256 research outputs found

    Engineering prokaryote synthetic Biology biosensors

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    Proceso de cobranzas y recaudación en un centro de abastos de la región Lambayeque

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    La investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar la relación entre el proceso de cobranzas y la recaudación en un centro de abastos de la región de Lambayeque; la metodología es de tipo básica, de diseño no experimental, de corte transversal y de alcance correlacional; además, la población comprendió a 50 trabajadores y como instrumento se utilizó el cuestionario. Los resultados más representativos evidenciaron que el proceso de cobranzas obtuvo un nivel medio alto y la recaudación alcanzo un nivel medio; además, se demostró que existe relación positiva estadísticamente significativa entre cobranza y morosidad con la recaudación. Finalmente, se concluyó que existe relación positiva y estadísticamentesignificativa entre el proceso de cobranzas y la recaudación, lo cual indica que cuando la municipalidad mantiene un buen control y desarrollo de las áreas correspondientes, se pueden obtener mejores ingresos por parte de recaudación de merced conductiva en el centro de abastos

    Attenuation of Mycobacterium species through direct and macrophage mediated pathway by unsymmetrical diaryl urea

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    Tuberculosis is a major threat for mankind and the emergence of resistance strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) against first line antibiotics makes it lethal for human civilization. In this study, we have synthesized different diaryl urea derivatives targeting the inhibition of mycolic acid biosynthesis. Among the 39 synthesized molecules, compounds 46, 57, 58 and 86 showed MIC values ≤ 10 μg/ml against H37Rv and mc26030 strains. The best molecule with a methyl at ortho position of the first aromatic ring and prenyl group at the meta position of the second aromatic ring showed the MIC value of 5.2 μg/ml and 1 μg/ml against H37Rv and mc26030 respectively, with mammalian cytotoxicity of 163.4 μg/ml. The effective compounds showed selective inhibitory effect on mycolic acid (epoxy mycolate) biosynthesis in14C-radiolabelled assay. At the same time these molecules also executed their potent immunomodulatory activity by up-regulation of IFN-γ and IL-12 and down-regulation of IL-10.Fil: Velappan, Anand Babu. Sastra University; IndiaFil: Charan Raja, Mamilla R.. Sastra University; IndiaFil: Datta, Dhrubajyoti. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune; IndiaFil: Tsai, Yi Ting. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Halloum, Iman. Université de Montpellier; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Wan, Baojie. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Kremer, Laurent. Université de Montpellier; Francia. Inserm; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Gramajo, Hugo Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Franzblau, Scott G.. University of Illinois; Estados UnidosFil: Kar Mahapatra, Santanu. Sastra University; IndiaFil: Debnath, Joy. Sastra University; Indi

    Continuing development as a teacher - a China-UK example

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    LINK 2017, vol. 3, issue 1 / Copyright 2017 University of Hertfordshire.In September 2016 14 award winning university teachers from Shanghai arrived in the UK to take part in a four month programme at the University of Hertfordshire designed to enhance their educational practice. In this article, two of the programme designers and six of the participants reflect on how the experience was structured, the reasons for including particular elements, and the impact of the programme on all concerned. Questions about how experienced teachers can continue to develop professionally are posed and the impact of observing and participating in learning contexts in a different culture as part of this development are considered. Issues around the cultural underpinning of learning approaches and limitations on transferring practice from one context to another are identified. Lessons about learning for all concerned are also identified and implications for the teaching of Chinese students in UK universities are raised.Final Published versio

    Robust stability for stochastic Hopfield neural networks with time delays

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    This is the post print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright 2006 Elsevier Ltd.In this paper, the asymptotic stability analysis problem is considered for a class of uncertain stochastic neural networks with time delays and parameter uncertainties. The delays are time-invariant, and the uncertainties are norm-bounded that enter into all the network parameters. The aim of this paper is to establish easily verifiable conditions under which the delayed neural network is robustly asymptotically stable in the mean square for all admissible parameter uncertainties. By employing a Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and conducting the stochastic analysis, a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach is developed to derive the stability criteria. The proposed criteria can be checked readily by using some standard numerical packages, and no tuning of parameters is required. Examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed criteria.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK under Grant GR/S27658/01, the Nuffield Foundation of the UK under Grant NAL/00630/G, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of German

    Fast Color Quantization Using Weighted Sort-Means Clustering

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    Color quantization is an important operation with numerous applications in graphics and image processing. Most quantization methods are essentially based on data clustering algorithms. However, despite its popularity as a general purpose clustering algorithm, k-means has not received much respect in the color quantization literature because of its high computational requirements and sensitivity to initialization. In this paper, a fast color quantization method based on k-means is presented. The method involves several modifications to the conventional (batch) k-means algorithm including data reduction, sample weighting, and the use of triangle inequality to speed up the nearest neighbor search. Experiments on a diverse set of images demonstrate that, with the proposed modifications, k-means becomes very competitive with state-of-the-art color quantization methods in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, 4 table

    Characterisation of Al65Cu20Fe15 quasicrystal alloy synthesised via in-situ casting under standard room ambient and argon enriched atmosphere

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    Characterisation on a series of bulk Al65Cu20Fe15 quasicrystal alloy synthesised via in-situ induction casting under argon (Ar) enriched atmosphere and standard room ambient is the focal point of this research. The significance of atmospheric inertness in the course of induction casting process as well as the impacts of subsequent heat treatment at 650°C under 5 hours dwelling duration on the metallography of Al65Cu20Fe15 quasicrystal alloy were investigated through VPSEM coupled with EDX as well as XRD. The Al65Cu20Fe15 quasicrystal alloy specimens produced by induction casting under critically controlled inert environment and standard room ambient as well as subjected to posterior heat treatment process were inspected via vickers hardness test in accordance to ISO 6507-1:1997. Research findings inferred that inert atmospheric condition during induction casting is critical for the formation of icosahedral, i phase and served as oxidation retardant to the Al-Cu-Fe ternary system alloy, while the subsequent heat treatment at 650°C promoted the grain growth of Al65Cu20Fe15 icosahedral quasicrystalline compound

    Microbial functional traits are sensitive indicators of mild disturbance by lamb grazing.

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    Mild disturbances are prevalent in the environment, which may not be easily notable but could have considerable ecological consequences over prolonged periods. To evaluate this, a field study was designed to examine the effects of very light-intensity lamb grazing on grassland soil microbiomes with different soil backgrounds. No significant change (P > 0.05) was observed in any vegetation and soil variables. Nonetheless, hundreds of microbial functional gene families, but not bacterial taxonomy, were significantly (P < 0.05) shifted. The relative abundances of both taxonomic markers and functional genes related to nitrifying bacteria were also changed. The observation highlighted herein, showing a high level of sensitivity with respect to functional traits (functionally categorized taxa or genes) in differentiating mild environmental disturbance, suggests that the key level at which to address microbial responses may not be "species" (by means of rRNA taxonomy), but rather at the functional gene level

    Divergent taxonomic and functional responses of microbial communities to field simulation of aeolian soil erosion and deposition.

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    Aeolian soil erosion and deposition have worldwide impacts on agriculture, air quality and public health. However, ecosystem responses to soil erosion and deposition remain largely unclear in regard to microorganisms, which are the crucial drivers of biogeochemical cycles. Using integrated metagenomics technologies, we analysed microbial communities subjected to simulated soil erosion and deposition in a semiarid grassland of Inner Mongolia, China. As expected, soil total organic carbon and plant coverage were decreased by soil erosion, and soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was increased by soil deposition, demonstrating that field simulation was reliable. Soil microbial communities were altered (p < .039) by both soil erosion and deposition, with dramatic increase in Cyanobacteria related to increased stability in soil aggregates. amyA genes encoding α-amylases were specifically increased (p = .01) by soil deposition and positively correlated (p = .02) to DOC, which likely explained changes in DOC. Surprisingly, most of microbial functional genes associated with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium cycling were decreased or unaltered by both erosion and deposition, probably arising from acceleration of organic matter mineralization. These divergent responses support the necessity to include microbial components in evaluating ecological consequences. Furthermore, Mantel tests showed strong, significant correlations between soil nutrients and functional structure but not taxonomic structure, demonstrating close relevance of microbial function traits to nutrient cycling
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