive composite is preferably made by a process, which involves forming a preliminary hydrogel polymerized crystalline colloidal array (PCCA), dehydrating the PCCA, and then forming a final, encapsulating polymeric matrix