Epidermal growth factor potentiates in vitro metastatic behaviour of human prostate cancer PC-3M cells: involvement of voltage-gated sodium channel

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although a high level of functional voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) expression has been found in strongly metastatic human and rat prostate cancer (PCa) cells, the mechanism(s) responsible for the upregulation is unknown. The concentration of epidermal growth factor (EGF), a modulator of ion channels, in the body is highest in prostatic fluid. Thus, EGF could be involved in the VGSC upregulation in PCa. The effects of EGF on VGSC expression in the highly metastatic human PCa PC-3M cell line, which was shown previously to express both functional VGSCs and EGF receptors, were investigated. A quantitative approach, from gene level to cell behaviour, was used. mRNA levels were determined by real-time PCR. Protein expression was studied by Western blots and immunocytochemistry and digital image analysis. Functional assays involved measurements of transverse migration, endocytic membrane activity and Matrigel invasion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Exogenous EGF enhanced the cells' <it>in vitro </it>metastatic behaviours (migration, endocytosis and invasion). Endogenous EGF had a similar involvement. EGF increased VGSC Nav1.7 (predominant isoform in PCa) mRNA and protein expressions. Co-application of the highly specific VGSC blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX) suppressed the effect of EGF on all three metastatic cell behaviours studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>1) EGF has a major involvement in the upregulation of functional VGSC expression in human PCa PC-3M cells. (2) VGSC activity has a significant intermediary role in potentiating effect of EGF in human PCa.</p

Adaptive Inverse Control

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, 2006Thesis (M.Sc.) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Science and Technology, 2006Uyarlamalı ters kontrol sistemlerinde kontrol edilecek sistemin tersi karakterde bir kontrol organı geliştirilerek, sistemin dinamiklerinin iptal edilmesi ve böylelikle kontrol organı ile seri bağlı sistem çıkışının, giriş komutunu izlemesi sağlanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, uyarlamalı ters kontrol sistemleri ve bu sistemlerin performanslarına etkiyen parametreler incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bilgiler doğrultusunda hazırlanan kontrol uygulamalarının performansları, dinamikleri zamanla değişen kararlı bir sistem ve bozucuya maruz kararsız top-kiriş düzeneği üzerinde test edilmiştir. Uyarlamalı ters kontrol sistemlerinin kararlılığını ve hızını kontrol eden yakınsama katsayısı değerinin belirlenmesinde, giriş komutu sinyalinin gücünün baskın bir etkisi vardır. Bu etkinin azaltılması amacı ile uygulamada geleneksel LMS algoritması yerine normalleştirilmiş LMS algoritması kullanılmış ve bu şekilde uyarlamalı ters kontrol sisteminin daha çabuk yakınsaması sağlanmıştır.The aim in adaptive inverse control systems is to obtain a controller having a transfer function which is the inverse of the controlled plant. The controller is connected cascade with the plant thus the plant dynamics are canceled and the output of the plant follows the controller input signal. In this study adaptive inverse control systems and the parameters which have effect on the performance of the controller are examined. Within the knowledge of the parameter effects, adaptive inverse control systems are applied on a slowly time-varying stable system and an unstable ball-beam setup. Convergence factor controls the stability and speed of the adaptive inverse control system. Power of the input signal has significant effect on the selection of the convergence factor. To decrease this effect, conventional LMS algorithm is replaced with normalized LMS in the applications. Normalized LMS algorithm provided faster convergence of the adaptive system.Yüksek LisansM.Sc

Urban growth simulation using SLEUTH in Afyonkarahisar (Turkey)

U ovoj se analizi procjenjuje promjena u razvoju područja oko grada Afyonkarahisar u budućnosti, primjenom SLEUTH modela. Osnovni je cilj prikazati simulaciju promjene razvoja grada do 2030 pomoću SLEUTH modela. U tu su svrhu razvijena dva različita modela razvoja. Kao rezultat analize ustanovljeno je da će uz postojeći scenarij razvoja, od 2011 do 2030 grad porasti za 3115 hektara, a to će rezultirati uništenjem 2300 hektara pašnjaka. Ustanovljeno je da se 2000 ha prirodnih bogatstava može zaštiti od urbanizacije i izbjeći kriva uporaba tog područja od ekonomske i društvene važnosti uz scenarij kontroliranog rasta.In this study, the change in city growth of Afyonkarahisar in the adjacent area in the future was estimated using the SLEUTH model. The main objective of this study is to show the simulation of the change in the urban growth of Afyonkarahisar until 2030 with the SLEUTH model, a cellular automata model. For this purpose, two different growth scenarios have been developed. As a result of the study, with the current growth scenario, urban development from 2011 to 2030 will increase by 3115 hectares, and it is seen that 2300 hectares of pasture areas will be destroyed with this increase. It is found that 2000 ha of natural areas can be protected from urbanization and the wrong land use of the city\u27s natural resources having social and economic importance can be avoided with the controlled growth scenario

A security framework for mobile communication

The security vulnerabilities in current GSM networks allow eavesdroppers to monitor entire communication between the mobile device and the base station over the air. In this thesis, a security framework for mobile communication is proposed. Within this framework, we develop a secure key exchange protocol using Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman (ECDH). We further employ double hash chains for session key generation in order not to repeat resource-hungry ECDH operations too often and in order to provide forward and backward secrecy. We adopt this key exchange and generation protocol to short message service (SMS) and voice communication in mobile environment. As a proof of concept, we also implement our framework on Android platform. Moreover, we analyzed the performance of our framework using different mobile equipments. For the voice communication protocol, we also measure the data network performance for various places in the city

The impact of ownership structure, board attributes and XBRL mandate on timeliness of financial reporting: Evidence from Turkey

[ArticleInPress]Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of ownership structure, board attributes and eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) on annual financial reporting timeliness of non-financial companies listed on Borsa Istanbul (BIST). Design/methodology/approach –To conduct the analyses, the authors used two samples. The main sample consists of 187 companies, while the subsample includes 54 companies in the BIST 100 index. The data set covers the 2010–2018 period. To investigate the influence of ownership structure, board attributes and XBRL on timeliness, panel regression and univariate analyses were used. To explore the factors associated with the likelihood of late filing, panel logistic regression analyses were employed. Findings –The findings provide evidence that companies that have a high level of institutional ownership and women board membership file earlier. In line with prior studies, profitable companies file their accounts faster. Highly leveraged companies are late reporters. Further, XBRL has a positive influence on the filing of financial reports for the BIST 100 companies due to technological agility. Finally, companies that have less institutional ownership and that get qualified audit opinions are more subject to late filing. Research limitations/implications – The authors acknowledge that this study has certain limitations. First, the results may not be generalized to the entire BIST population due to the exclusion of financial companies from the samples. Future research may explore the financial reporting timeliness of these companies. Second, the study did not investigate the relationship between timeliness and the information content in financial statements and the market reactions they arouse. Third, this study is trying to find out early evidence on the mandatory adoption of XBRL filings, which cover only three-year period due to the recent implementation of this regulatory practice. Thus, it needs further elaboration after the accumulation of data in the forthcoming years by the expansion of the sample beyond the 2016–2018 period. As companies would have more time to become familiar with XBRL, a more reliable conclusion may be drawn. Further, the study particularly focuses on the effect of XBRL adoption on the timeliness among filers. XBRL could also influence investors, auditors and other stakeholders. Future research could investigate the influence of XBRL on different stakeholders to produce more insightful implications. Practical implications – This study offers several implications for managers, regulators and policy makers. First, companies that do not make timely financial reporting may find it more difficult to attract long-term capital by means of institutional investors. Since these investors view timely reporting as an ideal ingredient in corporate governance, it may have a positive impact on company reputation and corporate sustainability. The results also provide insights for regulatory authorities, policy makers and auditors on the causes of the reporting lag, thereby increasing their awareness and helping them in their decision-making process since improvements in timely availability and accessibility of financial information reduce information asymmetry for users and increase market efficiency. Additionally, companies that reduce their filing timeframe will be able to compare their results with other companies. However, the XBRL mandate could be much more burdensome to smaller firms. This may stem from the fact that larger firms may tend to use the in-house approach for XBRL and can afford more advanced financial reporting systems with automated coding algorithms attached to streamline their XBRL filings, whereas smaller firms are more likely to use the outsourcing approach due to the difference in the level of resources available for XBRL preparation. This finding also lends support to recent concerns that new technology creates an unleveled benefit in reporting efficiency for large companies, but not for small ones (e.g. Blankespooret al., 2014). This benefit may change the dynamics of the financial market and information environment, leading to further segmentation of the capital markets. The positive effects of XBRL adoption may accrue over time due to the potential benefits of learning curve experience since the XBRL mandate will help companies automate their reporting process and information processing, thereby strengthening internal control over financial reporting (Deloitte, 2013; Du et al., 2013; Li, 2017). Companies may also efficiently incorporate auditor-proposed adjustments by cross-referencing impacted accounts and prepare revised versions of the financial reports, which are automatically rendered in various formats for auditors to assess (Wu and Vasarhelyi, 2004). Finally, investors and other users of financial information benefit from having quicker access to data, since this allows them to make more timely and reliable decisions, leading to greater benefits. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of adopting XBRL on the timeliness of financial reporting in emerging markets. Second, this study extends the literature and provides evidence on determinants of timeliness, covering both ownership structure and board attributes besides firm-specific characteristics. Hence, it provides valuable insights for companies, investors, auditing firms and policy makers.Q3WOS:0006449364000012-s2.0-8510623833

Rethinking Storage Management for Data Processing Pipelines in Cloud Data Centers

Data processing frameworks such as Apache Beam and Apache Spark are used for a wide range of applications, from logs analysis to data preparation for DNN training. It is thus unsurprising that there has been a large amount of work on optimizing these frameworks, including their storage management. The shift to cloud computing requires optimization across all pipelines concurrently running across a cluster. In this paper, we look at one specific instance of this problem: placement of I/O-intensive temporary intermediate data on SSD and HDD. Efficient data placement is challenging since I/O density is usually unknown at the time data needs to be placed. Additionally, external factors such as load variability, job preemption, or job priorities can impact job completion times, which ultimately affect the I/O density of the temporary files in the workload. In this paper, we envision that machine learning can be used to solve this problem. We analyze production logs from Google's data centers for a range of data processing pipelines. Our analysis shows that I/O density may be predictable. This suggests that learning-based strategies, if crafted carefully, could extract predictive features for I/O density of temporary files involved in various transformations, which could be used to improve the efficiency of storage management in data processing pipelines

Dilin kökeni üzerine klasik İslâmî söylem: Kültürel hafıza ve Sünnîliğin savunusu

Erken dönem İslâm düşünce geleneğinde, dilin kökeni (aslu’l-luga) konusunda iki temel görüş geliştirildi. Genelde tevkîf olarak bahsedilen, ilahi failin dilin vaz‘ edilmesinde üstün rol oynadığını vurgulayan ve bu açıdan ispat gerektirmeyen (axiomatic) birinci görüş şudur: lafızların manaları başlangıçta Tanrı tarafından belirlenmiştir. Bu tutuma karşı tez olarak sunulan ve ıstılâh olarak adlandırılan ikinci doktrin ise dilin –sonradan- kurulduğunu, genel uylaşım ve anlaşma süreciyle evrildiğini esas alır: Kelimeler anlamlarıyla birlikte insanlar tarafından tayin edilmiştir. Ancak hem tevkîf hem de ıstılâh doktrinleri, kelimelerin muayyen manaları ile olan gerçek ilişkilerinin doğal olduğunu reddederek tamamen nedensiz (arbitrary) olduğunu ileri sürmüştür. Her ne kadar müteahhir İslam düşünce geleneği, her ikisinin de mantıklı olduğunu kabul etse de, dokuz ve onuncu yüzyıllarda konu hakkındaki görüşler dikkate değer biçimde, sünnî (orthodox) 1 ve archrasyonalist2 şeklinde fırkalara ayrılmıştır ki bunlardan ilki tevkîfi ikincisi de ıstılâhı onaylamıştır. Geleneksel tevkîf argümanlarının kavramsal bir savunusunu sağlamada Sünnî kelâmcılar, birleştirici bir yapı oluşturmak zorundaydı. Bu yapının hatırlama (remembrance), sürdürme (continuation) ve özdeşlik (identitiy) üzerinden ifade edilmesi kelamcılara, tevkîfin kurgusunu, selefle ilişkilendirilmiş metin yorumu ve sünnî simgeler üzerine formel bir biçimde dayandırma olanağı sağladı. Geçmişe yapılan referanslarla sağlanan bu yapı, sünnî inanç olarak kabul edileni savunmada, kültürel hafızanın rolünü onaylamış gibi görünebilir.Classical Islamic scholarship developed two principal theses on the subject of the origin of language (aṣl al-lugha). The first of these theses, commonly referred to as tawqīf, accentuated the pre-eminent role that divine agency played in the imposition of language; axiomatic within this perspective is the view that words (lafẓ pl. alfāẓ) have been assigned their meanings (maʿnā pl. maʿānī) primordially by God. Presented as something of an antithesis to this position, the second doctrine, labeled iṣṭilāḥ, predicates that language was established and evolved via a process of common convention and agreement: words together with their meanings were assigned by human beings, although both the doctrines of tawqīf and iṣṭilāḥ posit that the actual relationship between words and their assigned meanings remains entirely arbitrary, rejecting any sort of natural link between the two. Although later Islamic scholarship accepted that both theses were plausible, within the course of the 9th/10th centuries opinions on the subject were ostensibly polarized between orthodox and arch-rationalist camps with the former endorsing tawqīf and the latter iṣṭilāḥ. In the quest to achieve a conceptual defense of traditional arguments for tawqīf it was necessary for orthodox theologians to create a connective structure, as articulated through reference to remembrance, continuation, and identity, which enabled them to anchor the construct of tawqīf in a formalized way to the scriptural exegesis and emblems of orthodoxy associated with the pious ancestors. That this was successfully accomplished through references to the past would seem to confirm the role which cultural memory played in the defense of what was deemed an orthodox belief

Seasonal and sexual variations of fatty acid composition in fillet of Capoeta erhani

The lowest lipid levels of Capoeta erhani observed in winter and vice versa in summer. The fatty acid composition of the fillets was significantly different among seasons (P0.05). The ratios of the unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) were higher than half of the total fatty acids among all seasons. The level of PUFA was highest in autumn (25.91%), and lowest in summer (22.11%). Among seasons and sexes, the levels of total n3 PUFAs in total fatty acids changed from 15.43% to 21.89% and n6 PUFAs from 3.8% to 7.97%, respectively. The level of n3 PUFAs was present in excess that of the n6 PUFAs. The ratios of the n3 PUFAs to n6 PUFAs in the fillets of C. erhani were highest in autumn for both sexes and remarkably influenced by seasons

Age, length-weight relationships and condition factors of endemic Antalya barb Capoeta antalyensis (Battalgil, 1943)

The aim of this study was to determine the length-weight, length-length relationships (LWR and LLR) and condition factors of Antalya barb Capoeta antalyensis, an endemic species to Turkey. The specimens (N = 125) were caught using the gill nets in the Sorgun Dam (Aksu, Isparta). The age of the study specimens varied between one and six years. The total length and body weight of the specimens varied from 17.7 – 36.7 cm and 57.03 – 526.91 g respectively. A negative allometric growth (b = 2.7743) was recorded for the species whereas the LWR and total length (TL) – fork length (FL) equations were W = 0.0203 × TL2.7743 (R2 = 0.95) and TL = 0.402 + FL × 1.061 (R2 = 0.99) respectively. The condition factor was determined for every specimen. In light of the results obtained in the study this species may be considered for aquaculture ensuring sustainable population in the wild. This study provides new information that can play an important role in the sustainable management this species

Index Translation Schemes for Adaptive Computations on Distributed Memory Multicomputers

Current research in parallel programming is focused on closing the gap between globally indexed algorithms and the separate address spaces of processors on distributed memory multicomputers. A set of index translation schemes have been implemented as a part of CHAOS runtime support library, so that the library functions can be used for implementing a global indez space across a collection of separate local index spaces. These schemes include also software-cached translation schemes aimed at adaptive irregular problems as teen as a distributed translation table technique for statically irregular problems. To evaluate and demonstrate the efficiency of the softwDare-cached translation schemes, experiments have been performed with an adaptively irregular loop kernel and a full-fledped 3D DSMC code from NASA Langley on the Intel Paragon and Cray T3D. This paper also discusses and analyzes the operational conditions under which each scheme can produce optimal performance. (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-95-28