Insect chromosomes preparing methods for genetic researches

Cytogenetics are almost always based on the examination of the fixed mitotic chromosomes during the analyses of metaphase. During this phase of the cycle of cells, the DNA is folded up and chromatin is strongly condensed. The relative position of the centromere is constant, which means that the ratio of the lengths of the two arms is constant for each chromosome. Importantly, each chromosome displays a unique banding pattern. Different staining methods showed the banding pattern (g band), centromere position (c band), cytophotometric estimation and specific DNA regions (FISH). This study aims to show the important chromosome staining methods

Hymenoptera of Nide province: Studies on Sphecidae fauna

The present study is based on 1240 specimens obtained from the field studies in the vicinity of Ankara province in Turkey between the years of 2006 - 2008. In fauna studies carried out in Nide province between May 2006 - October 2008, the specimens of Sphecinae Latreille, 1802, PempheredoninaeDahlbom, 1835, Astatianae Lepeletier, 1845, Crabroninae Latreille, 1802, Bembicinae Latreille, 1802, Philanthinae Latreille, 1802 sub-families belonging to Sphecidae family were collected. 52 of the collected specimens are new records for Nide province. Astata pontica Pulawski, 1958 species is anew record for Turkey

Preliminary study and Identification of insects’ species of forensic importance in Urmia, Iran

The proper identification of the insect and arthropod species of forensic importance is the most crucial element in the field of forensic entomology. The main objective in this study was the identification of insects’ species of forensic importance in Urmia (37°, 33 N. and 45°, 4, 45 E.) and establishment of a preliminary data-base for forensic entomology purposes in Iran for the first time. A combination of various body viscera and tissues of some of vertebrates (sheep, cow, fish and hen), such as head, paunch, spleen, intestine, derma and liver was exposed in an open land on the private possession for 53 days. Ambient daily temperature (maximum and minimum) and relative humidity values were recorded; and existing keys were used for identification of different species. During the period of study, rainfall was none; average total temperature was 23.77°C; and average of mean RH or average total RH was 46.41%. Five stages of decomposition were recognized. A total of 3179 individuals were collected; belonging to 5 orders (Diptra, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Dermaptera and Blattaria), 11 families, 16 genera and 18 species: Psychoda sp, (Dip. Psychodidae), Calliphora vicina (Dip. Calliphoridae),Calliphora vomitoria (Dip. Calliphoridae), Lucilia sericata (Dip. Calliphoridae), Chrysoma sp. (Dip.Calliphoridae), Musca domestica (Dip. Muscidae), Muscina stabulans (Dip. Muscidae), Fannia canicularis (Dip. Fannidae), Sarcophaga haemorrhoidalis (Dip. Sarcophagidae), Sarcophaga sp. (Dip.Sarcophagidae), Wohlfartia magnifica (Dip. Sarcophagidae), Dermestes maculates (Col. Dermestidae), Necrophorus sp.(Col.Silphidae), Blatta orientalis (Blattaria . Blattidae), Vespula germanica (Hym.Vespidae), Messor caducus (Hym. Formicidae), Cataglyphis sp. (Hym. Formicidae) andForficula auricularia (Dermaptera. Forficulidae). The species of Psychoda sp, (Dip. Psychodidae), M. caducus, Cataglyphis sp. (Hym. Formicidae) and F. auricularia (Dermaptera. Forficulidae) are seldomly reported in previous researches; and they were heavily focused to tissues of animals in these studies

Acceptability, reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Turkish version of WOMAC osteoarthritis index

SummaryObjectiveTo evaluate the acceptability, reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Turkish version of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) osteoarthritis (OA) index in physiotherapy outpatient practice in Turkey.MethodData were obtained from 72 patients with OA of the knee. They were asked to answer two disease-specific questionnaires (WOMAC LK 3.1 and Lequesne-Algofunctional Index of Severity for the knee) and one generic instrument (Medical Outcomes study SF-36 Survey-SF-36). Acceptability was assessed in terms of refusal rate, rates of missing responses, and administration time. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Content validity was assessed by examining the floor and ceiling effects, and skew of the distributions. Convergent and divergent validity was assessed by examining the Pearson's correlation coefficients. Responsiveness was determined by examining effect size (ES), standardized response means (SRM) and P values generated using Wilcoxon's test.ResultsThe overall response rate was 100%. Alpha values for all WOMAC subscales exceeded the value of 0.70 at both baseline and follow-up assessments. Frequency distributions of scores were symmetrical. Subscales had negligible floor and ceiling effects. Both pain and physical function subscales were fairly correlated with the subscales measuring similar constructs of SF-36, whereas they were weakly correlated with other dimensions of SF-36. A good correlation was obtained between WOMAC total and Lequesne index. The pain and physical function subscales of WOMAC index were the most responsive subscales.ConclusionThe Turkish WOMAC OA index is acceptable, valid, reliable and responsive for use in Turkish patients with knee OA

Quantal effects on spinodal instabilities in charge asymmetric nuclear matter

Quantal effects on growth of spinodal instabilities in charge asymmetric nuclear matter are investigated in the framework of a stochastic mean field approach. Due to quantal effects, in both symmetric and asymmetric matter, dominant unstable modes shift towards longer wavelengths and modes with wave numbers larger than the Fermi momentum are strongly suppressed. As a result of quantum statistical effects, in particular at lower temperatures, magnitude of density fluctuations grows larger than those calculated in semi-classical approximation

Analysis of Granular Flow in a Pebble-Bed Nuclear Reactor

Pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, which is currently being revived around the world, raises fundamental questions about dense granular flow in silos. A typical reactor core is composed of graphite fuel pebbles, which drain very slowly in a continuous refueling process. Pebble flow is poorly understood and not easily accessible to experiments, and yet it has a major impact on reactor physics. To address this problem, we perform full-scale, discrete-element simulations in realistic geometries, with up to 440,000 frictional, viscoelastic 6cm-diameter spheres draining in a cylindrical vessel of diameter 3.5m and height 10m with bottom funnels angled at 30 degrees or 60 degrees. We also simulate a bidisperse core with a dynamic central column of smaller graphite moderator pebbles and show that little mixing occurs down to a 1:2 diameter ratio. We analyze the mean velocity, diffusion and mixing, local ordering and porosity (from Voronoi volumes), the residence-time distribution, and the effects of wall friction and discuss implications for reactor design and the basic physics of granular flow.Comment: 18 pages, 21 figure

A stochastic flow rule for granular materials

There have been many attempts to derive continuum models for dense granular flow, but a general theory is still lacking. Here, we start with Mohr-Coulomb plasticity for quasi-2D granular materials to calculate (average) stresses and slip planes, but we propose a "stochastic flow rule" (SFR) to replace the principle of coaxiality in classical plasticity. The SFR takes into account two crucial features of granular materials - discreteness and randomness - via diffusing "spots" of local fluidization, which act as carriers of plasticity. We postulate that spots perform random walks biased along slip-lines with a drift direction determined by the stress imbalance upon a local switch from static to dynamic friction. In the continuum limit (based on a Fokker-Planck equation for the spot concentration), this simple model is able to predict a variety of granular flow profiles in flat-bottom silos, annular Couette cells, flowing heaps, and plate-dragging experiments -- with essentially no fitting parameters -- although it is only expected to function where material is at incipient failure and slip-lines are inadmissible. For special cases of admissible slip-lines, such as plate dragging under a heavy load or flow down an inclined plane, we postulate a transition to rate-dependent Bagnold rheology, where flow occurs by sliding shear planes. With different yield criteria, the SFR provides a general framework for multiscale modeling of plasticity in amorphous materials, cycling between continuum limit-state stress calculations, meso-scale spot random walks, and microscopic particle relaxation

Simulation of High Conversion Efficiency and Open-circuit Voltages Of {\alpha}-si/poly-silicon Solar Cell

The P+ {\alpha}-Si /N+ polycrystalline solar cell is molded using the AMPS-1D device simulator to explore the new high efficiency thin film poly-silicon solar cell. In order to analyze the characteristics of this device and the thickness of N+ poly-silicon, we consider the impurity concentration in the N+ poly-silicon layer and the work function of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) in front contact in the calculation. The thickness of N+ poly-silicon has little impact on the device when the thickness varies from 20 {\mu}m to 300 {\mu}m. The effects of impurity concentration in polycrystalline are analyzed. The conclusion is drawn that the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of P+ {\alpha}-Si /N+ polycrystalline solar cell is very high, reaching 752 mV, and the conversion efficiency reaches 9.44%. Therefore, based on the above optimum parameters the study on the device formed by P+ {\alpha}-Si/N+ poly-silicon is significant in exploring the high efficiency poly-silicon solar cell.Comment: 8 pages 6figures, 1 table

Quantal description of nucleon exchange in a stochastic mean-field approach

The nucleon exchange mechanism is investigated in central collisions of symmetric heavy ions in the basis of the stochastic mean-field approach. Quantal diffusion coefficients for nucleon exchange are calculated by including non-Markovian effects and shell structure. Variances of fragment mass distributions are calculated in central collisions of Ca-40 + Ca-40, Ca-48 + Ca-48, and N-56 i+ Ni-56 systems

Manipulating multiple sequence alignments via MaM and WebMaM

MaM is a software tool that processes and manipulates multiple alignments of genomic sequence. MaM computes the exact location of common repeat elements, exons and unique regions within aligned genomics sequences using a variety of user identified programs, databases and/or tables. The program can extract subalignments, corresponding to these various regions of DNA to be analyzed independently or in conjunction with other elements of genomic DNA. Graphical displays further allow an assessment of sequence variation throughout these different regions of the aligned sequence, providing separate displays for their repeat, non-repeat and coding portions of genomic DNA. The program should facilitate the phylogenetic analysis and processing of different portions of genomic sequence as part of large-scale sequencing efforts. MaM source code is freely available for non-commercial use at ; and the web interface WebMaM is hosted at