Screening for novel essential genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae involved in protein secretion

We describe here a screening procedure devised for searching new genes involved in protein secretion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The screening procedure takes advantage of yeast strains constructed within the EUROFAN project, in which the promoters of the novel essential genes were replaced by the doxycycline-regulated tetO(7)-CYC1 promoter. This promoter is active in normal growth medium but results in downregulation of the gene in the presence of doxycycline. The yeast cells were grown in the presence or absence of doxycycline, and both the growth and secretion of the heat shock protein, Hsp150p, into the culture medium were determined. In seven strains there was a specific effect on protein secretion. In a strain in which the RPN5 gene was downregulated, the level of secreted Hsp150p was increased compared to the control culture. When RER2 was downregulated, cells secreted Hsp150p that was not of the mature size. In five strains, secretion was more severely reduced than cell growth. One of these downregulated genes, YGL098w, was recently reported to encode an ER-located t-SNARE, USE1. Four of the genes detected, NOG2, NOP15, RRP40 and SDA1, encode proteins involved in ribosome assembly, suggesting a possible new signalling pathway between ribosome biogenesis and production of secreted proteins. The results obtained here indicate that the present screen could be successfully used in larger scale to identify novel secretion-related genes.     

Physicochemical characterization of sahti,an ‘ancient’ beer style indigenous to Finland

Sahti, a strong, unhopped farmhouse beer flavoured with juniper, is still actively brewed in rural areas in Finland. Presented here is the first comprehensive analysis of the physical and chemical properties of this unique beer style. Twelve sahti samples from the southwest of Finland were analysed and, while properties varied, the beers generally had high levels of alcohol (mean = 7.9% ABV) and high residual extract (mean = 9.5°P). Foam stability was negligible, as is typical for the style, and glycerol concentrations at 3.1 – 4.7 g L^?1 were higher than in reference beers (commercial lager, wheat beer and porter). These features may be attributed to the very high gravity conditions employed in brewing sahti beers. Bitterness levels were relatively low (3–13 IBU) owing to the absence or moderate use of hops. All samples contained detectable levels of the clove‐like compound 4‐vinylguaiacol owing to the use of baker's rather than brewer's yeast for brewing. Concentrations of higher alcohols and esters were high, with many individual aroma compounds being above the normal flavour thresholds. Results have highlighted the uniqueness of this style of beer in comparison to commercially available beers and have contributed to our understanding of the reasons for the particular sensorial properties of this traditional beer style. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Evaluation and unification of some methods for estimating reflectance spectra from RGB images

The problem of estimating spectral reflectances from the responses of a digital camera has received considerable attention recently. This problem can be cast as a regularized regression problem or as a statistical inversion problem. We discuss some previously suggested estimation methods based on critically undersampled RGB measurements and describe some relations between them. We concentrate mainly on those models that are using a priori information in the form of high-resolution measurements. We use the "kernel machine" framework in our evaluations and concentrate on the use of multiple illuminations and on the investigation of the performance of global and locally adapted estimation methods. We also introduce a nonlinear transformation of reflectance values to ensure that the estimated reflection spectra fulfill physically motivated boundary conditions. The reported experimental results are derived from measured and simulated camera responses from the Munsell Matte, NCS, and Pantone data sets.     

Optimal Portfolio Hedging with Nonlinear Derivatives and Transaction Costs

We consider the problem of dynamically hedging a fixed portfolio of assets in the presence of non-linear instruments and transaction costs, as well as constraints on feasible hedging positions. We assume an investor maximizing the expected utility of his terminal wealth over a finite holding period, and analyse the dynamic portfolio optimization problem when the trading interval is fixed. An approximate solution is obtained from a two-stage numerical procedure. The problem is first transformed into a nonlinear programming problem which utilizes simulated coefficient matrices. The nonlinear programming problem is then solved numerically using standard constrained optimization techniques.     

Tele-Existence Techniques of Heavy Work Vehicles

The problem of finding a feasible and technically simple tele-existence system for teleoperation of heavy work vehicles is considered with the aid of two experimental test series. Several test persons of different ages and experience were used in experiments in which a basic audio/video tele-existence system with head-tracking was modified into different versions and tested. Conclusions indicate that details of the tasks and work environment have an important role in finding the optimal solution.     

Pareto navigator for interactive nonlinear multiobjective optimization

We describe a new interactive learning-oriented method called Pareto navigator for nonlinear multiobjective optimization. In the method, first a polyhedral approximation of the Pareto optimal set is formed in the objective function space using a relatively small set of Pareto optimal solutions representing the Pareto optimal set. Then the decision maker can navigate around the polyhedral approximation and direct the search for promising regions where the most preferred solution could be located. In this way, the decision maker can learn about the interdependencies between the conflicting objectives and possibly adjust one’s preferences. Once an interesting region has been identified, the polyhedral approximation can be made more accurate in that region or the decision maker can ask for the closest counterpart in the actual Pareto optimal set. If desired, (s)he can continue with another interactive method from the solution obtained. Pareto navigator can be seen as a nonlinear extension of the linear Pareto race method. After the representative set of Pareto optimal solutions has been generated, Pareto navigator is computationally efficient because the computations are performed in the polyhedral approximation and for that reason function evaluations of the actual objective functions are not needed. Thus, the method is well suited especially for problems with computationally costly functions. Furthermore, thanks to the visualization technique used, the method is applicable also for problems with three or more objective functions, and in fact it is best suited for such problems. After introducing the method in more detail, we illustrate it and the underlying ideas with an example.     

Thermal Cycling Reliability of Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Interconnections. Part 1: Effects of Test Parameters

The work presented in part 1 of this study focuses on identifying the effects of thermal cycling test parameters on the lifetime of ball grid array (BGA) component boards. Detailed understanding about the effects of the thermal cycling parameters is essential because it provides means to develop more efficient and meaningful methods of reliability assessment for electronic products. The study was carried out with a single package type (BGA with 144 solder balls), printed wiring board (eight-layer build-up FR4 structure), and solder interconnection composition (Sn-3.1Ag-0.5Cu) to ensure that individual test results would be comparable with each other. The effects of (i) temperature difference (ΔT), (ii) lower dwell temperature and lower dwell time, (iii) mean temperature, (iv) dwell time, and (v) ramp rate were evaluated. Based on the characteristic lifetimes, the thermal cycling profiles were categorized into three lifetime groups: (i) highly accelerated conditions, (ii) moderately accelerated conditions, and (iii) mildly/nonaccelerated conditions. Thus, one might be tempted to use the highly accelerated conditions to produce lifetime statistics as quickly as possible. However, to do this one needs to know that the failure mechanisms do not change from one lifetime group to another and that the failure mechanisms correlate with real-use failures. Therefore, in part 2 the observed differences in component board lifetimes will be explained by studying the failure mechanisms that take place in the three lifetime groups.