Strategies for improving a long-established terminal’s performance: a simulation study of a Turkish container terminal

Due to a long-lasting increase in global trade, only interrupted by the late-2000s economic crisis, container traffic has grown dramatically. As a result, new terminals have opened and existing terminals face much higher container handling than before. In order to meet these challenges, one of the biggest container terminals in Turkey has begun to reconsider its terminal operations and to achieve improvements of its overall logistics performance. Because the factors impacting the terminal’s performance are highly interrelated, a simulation model was developed to analyze the terminal operations, to identify potential bottleneck resources and to highlight directions for the future development of the configuration and the operational control system. For a long-established terminal like the one considered in this study the options for improving the overall performance are limited by the geographical dimensions and by the existing terminal equipment. By use of the simulation model the terminal operations are evaluated under different workload scenarios and alternative configurations are tested in order to support strategic decisions on the terminal’s development.     

Heterogenous glycogen storage disease in one family.

Three brothers, aged 17, 14 and 4 ye presented. Deficiency of glucose-6-phosphatase was associated with deficiency of acid maltase in one and debranching enzyme in the other. Enzyme analyses could not be performed in the youngest sibling.     

Formation of DNA-protein cross-links in cultured mammalian cells upon treatment with iron ions

Formation of DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) in mammalian cells upon treatment with iron or copper ions was investigated. Cultured murine hybridoma cells were treated with Fe(II) or Cu(II) ions by addition to the culture medium at various concentrations. Subsequently, chromatin samples were isolated from treated and control cells. Analyses of chromatin samples by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry after hydrolysis and derivatization revealed a significant increase over the background amount of 3-[(1,3-dihydro-2,4-dioxopyrimidin-5-yl)-methyl]- -tyrosine (Thy-Tyr crosslink) in cells treated with Fe(II) ions in the concentration range of 0.01 to 1 mM. In contrast, Cu(II) ions at the same concentrations did not produce this DPC in cells. No DNA base damage was observed in cells treated with Cu(II) ions, either. Preincubation of cells with ascorbic acid or coincubation with dimethyl sulfoxide did not significantly alleviate the Fe(II) ion-mediated formation of DPCs. In addition, a modified fluorometric analysis of DNA unwinding assay was used to detect DPCs formed in cells. Fe(II) ions caused significant formation of DPCs, but Cu(II) ions did not. The nature of the Fe(II)-mediated DPCs suggests the involvement of the hydroxyl radical in their formation. The Thy-Tyr crosslink may contribute to pathological processes associated with free radical reactions.