The DNA concentration effect on DNA radiation damage induced by <Superscript>7</Superscript>Li ions and γ rays

To evaluate the influence of the DNA concentration in the aqueous solution on DNA radiation damage, the plasmid DNA in the presence or absence of Mannitol （scavenger of free radical OH.） was irradiated by ^7Li ions and γ rays at various DNA concentrations. Gel electrophoresis analysis revealed that the DNA damage of single and double strand breaks induced by irradiation became more severe at lower DNA concentration. In the condition of γ-ray irradiation, most of double strand breaks （DSB） damage was neutralized and less associated with DNA concentration in the presence of mannitol. However, under ^7Li irradiation, DSB damage could not be cleared by mannitol but was gradually aggravated with decreasing DNA concentrations. These findings imply that under low-LET irradiation, most of the DSB damage is generated by free radical OH·diffusion, and thus may be counteracted by scavengers, while at higher-LET irradiation, quite a fraction of DSB induction is caused by direct ionizing energy deposition of heavy ions, which cannot be eliminated. This work also indicates that the proportion between free radical damage and direct ionizing damage is s constant which is independent of DNA concentration when the DNA concentration is under a certain value （50ng/μL）. Our study sheds light on the un- derlying mechanisms in the DNA radiation damage process.     

A Binary Integer Program to Maximize the Agreement Between Partitions

This research note focuses on a problem where the cluster sizes for two partitions of the same object set are assumed known; however, the actual assignments of objects to clusters are unknown for one or both partitions. The objective is to find a contingency table that produces maximum possible agreement between the two partitions, subject to constraints that the row and column marginal frequencies for the table correspond exactly to the cluster sizes for the partitions. This problem was described by H. Messatfa (Journal of Classification, 1992, pp. 5–15), who provided a heuristic procedure based on the linear transportation problem. We present an exact solution procedure using binary integer programming. We demonstrate that our proposed method efficiently obtains optimal solutions for problems of practical size. We would like to thank the Editor, Willem Heiser, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that resulted in improvements of this article.     

Effects of Micronutrient Niacin on Treatment Efficiency of Textile Wastewater

0 IntroductionMioclroogincuatlri pernotsce pslsaeys afo vrer wyais tmepwoarttaernt t rroelaetmine nbti- .A widerange of micronutrientsis required byactiva-ted sludge[1-5]. Adequate trace nutrient concentra-tions ,including metal ions and vitamins , are re-quiredtosupport all the genera presentinthe activa-ted sludgetreatment systemfor a diverse communityto survive. The lack of specific nutrients may resultin an unbalanced mixed culture,leading to poor-quality effluent , reduced treatment effic…     

MODELING JUMPS IN RETURNS OF FINANCIAL ASSETS AS M4 PROCESSES： MEASURED EXCHANGE RATE EXPOSURE OF ASIAN EQUITY PORTFOLIO

1. Introduction An early analysis of exchange rate changes and share prices found that the general stock market index tended to move up (down) immediately after a devaluation (revaluation) of the local currency (Giddy 1974). It is surprising that previous researches (Jorion 1990; Amihud 1993; Bodnar and Gentry 1993) find that no contemporaneous relationship between exchange rate changes and excess equity market returns of largest U.S. exporting firms. Recently, it has argued that there is a…     

ACCURACY ANALYSIS FOR QUASI-CAREY ELEMENT*

In this paper, a new triangular element （Quasi-Carey element） is constructed by the idea of Specht element. It is shown that this Quasi-Carey element possesses a very special property, i.e., the consistency error is of order O（h^2）, one order higher than its interpolation error when the exact solution belongs to H^3（Ω）. However, the interpolation error and consistency error of Carey element are of order O（h）. It seems that the above special property has never been seen for other triangular elements for the second order problems.     

A High-Performance Extraction Method for Public Opinion on Internet

Aiming at the importance of the analysis for public opinion on Internet, the authors propose a high-performance extraction method for public opinion. In this method, the space model for classification is adopted to describe the relationship between words and categories. The combined feature selection method is used to remove noisy words from the original feature space effectively. Then the category weight of words is calculated by the improved formula combining the frequency of words and distribution of words. Finally, the class weights of the not-categorized documents based on the category weight of words are obtained for realizing opinion extraction. Experiment results show that the method has comparatively high classification and good stability.     

From Researching Regions at a Distance to Participatory Network Building: Integrating Action Research and Economic Geography

This paper describes the change in a researcher's practices from one of studying regional industrial development at a distance to one of working closely with a network of agri-food managers. This is accompanied by a discussion of the methodological and theoretical possibilities for an action research inspired economic geography. Some of the core characteristics of a pragmatic conceptualization of action research are revised. It is argued that theoretical developments within economic geography make possible a dialogue between researchers and local actors and that economic geography is challenged to accept that knowledge is generated through such a dialogue. Attempts to create a dialogue between action research and economic geography in a specific Norwegian industrial and geographical context are described. These attempts indicate that the researcher's methodological approach has been transformed from a narrow one relying solely on conventional social science methods to a broader one including participatory action research.     

Inhibition of DNA restrictive endonucleases and Taq DNA polymerase by trimalonic acid C60

Activities of trimalonic acid fullerene (TMA C_60) on DNA restrictive enzymatic reaction were investigated by using two restrictive endonucleases Hind III and EcoR I and plasmid pEGFP-N1 with single restric-tive site for both enzymes. Meanwhile, TMA C60 was also tested to clarify its effects on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with the catalyst of Taq DNA polymerase and the template of plasmid pEGFP-N1. The products from restrictive reactions or PCR were detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. It was found that the product amounts from restrictive reactions or PCR decreased significantly with addition of TMA C60. The inhibition by TMA C60 was dose-dependent and IC50 values for reactions of Hind III, EcoR I and PCR were 16.3, 6.0 and 6.0 μmol/L, respectively. Addition of two scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS), L-ascorbic acid-2-phosphate ester magnesium and sodium azide at the con-centrations of 2―10 mmol/L did not antagonize the activities of TMA C60 against PCR and two restrictive reactions. However, increase of Taq DNA polymerase amounts in PCR system antagonized the activities of TMA C60. These data implied that TMA C60 was able to inhibit the activities of the three above-mentioned enzymes involved in DNA metabolism, and that this inhibition probably did not correlate to ROS.