A cytosolic activity distinct from crm1 mediates nuclear export of protein kinase inhibitor in permeabilized cells

The leucine-rich nuclear export signal (NES) is used by a variety of proteins to facilitate their delivery from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. One of the best-studied examples, protein kinase inhibitor (PKI), binds to the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A in the nucleus and mediates its rapid export to the cytoplasm. We developed a permeabilized cell assay that reconstitutes nuclear export mediated by PKI, and we used it to characterize the cytosolic factors required for this process. The two-step assay involves an import phase and an export phase, and quantitation is achieved by digital fluorescence microscopy. During the import phase, a fluorescent derivative of streptavidin is imported into the nuclei of digitonin-permeabilized HeLa cells. During the export phase, biotinylated PKI diffuses into the nucleus, binds to fluorescent streptavidin, and mediates export of the complex to the cytoplasm. Nuclear export of the PKI complex is cytosol dependent and can be stimulated by addition of the purified NES receptor, Crm1. HeLa cell cytosol treated with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) or phenyl-Sepharose to inactivate or deplete Crm1, respectively, is still fully active in the PKI export assay. Significantly, the export activity can be depleted from cytosol by preadsorption with a protein conjugate that contains a functional NES. These data indicate that cytosol contains an export activity that is distinct from Crm1 and is likely to correspond to an NES receptor.     

Kirigami‐Inspired Self‐Assembly of 3D Structures

Self‐assembly of 3D structures presents an attractive and scalable route to realize reconfigurable and functionally capable mesoscale devices without human intervention. A common approach for achieving this is to utilize stimuli‐responsive folding of hinged structures, which requires the integration of different materials and/or geometric arrangements along the hinges. It is demonstrated that the inclusion of Kirigami cuts in planar, hingeless bilayer thin sheets can be used to produce complex 3D shapes in an on‐demand manner. Nonlinear finite element models are developed to elucidate the mechanics of shape morphing in bilayer thin sheets and verify the predictions through swelling experiments of planar, millimeter‐scaled PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) bilayers in organic solvents. Building upon the mechanistic understandings, The transformation of Kirigami‐cut simple bilayers into 3D shapes such as letters from the Roman alphabet (to make “ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS”) and open/closed polyhedral architectures is experimentally demonstrated. A possible application of the bilayers as tether‐less optical metamaterials with dynamically tunable light transmission and reflection behaviors is also shown. As the proposed mechanistic design principles could be applied to a variety of materials, this research broadly contributes toward the development of smart, tetherless, and reconfigurable multifunctional systems.     

Asymptotic Bias and Variance of Conventional Bispectrum Estimates for 2-D Signals

In this paper, we derive the asymptotic bias and variance of conventional bispectrum estimates of 2-D signals. Two methods have been selected for the estimation: the first one – the indirect method – is the Fourier Transform of the weighted third order moment, while the second one – the direct method – is the expectation of the Fourier component product. Most of the developments are known for 1-D signals and the first contribution of this paper is the rigorous extension of the results to 2-D signals. The calculation of the bias of the direct method is a totally original contribution. Nevertheless, we did all calculations (bias and variance) for both method in order to be able to compare the results. The second contribution of this paper consists of the comparison of the theoretical bispectrum estimate bias and variance with the measured bias and variance for two 2-D signals. The first studied signal is the output of a non-minimal phase linear system driven by a non-symmetric noise. The second signal is the output of a non-linear system with Gaussian input data. In order to assess the results, we performed the comparison for both methods with different sets of parameters. We show that the maximum bias coefficient is the one of the 1-D case multiplied by the dimensionality of the signal for both methods. We also show that the estimate variance coefficient is the 1-D case coefficient with a power equal to the signal dimensionality.Received October 21, 2002; Revised December 2003; Accepted March 25, 2004; First Online Version published in December 2004     

增加折叠电流保护的电路

对许多需要数安培供电电流的应用而言，三端输出可调线性稳压器有易用．低成本和完全片上过载保护等特点，如美国国家半导体公司的LM317。增加数个元器件可以使三端稳压器具备一种高速度的短路限流能力，从而提高可靠性。限流器可将最大输出电流限制在一个安全的恒定水平IMAX上，避免稳压器的损坏。当出现一个故障状况时，传输晶体管上的功耗近似于VIN×IMAX。要让设计的稳压器能承受过载，就需要谨慎地选择元器件的额定值（经常是留了过大的余地），除非可以在故障发生时降低或折叠（foldback）输出电流。     

Machine learning based optimized live virtual machine migration over WAN links

Live virtual machine migration is one of the most promising features of data center virtualization technology. Numerous strategies have been proposed for live migration of virtual machines on local area networks. These strategies work perfectly in their respective domains with negligible downtime. However, these techniques are not suitable to handle live migration over wide area networks and results in significant downtime. In this paper we have proposed a Machine Learning based Downtime Optimization (MLDO) approach which is an adaptive live migration approach based on predictive mechanisms that reduces downtime during live migration over wide area networks for standard workloads. The main contribution of our work is to employ machine learning methods to reduce downtime. Machine learning methods are also used to introduce automated learning into the predictive model and adaptive threshold levels. We compare our proposed approach with existing strategies in terms of downtime observed during the migration process and have observed improvements in downtime of up to 15 %.     

Towards SoC Validation Through Prototyping: A Systematic Approach Based on Reconfigurable Platform

Hardware/software covalidation is becoming one of the most critical issues in current System-on-Chip (SoC) design. Nowadays, covalidation is usually performed by cosimulation which is slow and lacks accuracy. The other alternative is to build a hardware prototype specific to the application. However, this alternative is expensive in terms of time, man-power, and cost. As SoCs increase in complexity, validation becomes more and more difficult, time consuming and error prone. Thus, a new approach for covalidation is inescapable. In this paper, we present a novel efficient prototyping approach for complex SoC covalidation. The proposed approach enables systematic prototyping of embedded applications on a reconfigurable platform. The process starts from the RT level model of the application. The application and the reconfigurable platform have to be adapted to obtain the prototype. We decompose the prototyping process into four steps, in order to match the application and the platform. Besides, we propose adapted solutions to deal with constraints typically encountered in existing reconfigurable platforms. The main advantages of this method are: fast and accurate validation, systematic prototyping flow, and large application field. Prototyping of a subset of VDSL using the ARM Integrator platform illustrates the effectiveness of our approach.     

Spontaneous Emission and Characteristics of Staggered InGaN Quantum-Well Light-Emitting Diodes

A novel gain media based on staggered InGaN quantum wells (QWs) grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition was demonstrated as improved active region for visible light emitters. Fermi's golden rule indicates that InGaN QW with step-function like In content in the well leads to significantly improved radiative recombination rate and optical gain due to increased electron-hole wavefunction overlap, in comparison to that of conventional InGaN QW. Spontaneous emission spectra of both conventional and staggered InGaN QW were calculated based on energy dispersion and transition matrix element obtained by 6-band k middotp formalism for wurtzite semiconductor, taking into account valence-band-states mixing, strain effects, and polarization-induced electric fields. The calculated spectra for the staggered InGaN QW showed enhancement of radiative recombination rate, which is in good agreement with photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence measurements at emission wavelength regime of 425 and 500 nm. Experimental results of light-emitting diode (LED) structures utilizing staggered InGaN QW also show significant improvement in output power. Staggered InGaN QW allows polarization engineering leading to improved luminescence intensity and LED output power as a result of enhanced radiative recombination rate.     

Jitter‐minimized reliability‐maximized management of networks

We propose a joint optimization network management framework for quality‐of‐service (QoS) routing with resource allocation. Our joint optimization framework provides a convenient way of maximizing the reliability or minimizing the jitter delay of paths. Data traffic is sensitive to droppage at buffers, while it can tolerate jitter delay. On the other hand, multimedia traffic can tolerate loss but it is very sensitive to jitter delay. Depending on the type of data, our scheme provides a convenient way of selecting the parameters which result in either reliability maximization or jitter minimization. We solve the optimization problem for a GPS network and provide the optimal solutions. We find the values of control parameters which control the type of optimization performed. We use our analytical results in a multi‐objective QoS routing algorithm. Finally, we provide insights into our optimization framework using simulations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Orientation disruptor (ord): a recombination-defective and disjunction-defective meiotic mutant in Drosophila melanogaster

The effects of a semidominant autosomal meiotic mutant, orientation disruptor (symbol: ord), located at 2-103.5 on the genetic map and in region 59B-D of the salivary map, have been examined genetically and cytologically. The results are as follows. (1) Crossing over in homozygous females is reduced to about seven percent of controls on all chromosomes, with the reduction greatest in distal regions. (2) Crossing over on different chromosomes is independent. (3) Reductional nondisjunction of any given chromosome is increased to about thirty percent of gametes from homozygous females. The probability of such nondisjunction is the same among exchange and nonexchange tetrads with the exception that a very proximal exchange tends to regularize segregation. (4) Equational nondisjunction of each chromosome is increased to about ten percent of gametes in homozygous females; this nondisjunction is independent of exchange. (5) The distributive pairing system is operative in homozygous females. (6) In homozygous males, reductional nondisjunction of each chromosome is increased to about ten percent, and equational nondisjunction to about twenty percent, of all gametes. (7) Cytologically, two distinct meiotic divisions occur in spermatocytes of homozygous males. The first division looks normal although occasional univalents are present at prophase I and a few lagging chromosomes are seen at anaphase I. However, sister chromatids of most chromosomes have precociously separated by metaphase II. Possible functions of the ord(+) gene are considered.