Automatic transport plane resource discovery mechanisms for ASON/GMPLS ring networks

In this letter, we propose two novel mechanisms which enable GMPLS LMP to cope with the automatic discovery of all-optical transport planes. The feasibility of our contributions and their performances are assessed by simulations as well as experimental results over the ASON/GMPLS CARISMA field-trial     

Savoring Versus Dampening: Self-Esteem Differences in Regulating Positive Affect.

Five studies examined the hypotheses that when people experience positive affect, those low in self-esteem are especially likely to dampen that affect, whereas those high in self-esteem are especially likely to savor it. Undergraduate participants' memories for a positive event (Study 1) and their reported reactions to a success (Study 2) supported the dampening prediction. Results also suggest that dampening was associated with worse mood the day after a success (Study 2), that positive and negative affect regulation are distinct, that self-esteem is associated with affect regulation even when Neuroticism and Extraversion are controlled (Studies 3 and 4), and that self-esteem may be especially important for certain types of positive events and positive affect regulation (Study 5). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complementary Effects of Carbamylated and Citrullinated LL37 in Autoimmunity and Inflammation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

LL37 acts as T-cell/B-cell autoantigen in Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and psoriatic disease. Moreover, when bound to “self” nucleic acids, LL37 acts as “danger signal,” leading to type I interferon (IFN-I)/pro-inflammatory factors production. T-cell epitopes derived from citrullinated-LL37 act as better antigens than unmodified LL37 epitopes in SLE, at least in selected HLA-backgrounds, included the SLE-associated HLA-DRB1*1501/HLA-DRB5*0101 backgrounds. Remarkably, while “fully-citrullinated” LL37 acts as better T-cell-stimulator, it loses DNA-binding ability and the associated “adjuvant-like” properties. Since LL37 undergoes a further irreversible post-translational modification, carbamylation and antibodies to carbamylated self-proteins other than LL37 are present in SLE, here we addressed the involvement of carbamylated-LL37 in autoimmunity and inflammation in SLE. We detected carbamylated-LL37 in SLE-affected tissues. Most importantly, carbamylated-LL37-specific antibodies and CD4 T-cells circulate in SLE and both correlate with disease activity. In contrast to “fully citrullinated-LL37,” “fully carbamylated-LL37” maintains both innate and adaptive immune-cells’ stimulatory abilities: in complex with DNA, carbamylated-LL37 stimulates plasmacytoid dendritic cell IFN-α production and B-cell maturation into plasma cells. Thus, we report a further example of how different post-translational modifications of a self-antigen exert complementary effects that sustain autoimmunity and inflammation, respectively. These data also show that T/B-cell responses to carbamylated-LL37 represent novel SLE disease biomarkers.     

The difficultly extractable lipides of cottonseed meats,their composition and effect on the refining characteristics of the crude oils

Summary and Conclusions Crude lipides fractions were produced from raw, tempered, and cooked meats from two lots of cottonseed by a series of successive stepwise extractions, designed to obtain fractional portions of the total lipides in the order of the difficulty of their extraction. The proximate composition of the crude lipides fractions was determined. It was found that the composition of successive lipides fractions varied with the degree of exhaustiveness of extraction. The fractions obtained by more exhaustive extraction contained greater amounts of undesirable non-neutral oil material and lesser amounts of desirable neutral oil. It was also established that the method used in preparing meats for extraction was of paramount importance in its effect on the composition of the crude lipides obtained. The crude lipides fractions from raw and tempered meats contained large amounts of impurities while the crude lipides fractions similarly obtained from cooked meats were relatively low in impurities. Crude oils equivalent to varying degrees of total lipides extraction were reconstituted from the crude lipides fractions and evaluated for refining characteristics. The impurities content of the reconstituted oils varied as the degree of total lipides extraction and increases in the impurities content of the oils were generally reflected in disproportionate increases in refining losses and/or refined oil color. The oils obtained from the cooked meats at all degrees of extraction were outstandingly low in refining losses as compared to the oils from the raw and the tempered meats. Presented in two parts at the spring meeting, American Oil Chemists’ Society, New Orleans. La., Apr. 18–20, 1955, and at the fall meeting, Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 10–12, 1995. One of the laboratories of the Southern Utilization Research Branch, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

A comparison of six solvents for the extraction of jojoba seed

Summary Data are presented which show the effects of different solvents on the yield and properties of liquid wax fromSimondsia chinensis (jojoba) and on the characteristics of the hydrogenated waxes obtained from the liquid waxes. Three reagent grade solvents, carbon tetrachloride, benzene, and isopropyl alcohol, and three commercial grade solvents, heptane, hexane, and tetrachloroethylene, were evaluated as extractants for the liquid wax from jojoba. Soxhlet-type of extractions were carried out under conditions in which the solvent was the only significant variable. Four of the solvents extracted essentially the same amount of material from the seed while isopropyl alcohol extracted significantly more material and tetrachloroethylene significantly less. Obviously the difficulties involved in separating the solids recovered from the isopropyl alcohol extraction preclude its use as the extracting solvent for jojoba wax. The density of the liquid waxes varies from 0.8631 to 0.8648; the waxes from the tetrachloroethylene and hexane extractions had the lowest value and the wax from isopropyl alcohol the highest. In each case, regardless of the solvent used, a precipitate developed in the liquid wax after it had been desolventized and stored for 7–10 days. Hydrogenation of clear fractions and precipitate containing fractions of these liquid waxes showed that the precipitate had no apparent effect upon the melting point or hardness of the resulting solid wax. Some of the liquid waxes required a longer hydrogenation time to attain an iodine value of about 1. At this iodine value all of the solid waxes had melting points between 66 and 68°C. Hardness values of all the solid waxes as measured by the Trionic hardness gauge were 90. One of the laboratories of the Southern Utilization Research and Development Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.     

Mangrove forests as a nature-based solution for coastal flood protection: Biophysical and ecological considerations

Nature-based coastal protection is increasingly recognised as a potentially sustainable and cost-effective solution to reduce coastal flood risk. It uses coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests to create resilient designs for coastal flood protection. However, to use mangroves effectively as a nature-based measure for flood risk reduction, we must understand the biophysical processes that govern risk reduction capacity through mangrove ecosystem size and structure. In this perspective, we evaluate the current state of knowledge on local physical drivers and ecological processes that determine mangrove functioning as part of a nature-based flood defence. We show that the forest properties that comprise coastal flood protection are well-known, but models cannot yet pinpoint how spatial heterogeneity of the forest structure affects the capacity for wave or surge attenuation. Overall, there is relatively good understanding of the ecological processes that drive forest structure and size, but there is a lack of knowledge on how daily bed-level dynamics link to long-term biogeomorphic forest dynamics, and on the role of combined stressors influencing forest retreat. Integrating simulation models of forest structure under changing physical (e.g. due to sea-level change) and ecological drivers with hydrodynamic attenuation models will allow for better projections of long-term natural coastal protection.     

Virtual reality for collaborative e-learning

In the past, the term e-learning referred to any method of learning that used electronic delivery methods. With the advent of the Internet however, e-learning has evolved and the term is now most commonly used to refer to online courses. A multitude of systems are now available to manage and deliver learning content online. While these have proved popular, they are often single-user learning environments which provide little in the way of interaction or stimulation for the student. As the concept of lifelong learning now becomes a reality and thus more and more people are partaking in online courses, researchers are constantly exploring innovative techniques to motivate online students and enhance the e-learning experience. This article presents our research in this area and the resulting development of CLEV-R, a Collaborative Learning Environment with Virtual Reality. This web-based system uses Virtual Reality (VR) and multimedia and provides communication tools to support collaboration among students. In this article, we describe the features of CLEV-R, its adaptation for mobile devices and present the findings from an initial evaluation.     

Multimedia ontology population through semantic analysis and hierarchical deep features extraction techniques

Knowledge and Information Systems - The rapid increase of available data in different complex contexts needs automatic tasks to manage and process contents. Semantic Web technologies represent the...