A study of the effect of open biomass burning aerosol on rainfall event over Malaysia by using EOF analysis.

Significant biomass burning aerosols resulted from biomass burning activities from Sumatra and Kalimantan Island transported to Malaysia every year from August to October by the southeast monsoon. These transboundary haze changes the precipitation pattern by aerosol interaction with radiation and cloud which affects the solar radiation budget and cloud condensation nuclei properties. In this work, empirical orthogonal function (EOF) was used to assess the effect of biomass burning aerosol on rainfall pattern over Malaysia from both a spatial and a temporal perspective. Over Peninsular Malaysia, regional rainfall activities tend to be suppressed by concentrated biomass burning aerosols and produce another heavy rain over the downwind areas after 30-60 days (60 days) under highly (less) populated condition. Similar precipitation pattern has been indicated over Sarawak and Sabah where biomass burning aerosols suppress rainfall in the southwestern area while leads to a more intensified rainfall event in the northeast area with 30-60 days (60 days) interval under highly (less) populated condition

A brain-derived MeCP2 complex supports a role for MeCP2 in RNA processing

Mutations in MECP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) are linked to the severe postnatal neurodevelopmental disorder RTT (Rett syndrome). MeCP2 was originally characterized as a transcriptional repressor that preferentially bound methylated DNA; however, recent results indicate MeCP2 is a multifunctional protein. MeCP2 binding is now associated with certain expressed genes and involved in nuclear organization as well, indicating that its gene regulatory function is context-dependent. In addition, MeCP2 is proposed to regulate mRNA splicing and a mouse model for RTT shows aberrant mRNA splicing. To further understand MeCP2 and potential roles in RTT pathogenesis, we have employed a biochemical approach to identify the MeCP2 protein complexes present in the mammalian brain. We show that MeCP2 exists in at least four biochemically distinct pools in the brain and characterize one novel brain-derived MeCP2 complex that contains the splicing factor Prpf3 (pre-mRNA processing factor 3). MeCP2 directly interacts with Prpf3 in vitro and in vivo and many MECP2 RTT truncations disrupt the MeCP2-Prpf3 complex. In addition, MeCP2 and Prpf3 associate in vivo with mRNAs from genes known to be expressed when their promoters are associated with MeCP2. These results support a role for MeCP2 in mRNA biogenesis and suggest an additional mechanism for RTT pathophysiology

Development of Taenia saginata asiatica metacestodes in SCID mice and its infectivity in human and alternative definitive hosts

Development of Taenia saginata asiatica metacestodes in SCID mice, and its infectivity in humans, golden hamsters, and Mongolian gerbils as alternative definitive hosts, were investigated. Cysticerci were recovered from SCID mice that were subcutaneously injected with hatched oncospheres of T. s. asiatica. The morphological changes of metacestodes were observed. The recovered cysticerci were fed to gerbils, hamsters and humans, to check for their infectivity. Tapeworms were recovered from gerbils and hamsters fed with 20 to 45 week-old cysticerci, and proglottids excretions were observed in human volunteers fed with 45 week-old cysticerci. However, no tapeworms were recovered from gerbils fed with 10 week-old cysticerci. Our results suggest that T. s. asiatica oncospheres needed more than 20 weeks to develop to maturity in SCID mice to be infective to both their natural and alternative definitive hosts

Vortex Matter Transition in Bi2{}_2Sr2{}_2CaCu2{}_2O8+y{}_{8+y} under Tilted Fields

Vortex phase diagram under tilted fields from the $c$ axis in Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+y}$ is studied by local magnetization hysteresis measurements using Hall probes. When the field is applied at large angles from the $c$ axis, an anomaly ($H_p^\ast$) other than the well-known peak effect ($H_p$) are found at fields below $H_p$. The angular dependence of the field $H_p^\ast$ is nonmonotonic and clearly different from that of $H_p$ and depends on the oxygen content of the crystal. The results suggest existence of a vortex matter transition under tilted fields. Possible mechanisms of the transition are discussed.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, some corrections are adde

High Aspect Pattern Formation by Integration of Micro Inkjetting and Electroless Plating

This paper reports on formation of high aspect micro patterns on low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates by integrating micro inkjetting with electroless plating. Micro inkjetting was realized by using an inkjetting printer that ejects ink droplets from a printhead. This printhead consists of a glass nozzle with a diameter of 50 micrometers and a piezoelectric transducer that is coated on the nozzle. The silver colloidal solution was inkjetted on a sintered CT800 ceramic substrate, followed by curing at 200 degrees C for 60 minutes. As a result, the silver trace with a thickness of 200 nm was obtained. The substrate, with the ejected silver thin film as the seed layer, was then immersed into a preinitiator solution to coat a layer of palladium for enhancing the deposition of nickel. Electroless nickel plating was successfully conducted at a rate of 0.39 micrometers /min, and the thickness of traces was plated up to 84 micrometers. This study demonstrates that the integration of inkjetting with plating is an effective method to form high aspect patterns at the demand location.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

Development of platform-independent web-based telecardiology application for pilot case study

Telecardiology is one of the branches from telemedicine that transmits cardiac data such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and medical records from the patient site to cardiologist for the purpose of diagnosis by using telecommunication and information technologies. Most of the current commercialized telecardiology applications are cost expensive, vendor-specific, and dependent on computing platform and operating system (OS). There are plenty of research have been done on web-based telecardiology application either in real-time transmission or store - And-forward. In this paper, a platform-independent and OS-independent web-based telecardiology application, named VirtualDave System, is developed. The proposed system allow users to log on and access from any computer or mobile communication devices such as smart phone as long as they have internet access and web browser. The developed application allows users in categories of patient, administrator, medical officer and cardiologist, to communicate and get medical consultation without long distance traveling. With the improvement to the system dependency and functionality enhancement such as instant messaging, this web-based telecardiology could significantly help to improve the health care services especially in rural area

Controlling laser spectra in a phaseonium photonic crystal using maser

We study the control of quantum resonances in photonic crystals with electromagnetically induced transparency driven by microwave field. In addition to the control laser, the intensity and phase of the maser can alter the transmission and reflection spectra in interesting ways, producing hyperfine resonances through the combined effects of multiple scattering in the superstructure.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Global Optimization by Energy Landscape Paving

We introduce a novel heuristic global optimization method, energy landscape paving (ELP), which combines core ideas from energy surface deformation and tabu search. In appropriate limits, ELP reduces to existing techniques. The approach is very general and flexible and is illustrated here on two protein folding problems. For these examples, the technique gives faster convergence to the global minimum than previous approaches.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2002

Evolution of the Caribbean Species of Columnea (Gesneriaceae) with an Emphasis on the Jamaican Species

Premise of research. Biogeography has improved understanding of evolution and diversification of organisms on both continental and island systems. One complicated island group in terms of geological history and biogeographic pattern is the Caribbean island system. A comparison across taxonomic groups does not result in overarching patterns for this group of islands. Columnea has the greatest number of species endemic to the Caribbean for any genus in Gesneriaceae that is not mostly endemic to the Caribbean with 16 species. Thirteen of these species are found on Jamaica, the remaining three each endemic to Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. In addition, populations of Columnea sanguinea and Columnea scandens are known from both mainland and multiple Caribbean islands. We investigate the pattern of evolution in Caribbean species of Columnea and attempt to explain the large number of species found on the island of Jamaica relative to the other islands. We explicitly test whether Caribbean species of Columnea are monophyletic and whether the 13 species endemic to Jamaica are a monophyletic group. This genus can help understand biogeographic patterns and modes of speciation in the Caribbean. Methodology. We sampled all Caribbean species of Columnea using DNA sequence data and phylogenetic methods to understand the pattern of diversity to determine whether multiple or single introductions could explain the diversity on the Caribbean islands. Pivotal results. The Caribbean species do not form a monophyletic group. The Jamaican species are monophyletic, and the endemic Cuban species, Columnea tincta, is sister to 12 of the Jamaican species, with Columnea pubescens sister to C. tincta + remaining Jamaican species. Most Jamaican species share similar corolla morphologies to section Columnea. Although never recovered as part of section Columnea, approximately unbiased tests cannot reject a sister group relationship of the Jamaican/Cuban endemic clade to section Columnea but can reject inclusion in section Columnea. Conclusions. The high diversity of Columnea in the Caribbean is due to the disproportionate number of species on Jamaica, but there is no obvious explanation for the radiation on this island, despite considering island size, topography, pollinators, and dispersers. The large number of species could be attributed to over-splitting on Jamaica, but even if a narrower concept were followed, and four of the species were combined as varieties of Columnea hirsuta as earlier taxonomy had predicted, the number of morphologically distinctive species would still be nine and much greater than that of the other islands. Our data also indicate that C. hirsutasensu lato is not monophyletic