T-tubule biogenesis and triad formation in skeletal muscle and implication in human diseases

In skeletal muscle, the excitation-contraction (EC) coupling machinery mediates the translation of the action potential transmitted by the nerve into intracellular calcium release and muscle contraction. EC coupling requires a highly specialized membranous structure, the triad, composed of a central T-tubule surrounded by two terminal cisternae from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. While several proteins located on these structures have been identified, mechanisms governing T-tubule biogenesis and triad formation remain largely unknown. Here, we provide a description of triad structure and plasticity and review the role of proteins that have been linked to T-tubule biogenesis and triad formation and/or maintenance specifically in skeletal muscle: caveolin 3, amphiphysin 2, dysferlin, mitsugumins, junctophilins, myotubularin, ryanodine receptor, and dihydhropyridine Receptor. The importance of these proteins in triad biogenesis and subsequently in muscle contraction is sustained by studies on animal models and by the direct implication of most of these proteins in human myopathies

A framework for integrating and transforming between ontologies and relational databases

Bridging the gap between ontologies, expressed in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), and relational databases is a necessity for realising the Semantic Web vision. Relational databases are considered a good solution for storing and processing ontologies with a large amount of data. Moreover, the vast majority of current websites store data in relational databases, and therefore being able to generate ontologies from such databases is important to support the development of the Semantic Web. Most of the work concerning this topic has either (1) extracted an OWL ontology from an existing relational database that represents as exactly as possible the relational schema, using a limited range of OWL modelling constructs, or (2) extracted a relational database from an existing OWL ontology, that represents as much as possible the OWL ontology. By way of contrast, this thesis proposes a general framework for transforming and mapping between ontologies and databases, via an intermediate low-level Hyper-graph Data Model. The transformation between relational and OWL schemas is expressed using directional Both-As-View mappings, allowing a precise definition of the equivalence between the two schemas, hence data can be mapped back and forth between them. In particular, for a given OWL ontology, we interpret the expressive axioms either as triggers, conforming to the Open-World Assumption, that performs a forward-chaining materialisation of inferred data, or as constraints, conforming to the Closed-World Assumption, that performs a consistency checking. With regards to extracting ontologies from relational databases, we transform a relational database into an exact OWL ontology, then enhance it with rich OWL 2 axioms, using a combination of schema and data analysis. We then apply machine learning algorithms to rank the suggested axioms based on past users’ relevance. A proof-of-concept tool, OWLRel, has been implemented, and a number of well-known ontologies and databases have been used to evaluate the approach and the OWLRel tool.Open Acces

Leadership Challenges for Women Managers in Public Universities in Saudi Arabia

Recent deliverances by king Abdullah in Saudi Arabia SA has opened many doors for women over the past seven years Women joined the consultative assembly in 2013 in the same year three women were named as deputy chair persons of three committees In 2011 King Abdullah announced that women would be allowed to vote and run for office in the 2015 municipal elections All these actions grant Saudi women the chance to occupy managerial positions in many organizations However Saudi women in managerial positions face many challenges The purpose of this study is to recognize the challenges that female managers in public Saudi universities face in their managerial positions The paper adopted an in- depth personal interviewsmethod in order to gain a deep understanding of the specific challenges faced by female managers in public universities Nineteen female managers of which 10 were in high managerial positions of universities were interviewed The study found that Saudi female managers face a number of challenges the most important challenge is the long working hours dealing with different natures of subordinates and lack of authorization The study provided a number of recommendations to decision makers in order to alleviate those challenges such as the limitation of female long working hours by decentralization and better distribution of work load Training programs in management and communication skills would help female managers to better manage and communicate with subordinates Authorization should be given to female managers in order to be able to issue decisions necessary for their department

The text & the image: translating children's literature from English to Arabic

Studies dealing with the translation of children's literature from English into Arabic are almost non-existent in both the West and the Arab world. This is despite the fact that most Arabic children's stories are mainly translations from foreign languages in which English as a source language has pride of place. Such a situation may be attributed to the fact that children's literature in the Arab world is regarded as subsidiary to adult literature and, thus, is not sufficiently discussed in literary, linguistic and/or translation studies.The thesis presents textual analyses of translations of children's literature from English into Arabic. To facilitate analyses, a framework will be developed, making use of a number of insights, including some recent text-linguistic approaches and the literary polysystem theory. An attempt is made to establish a connection between the various components of a children's story, including illustrations, and the textual choices of the translator. A number of stories translated from English into Arabic will be analysed both at the macro- and micro- levels of the text. Most of the stories used in this research are aimed at children between the age group of 4-8 years old.A range of issues will be discussed in the thesis. These include the influence of Arabic diglossia on translated children's literature (register); the way writers in Arabic and English construct their messages according to their intended audience and the influence of that on the target language reader (pragmatics); and the continuous interaction between the textual material and illustrations in both the source and target language texts (text-type, genre, discourse and illustrations)

Knowledge Transformation using a Hypergraph Data Model

In the Semantic Web, knowledge integration is frequently performed between heterogeneous knowledge bases. Such knowledge integration often requires the schema expressed in one knowledge modelling language be translated into an equivalent schema in another knowledge modelling language. This paper defines how schemas expressed in OWL-DL (the Web Ontology Language using Description Logic) can be translated into equivalent schemas in the Hypergraph Data Model (HDM). The HDM is used in the AutoMed data integration (DI) system. It allows constraints found in data modelling languages to be represented by a small set of primitive constraint operators. By mapping into the AutoMed HDM language, we are then able to further map the OWL-DL schemas into any of the existing modelling languages supported by AutoMed. We show how previously defined transformation rules between relational and HDM schemas, and our newly defined rules between OWL-DL and HDM schemas, can be composed to give a bidirectional mapping between OWL-DL and relational schemas through the use of the both-as-view approach in AutoMed

EFEKTIVITAS KOMUNIKASI DAKWAH DALAM PEMBINAAN MASYARAKAT

ABSTRAKDalam penelitian ini penulis menggunakan metode kualitatif, dan menggunakan metode pengumpulan data dengan cara melakukan wawancara dengan para narasumber dan observasi di lapangan. Proses analisis yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini melalui reduksi data, penyajian data kemudian dilakukan penarikan kesimpulan. penelitian dengan metode kualitatif, pada skripsi ini peneliti melakukan penelitian mengenai efektivitas komunikasi dakwah dalam pembinaan masyarakat di desa balean kecamatan lobu kabupaten banggai Sulawesi tengah. Dan yang menjadi sasaran utama dalam penelitian ini adalah tentang bagaimana gambaran keagamaan masyarakat di desa balean kec lobu kab banggai Sulawesi tengah, kemudian bagaiamana komunikasi dakwah dalam kegiatan-kegiatan keagamaan di desa balean kec lobu kab banggai Sulawesi tengah, dan bagaiaman efektivitas komunikasi dakwah dalam pembinaan masyarakat di desa balean kec balean kab banggai Sulawesi tengah, kemudian untuk mengetahui efektivitas komunikasi dakwah yang tepat dalam pembinaan masyarakat dan untuk menjelaskan upaya yang dilakukan oleh para da’i dalam pembinaan yang efektiv kepada masyarakat dan juga untuk memberikan gambaran yang efektiv untuk para da’i dalam pembinaan kepada masyarakat. Kata Kunci: Komunikasi dakwah, MasyarakatABSTRACTIn this study the author uses qualitative methods, and uses methods of data collection by conducting interviews with the speakers and observations in the field. The analysis process used in this study is through data reduction, data presentation and then drawing conclusions. research with qualitative methods, in this thesis the researcher conducted a study on the effectiveness of da'wah communication in community development in the village of Balean Subdistrict Lobu, proudi district, Central Sulawesi. And the main target in this research is about the religious picture of the community in the village of Balean, Kec. Lobo Kab., Central Sulawesi, then how to preach communication in religious activities in the village of Balean Kec Lobu Kab proudi, Central Sulawesi, and how the effectiveness of Da'wah communication in formation the community in the village of balean kec balean kab proudi, Central Sulawesi, then to find out the effectiveness of the right da'wah communication in community development and to explain the efforts made by the preachers in effective guidance to the community and also to provide an effective picture for the da'i in fostering the community.Keywords: Da'wah Communication, Societ

Experimental study for evaluating the response of the power take off of a point absorber wave energy generation system using a hydraulic wave simulator

The increase in energy prices and the need to control the rate of climate change are two of the biggest challenges facing the planet. Despite the fact that the wave energy technology is still in its infancy, it is considered one of the most promising renewable energy sources that exhibits a large potential for sustainable growth towards Net Zero. In this paper, a novel design methodology for a new wave energy generation system is presented and the performance of its power take-off (PTO) or drivetrain is analysed. A complete description of the wave energy generation system is presented including the general concept of the power take-off, configuration, mechanical design, electrical system, simulation test-rig, expected power out and the force load on the system. The results from the power take-off system obtained from the simulation process of the test-rig using a hydraulic linear wave simulator, show that the change in the electric load produces different power and force values and consequently a wide range of efficiencies. It has been noticed that increasing the electric load leads to a better efficiency, i.e., high power and force values. However, there is a certain threshold where the system stops behaving in its high performance and its efficiency drops notably. This threshold depends not only on the electric load, but also on the values of the fixed parameters, i.e., wave cycle time, wave height and frequency. The finding will support the complete design of a point absorber system, including the buoy design, to interact with the expected level of wave patterns

The Antifungal Effect of Propolis Endodontic Irrigant with Three Other Irrigation Solutions in Presence and Absence of Smear Layer: An In Vitro Study

Introduction: the aim of this in vitro study was to compare the antifungal effect of propolis as an endodontic irrigant agent with a mixture of doxycycline, citric acid, and a detergent (MTAD), 2% chlorhexidine (CHX) and 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) against Candida albicans in presence and absence of smear layer. Methods and Materials: Extracted teeth with single canals (n=104) were prepared and randomly distributed into four experimental groups; 30% propolis, MTAD, 2% CHX and 3% NaOCl. Each group had two subgroups; with and without smear layer. The antifungal effectiveness was evaluated. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the overall effectiveness of different treatments at significance level of 0.05. Results: Propolis, CHX and NaOCl had similar levels of effectiveness to each other against C. albicans, and these levels were not affected by the presence or absence of the smear layer. Each irrigant was significantly more effective than MTAD or saline solution. MTAD was less effective in the presence of the smear layer than in its absence. Conclusions: Propolis irrigation can produce root canals that are free of C. albicans, even in the presence of the smear layer. Keywords: Candida albicans; Chlorhexidine; Irrigating Solution; Propolis; Smear Layer; Sodium Hypochlorit