Offshore development of electronic products

The existence of a local electronics industry is widely considered in both the developed and developing nations to be an essential contributor to prosperity and growth. This is not only on account of the scale of the world market for electronics products, but also because of the radical effect that the application of electronics goods and services has on the competitiveness of other sectors of the economy. This article considers how electronics product development activities are being established in the offshore sites of major multinationals. It begins with a synopsis of how countries attract foreign direct investment and the associated benefits such investments can bring to the indigenous electronics industry of the host country, and then considers how some of the successful electronics-based economies in the Far East have used strategic initiatives to further develop their industry into higher value-added activities     

NOAA operational sounding products for advanced TOVS

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) operates a fleet of civilian, polar‐orbiting, environmental satellites that provide users and researchers with a continuous suite of atmospheric and surface products on a global scale. The first advanced TIROS operational vertical sounder (ATOVS) radiometer configuration, onboard NOAA‐15, was successfully launched into an early evening orbit on 13 May 1998. The ATOVS featured the new 13 channel advanced microwave sounding unit (AMSU) module A1, the 2 channel AMSU‐A2 and 5 channel AMSU‐B radiometers, which replaced the MSU and SSU, along with a similar HIRS and AVHRR instrument payload (Goodrun G., Kidwell, K.B. and Winston, W., 2000, NOAA‐KLM users guide: September 2000 revision, Technical Document, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, National Climatic Data Center) that had been operational since 1979. The ATOVS onboard NOAA‐16 was successfully launched into an afternoon orbit on 21 September 2000, followed by NOAA‐17 into a late evening orbit on 24 June 2002, creating the first ever three‐satellite constellation of operational polar satellites (ATOVS). The following report summarizes the online and offline scientific processing systems, respectively, for deriving the NESDIS operational ATOVS sounding products and presents a series of results for the unique three‐operational‐satellite configuration of NOAA‐15, 16 and 17. Results focus on the value of the derived products in the analyses of global and regional scale weather, including direct comparisons against collocated numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecast and radiosonde data. The report is prefaced by a brief history of satellite weather products and concludes with future plans to meet expanding user requirements.     

A technique for preparing holey carbon films for high resolution electron microscopy

A simple and reproducible method of preparing holey carbon nets for use as support films for high resolution electron microscopy is described.     

A novel antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity epitope in gp120 is identified by two monoclonal antibodies isolated from a long-term survivor of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection

Two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), 42F and 43F, were isolated some 14 months apart from a single long-term survivor of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. These MAbs were found to be indistinguishable in terms of their isotypes, specificities, affinities, and biological activities. Both 42F and 43F directed substantial antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) against cells infected with four divergent lab-adapted strains of HIV-1, but no neutralizing activity against these strains was detectable. The ability of MAbs 42F and 43F, as well as that of MAbs against two other gp120 epitopes, to direct ADCC against uninfected CD4+ cells to which recombinant gp120SF2 had been adsorbed (i.e., "innocent bystanders") was demonstrated to be less efficient by at least an order of magnitude than their ability to direct ADCC against HIV-1-infected cells. Flow cytometry analyses showed that 42F and 43F also bind to native primary isolate Envs from clades B and E expressed on cell surfaces. By direct binding and competition assays, it was demonstrated that the 42F/43F epitope lies in a domain of gp120 outside the previously described CD4-binding site and V3 loop ADCC epitope clusters. Immunoblot analysis revealed that the 42F/43F epitope is not dependent on disulfide bonds or N-linked glycans in gp120. Epitope mapping of 42F and 43F by binding to linear peptides demonstrated specificity of these MAbs for a sequence of 10 amino acids in the C5 domain comprising residues 491 to 500 (Los Alamos National Laboratory numbering for the HXB2 strain). Thus, 42F and 43F define a new ADCC epitope in gp120. Because of the relative conservation of this epitope and the fact that it appears to have been significantly immunogenic in the individual from which these MAbs were derived, it may prove to be a useful component of HIV vaccines. Furthermore, these MAbs may be used as tools to probe the potential importance of ADCC as an antiviral activity in HIV-1 infection.     

Rapid and precise epitope mapping of monoclonal antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum AMA1 by combined phage display of fragments and random peptides

We describe an approach for the rapid mapping of epitopes withina malaria antigen using a combination of phage display techniques.Phage display of antigen fragments identifies the location ofthe epitopes, then random peptide libraries displayed on phageare employed to identify accurately amino acids involved inthe epitope. Finally, phage display of mutant fragments confirmsthe role of each residue in the epitope. This approach was appliedto the apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA1), which is a leadingcandidate for inclusion in a vaccine directed against the asexualblood stages of Plasmodium falciparum. As part of the effortboth to understand the function of AMA1 in the parasite lifecycle and to define the specificity of protective immune responses,a panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) was generated to obtainbinding reagents to the various domains within the molecule.There is a pressing need to determine rapidly the regions recognizedby these antibodies and the structural requirements requiredwithin AMA1 for high affinity binding of the MAbs. Using phagedisplaying random AMA1 fragments, it was shown that MAb5G8 recognizesa short linear epitope within the pro-domain of AMA1 whereasthe epitope recognized by MAb 1F9 is reduction sensitive andresides within a disulphide-bonded 57 amino acid sub-domainof domain-1. Phage displaying random peptide libraries and mutantAMA1 fragments were employed for fine mapping of the MAb5G8core epitope to a three-residue sequence in the AMA1 prodomain.     

High-throughput micro plate assays for screening flavonoid content and DPPH-scavenging activity in sorghum bran and flour

BACKGROUND: Sorghum possesses phenolic compounds that are health‐promoting constituents of the grain. There are approximately 40 000 sorghum accessions, many of which have not been evaluated for the grain's health‐promoting potential. Conventional methods for measuring total phenolic content, flavonoid content and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)‐scavenging capacity are time‐consuming and labour‐intensive, resulting in low overall throughput. The objective of this study was to develop a high‐throughput screening assay for large sorghum sample sets to determine flavonoid and phenolic content and to modify existing DPPH and total phenolic assays. RESULTS: The 96‐well assays exhibited a correlation of > 0.9 with the conventional assays. The 96‐well assays allowed for up to 64 samples to be run per day compared with 20–24 samples (depending on the test) for the conventional methods. The 96‐well assays had excellent accuracy (97.65–106.16% recovery), precision (1.06–8.28% coefficient of variation (CV)) and reproducibility (1.32–2.13% CV inter‐day and 1.36–2.09% CV intra‐day). CONCLUSION: The high‐throughput 96‐well plate method proved to be as robust and reproducible as the conventional method for determining total phenolic content, flavonoid content and DPPH‐scavenging capacity in either sorghum bran or flour. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.