363 research outputs found
Double loop networks with minimum delay
AbstractDouble loop networks have been widely studied as practical and reliable computer networks. Let N denote the number of stations in a double loop network. The literature has proposed a topology which yields the diameter 2√N. In this paper we give a heuristic method which finds a topology with diameter roughly √3N for large N. We also give several infinite classes of values of N for which topologies are found that achieve the lower bound ⌈√3N⌉ − 2 for the diameter
Responses of Helicoverpa armigera to tomato plants previously infected by ToMV or damaged by H-Armigera
We report the comparative inducing effects of a phytopathogen and a herbivorous arthropod on the performance of an herbivore. Tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., was used as the test plant, and tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) and corn earworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hubner, were used as the phytopathogen and herbivore, respectively. There were decreases in the efficiency of conversion of ingested food and efficiency of conversion of digested food when H. armigera was reared on tomato plants that had been previously inoculated with ToMV. However, virus inoculation did not affect feeding or oviposition preferences by H. armigera. In contrast, approximate digestibility, total consumption, relative growth rate, and relative consumption rate were lower for fourth-instar H. armigera that fed on plants previously damaged by the same herbivore. Feeding and oviposition were both deterred for H. armigera that fed on previously damaged plants. The duration of development of H. armigera was also prolonged under this treatment. Infection by ToMV and feeding damage by H. armigera increased the host plant's peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity, respectively, suggesting that the performance of H. armigera may be affected by the induced phytochemistry of the host plant. Overall, this study indicated that, in general, insect damage has a stronger effect than ToMV infection on plant chemistry and, subsequently, on the performance of H. armigera
Immunolocalization of chloride transporters to gill epithelia of euryhaline teleosts with opposite salinity-induced Na+/K+-ATPase responses
Opposite patterns of branchial Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) responses were found in euryhaline milkfish (Chanos chanos) and pufferfish (Tetraodon nigroviridis) upon salinity challenge. Because the electrochemical gradient established by NKA is thought to be the driving force for transcellular Cl- transport in fish gills, the aim of this study was to explore whether the differential patterns of NKA responses found in milkfish and pufferfish would lead to distinct distribution of Cl- transporters in their gill epithelial cells indicating different Cl- transport mechanisms. In this study, immunolocalization of various Cl- transport proteins, including Na+/K+/2Cl(-) cotransporter (NKCC), cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), anion exchanger 1 (AE1), and chloride channel 3 (ClC-3), were double stained with NKA, the basolateral marker of branchial mitochondrion-rich cells (MRCs), to reveal the localization of these transporter proteins in gill MRC of FW- or SW-acclimated milkfish and pufferfish. Confocal microscopic observations showed that the localization of these transport proteins in the gill MRCs of the two studied species were similar. However, the number of gill NKA-immunoreactive (IR) cells in milkfish and pufferfish exhibited to vary with environmental salinities. An increase in the number of NKA-IR cells should lead to the elevation of NKA activity in FW milkfish and SW pufferfish. Taken together, the opposite branchial NKA responses observed in milkfish and pufferfish upon salinity challenge could be attributed to alterations in the number of NKA-IR cells. Furthermore, the localization of these Cl- transporters in gill MRCs of the two studied species was identical. It depicted the two studied euryhaline species possess the similar Cl- transport mechanisms in gills
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Understanding the dimensionality and underlying nature of senior overseas travel motivations
The global increase in the elderly population has a direct influence on the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector because senior travelers have become major consumers. Therefore, developing a deeper understanding of senior motivations for overseas travel is required. However, the presence of theoretical and practical gaps limits the comprehension of this demographic market. Thus, this research sought to identify the underlying dimensionality and measurement of senior travel motivations and developed a scale to measure them. In addition, it validated the scale across future travel behaviors and preferences for tourism types and sites. An eight-factor structure of senior travel motivations was generated. The overall construct satisfied a series of convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity tests. Furthermore, the scale demonstrated a predictive explanatory power for profiling the future travel behavior and preference of seniors
Metabolic variation in Caribbean giant barrel sponges: influence of age and sea-depth
NWO# 16.161.301Environmental Biolog
Baculovirus Transduction of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: In Vitro Responses and In Vivo Immune Responses After Cell Transplantation
Baculovirus holds great promise for the genetic modification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). However, whether baculovirus transduction provokes undesired MSCs responses that might compromise their in vivo applications has yet to be examined. Hereby, we unraveled that baculovirus transduction of human MSCs upregulated the transcription of interleukin (IL)-1 beta, interferon (IFN)-alpha and IL-6, but not tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and IFN-gamma. However, only IL-6 secretion was detectable by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Baculovirus transduction also stimulated transient, low level upregulation of human leukocyte antigen I (HLA-I) on the human MSCs surface, yet it did not either altered the HLA-II expression or impaired the MSCs ability to inhibit lymphocyte proliferation. After transplantation into allogeneic rats, the transduced rat MSCs elicited transient, mild macrophage responses, but the cells remained tolerant as judged by the persistence of transplanted cells and absence of CD8(+) T cells infiltration. Besides, transplantation of the transduced MSCs did not provoke systemic induction of monocytes and CD8(+) T cells. This study, for the first time, explores the responses of MSCs to virus transduction and confirms the safety of transplanting baculovirus-engineered MSCs into immunocompetent animals for cell-based gene therapy
Acoustic and relaxation processes in supercooled o-ter-phenyl by optical-heterodyne transient grating experiment
The dynamics of the fragile glass-forming o-ter-phenyl is investigated by
time-resolved transient grating experiment with an heterodyne detection
technique in a wide temperature range. We investigated the dynamics processes
of this glass-former over more then 6 decades in time with an excellent
signal/noise. Acoustic, structural and thermal relaxations have been clearly
identify and measured in a time-frequency window not covered by previous
spectroscopic investigations. A detailed comparison with the density response
function, calculated on the basis of generalized hydrodynamics model, has been
worked out
B -> J/psi K^* Decays in QCD Factorization
The hadronic decay B -> J K^* is analyzed within the framework of QCD
factorization. The spin amplitudes A_0, A_\parallel and A_\perp in the
transversity basis and their relative phases are studied using various
different form-factor models for B-K^* transition. The effective parameters
a_2^h for helicity h=0,+,- states receive different nonfactorizable
contributions and hence they are helicity dependent, contrary to naive
factorization where a_2^h are universal and polarization independent. QCD
factorization breaks down even at the twist-2 level for transverse hard
spectator interactions. Although a nontrivial strong phase for the A_\parallel
amplitude can be achieved by adjusting the phase of an infrared divergent
contribution, the present QCD factorization calculation cannot say anything
definite about the phase phi_\parallel. Unlike B -> J/psi K decays, the
longitudinal parameter a_2^0 for B -> J/psi K^* does not receive twist-3
corrections and is not large enough to account for the observed branching ratio
and the fraction of longitudinal polarization. Possible enhancement mechanisms
for a_2^0 are discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, a table and a reference added, some typos
correcte
Updated Analysis of a_1 and a_2 in Hadronic Two-body Decays of B Mesons
Using the recent experimental data of , , and various model calculations on form
factors, we re-analyze the effective coefficients a_1 and a_2 and their ratio.
QCD and electroweak penguin corrections to a_1 from and
a_2 from are estimated. In addition to the
model-dependent determination, the effective coefficient a_1 is also extracted
in a model-independent way as the decay modes are related by
factorization to the measured semileptonic distribution of at . Moreover, this enables us to extract model-independent
heavy-to-heavy form factors, for example,
and
. The determination of the magnitude of
a_2 from depends on the form factors ,
and at . By requiring that a_2 be
process insensitive (i.e., the value of a_2 extracted from and
states should be similar), as implied by the factorization
hypothesis, we find that form factors are severely constrained;
they respect the relation . Form factors and at
inferred from the measurements of the longitudinal
polarization fraction and the P-wave component in are
obtained. A stringent upper limit on a_2 is derived from the current bound on
\ov B^0\to D^0\pi^0 and it is sensitive to final-state interactions.Comment: 33 pages, 2 figures. Typos in Tables I and IX are corrected. To
appear in Phys. Rev.
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