Unsteady Magnetohydrodynamic Free Convection Flow of a Second Grade Fluid in a Porous Medium with Ramped Wall Temperature

Magnetic field influence on unsteady free convection flow of a second grade fluid near an infinite vertical flat plate with ramped wall temperature embedded in a porous medium is studied. It has been observed that magnitude of velocity as well as skin friction in case of ramped temperature is quite less than the isothermal temperature. Some special cases namely: (i) second grade fluid in the absence of magnetic field and porous medium and (ii) Newtonian fluid in the presence of magnetic field and porous medium, performing the same motion are obtained. Finally, the influence of various parameters is graphically shown.     

Perspective Texture Synthesis Based on Improved Energy Optimization

Perspective texture synthesis has great significance in many fields like video editing, scene capturing etc., due to its ability to read and control global feature information. In this paper, we present a novel example-based, specifically energy optimization-based algorithm, to synthesize perspective textures. Energy optimization technique is a pixel-based approach, so it’s time-consuming. We improve it from two aspects with the purpose of achieving faster synthesis and high quality. Firstly, we change this pixel-based technique by replacing the pixel computation with a little patch. Secondly, we present a novel technique to accelerate searching nearest neighborhoods in energy optimization. Using k- means clustering technique to build a search tree to accelerate the search. Hence, we make use of principal component analysis (PCA) technique to reduce dimensions of input vectors. The high quality results prove that our approach is feasible. Besides, our proposed algorithm needs shorter time relative to other similar methods.     

Human endothelin converting enzyme-2 (ECE2): characterization of mRNA species and chromosomal localization.

Generation of the functionally pleiotropic members of the endothelin vasoactive peptide family is critically catalyzed by unique type II metalloproteases, termed endothelin converting enzymes (ECE). Isolation of human ECE-2 (EC 3.4.24.71) cDNAs revealed deduced open reading frames of 787 and 765 amino acids with approximately 60% identity with human ECE-1. Characterization of mRNA variants revealed mRNA structural diversity at the 5'-terminus. Two mRNA species exist containing distinct first and second exons. Furthermore, in one of these species, an in-frame deletion of the intracytoplasmic domain removed 29 amino acids. Because of the previously reported human genetic diseases ascribed to germline mutations of member genes of the endothelin family, ECE2 was localized in human chromosomes with fluorescence in situ hybridization and radiation hybrid mapping to 3q28-q29 and SHGC-20171/D3S1571, respectively.     

A rapid colorimetric assay for heparinase activity.

A rapid, sensitive, assay for enzymes that degrade heparin is described. The procedure is based on the interference of heparin with color development during the interaction of protein with the dye Coomassie brilliant blue. The loss of this property when the glycosaminoglycan is degraded by heparinase can be used to quantify activity of the enzyme in pure form, or in complex biological samples such as tissue homogenates or serum. The assay is also suitable for studying dependence of heparinase activity under conditions such as varying pH and temperature.     

Crystal structure of human PACRG in complex with MEIG1 reveals roles in axoneme formation and tubulin binding

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格网尺度下典型旅游城市生态服务价值估算和时空分异特征——以三亚为例

以典型旅游城市三亚市为案例地，利用2006-2018年4期Landsat遥感影像数据，借助ENVI、ArcGIS平台定量识别土地利用演变特征，在1km×1km格网尺度下估算旅游地生态系统服务价值，并结合空间探索性数据分析揭示生态系统服务价值时空分异特征及其与旅游地发展的时空耦合关系。结果表明：（1）2006-2018年间，三亚市生态系统服务价值总量呈逐年下降趋势，由6.73×10⁹元降至5.76×10⁹元，累计减少9.78×10⁸元；（2）空间格局上，三亚市呈"南低北高"空间分异格局，2006-2018年增值区域连片分布于崖州区、天涯区、吉阳区南部区域，且呈逐年减少趋势，减值区域集聚于天涯区东北部、海棠区；（3）空间集聚上，生态系统服务价值截面各年份均呈显著空间正相关且相关性先降后增。高高集聚区位于天涯区北部区域，低低集聚区分布于沿海、海湾地区；（4）旅游发展与生态系统服务价值时空演化特征关联性较强。三亚市天涯区北部林地生态环境良好，生态系统服务价值略有下降但绝对数值稳定，是生态系统服务价值主要来源；旅游发展较为迅速的三亚湾、崖州湾以及海棠湾，相对增值区域较多，但绝对生态系统服务价值损失显著，严重滞后于其他区域。     

Halophytes – A resource for the future

Wetlands Ecology and Management -     

Significance of mirex-caused hypoglycemia and hyperlipidemia in rats

Treatment of rats with mirex (40 ppm in diet) caused hypoglycemia, liver enlargement, and inhibition of adrenal corticosteroid-synthesizing enzyme activity. At toxic dosages (20,000 ppm mirex in diet, which has a lethal toxicity-50 [LT-50] of ten days) poisoned female rats showed severe hypoglycemia, fatty liver, adrenal hyperplasia, hypophagia, lipid mobilization, and body weight (bw) loss. A 50 μg/kg intraperitoneal (IP) dose of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in male rats caused similar effects two days posttreatment. Hypoglycemia could be overcome by prednisone (which also inhibited adrenocorticoid-synthesizing enzyme activities) but not by streptozotocin treatment, indicating that hypoglycemia may be related to glucocorticoid deficiency resulting from inhibition of their synthesis and not by direct effects on pancreatic β-cells. Glucocorticoid deficiency could also cause increased release of adrenocorticoid hormone (ACTH), which may enhance fat mobilization caused by hypophagia.