STUDY OF PET AIR-JET TEXTURING SEWING THREAD PROPERTIES

This paper presents a study of properties of air-jet textured threads made from high strengthpolyester filament and ordinary strength polyester filament.It includes the evaluation of tenacity,breaking elongation,modulus,specific work,evenness,abrasion resistance,hook strength,knotstrength and other mechanical properties relating to sewing.The polyester air-jet texturing sewingthread has special structure and appearance and possesses better properties of evenness,goodabrasion resistance,fatigue property,high hook and knot strength.     

Structural basis for the selectivity of the external thioesterase of the surfactin synthetase

Non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and polyketide synthases (PKS) found in bacteria, fungi and plants use two different types of thioesterases for the production of highly active biological compounds. Type I thioesterases (TEI) catalyse the release step from the assembly line of the final product where it is transported from one reaction centre to the next as a thioester linked to a 4'-phosphopantetheine (4'-PP) cofactor that is covalently attached to thiolation (T) domains. The second enzyme involved in the synthesis of these secondary metabolites, the type II thioesterase (TEII), is a crucial repair enzyme for the regeneration of functional 4'-PP cofactors of holo-T domains of NRPS and PKS systems. Mispriming of 4'-PP cofactors by acetyl- and short-chain acyl-residues interrupts the biosynthetic system. This repair reaction is very important, because roughly 80% of CoA, the precursor of the 4'-PP cofactor, is acetylated in bacteria. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of a type II thioesterase from Bacillus subtilis free and in complex with a T domain. Comparison with structures of TEI enzymes shows the basis for substrate selectivity and the different modes of interaction of TEII and TEI enzymes with T domains. Furthermore, we show that the TEII enzyme exists in several conformations of which only one is selected on interaction with its native substrate, a modified holo-T domain.     

Problems of drinking water treatment along Ismailia Canal Province, Egypt

The present drinking water purification system in Egypt uses surface water as a raw water supply without a preliminary filtration process. On the other hand, chlorine gas is added as a disinfectant agent in two steps, pre- and post-chlorination. Due to these reasons most of water treatment plants suffer low filtering effectiveness and produce the trihalomethane （THM） species as a chlorination by-product. The Ismailia Canal represents the most distal downstream of the main Nile River. Thus its water contains all the proceeded pollutants discharged into the Nile. In addition, the downstream reaches of the canal act as an agricultural drain during the closing period of the High Dam gates in January and February every year. Moreover, the wide in- dustrial zone along the upstream course of the canal enriches the canal water with high concentrations of heavy metals. The obtained results indicate that the canal gains up to 24.06 × 10^6 m^3 of water from the surrounding shallow aquifer during the closing period of the High Dam gates, while during the rest of the year, the canal acts as an influent stream losing about 99.6× 10^6 m^3 of its water budget. The reduction of total organic carbon （TOC） and suspended particulate matters （SPMs） should be one of the central goals of any treatment plan to avoid the disinfectants by-products. The combination of sedimentation basins, gravel pre-filtration and slow sand filtration, and underground passage with microbiological oxidation-reduction and adsorption criteria showed good removal of parasites and bacteria and complete elimination of TOC, SPM and heavy metals. Moreover, it reduces the use of disinfectants chemicals and lowers the treatment costs. However, this purification system under the arid climate prevailing in Egypt should be tested and modified prior to application.     

Structures of complement component C3 provide insights into the function and evolution of immunity

The mammalian complement system is a phylogenetically ancient cascade system that has a major role in innate and adaptive immunity. Activation of component C3 (1,641 residues) is central to the three complement pathways and results in inflammation and elimination of self and non-self targets. Here we present crystal structures of native C3 and its final major proteolytic fragment C3c. The structures reveal thirteen domains, nine of which were unpredicted, and suggest that the proteins of the alpha2-macroglobulin family evolved from a core of eight homologous domains. A double mechanism prevents hydrolysis of the thioester group, essential for covalent attachment of activated C3 to target surfaces. Marked conformational changes in the alpha-chain, including movement of a critical interaction site through a ring formed by the domains of the beta-chain, indicate an unprecedented, conformation-dependent mechanism of activation, regulation and biological function of C3.     

Degree-based moment estimation for ordered networks

The edges between vertices in networks take not only the common binary values, but also the ordered values in some situations (e.g., the measurement of the relationship between people from worst to best in social networks). In this paper, the authors study the asymptotic property of the moment estimator based on the degrees of vertices in ordered networks whose edges are ordered random variables. In particular, the authors establish the uniform consistency and the asymptotic normality of the moment estimator when the number of parameters goes to infinity. Simulations and a real data example are provided to illustrate asymptotic results.     

Genetic diversity of rhizobial populations recovered from three Lotus species cultivated in the infra-arid Tunisian soils

gments from each strain based on the UPGMA algorithm from the combined patterns showed that Lotus isolates are very diverse and that they were affiliated to Sinorhizobium,Rhizobium,and Mesorhizobium genera.     

Age and Sex Distribution of Patients with Vasovagal Syncope Undergoing Head-up Tilt Table Test: 7-Year Audit

To investigate age and sex distribution of vasovagal syncope (VVS) patients undergoing head-up tilt table test (HUTT) at a tertiary hospital. The details of syncope patients who underwent HUTT at our department of cardiac function from January 2004 to December 2010 were reviewed. Of the 1 799 patients who underwent the HUTT, 854 tested positive, of which 558 (65.3%) were women, which were more than the women in the negative group (450, 47.6%) (p<0.05). VVS patients showed a bimodal age distribution between 11 and 20 years of age and in the fourth decade. In almost all age groups, mixed response was the highest compared with vasodepressor and cardioinhibitory. VVS patients who underwent HUTT indicate bimodal distribution peaking before the second decade and the fourth decade. The incidence of females was twice that of males before the sixth decade, and old age occupies a small percentage of VVS with no other comorbidities.     

Nesomyrmex micheleae,a new ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Dhofar Governorate,Oman, with a synoptic list,distribution map and key to the Arabian Nesomyrmex

ABSTRACT

A new species of the myrmicine ant genus Nesomyrmex Wheeler, 1910, N. micheleae Sharaf sp. nov., is described and illustrated from Oman based on the worker caste. The new species is a member of the N. angulatus species group and can be diagnosed by the golden yellow gaster that contrasts with the dark brown body; the irregular longitudinal rugulose sculpture on the cephalic surface; and the finely punctate mesonotum and propodeal dorsum. A synoptic species list, an updated key and a distribution map to the Arabian Nesomyrmex species are presented. Continued ant species discoveries are central to large-scale diversity patterns, conservation biology and macroecology.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FBCEACA7-E543-4B10-AB9D-D63319DCB31F http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1D2EC498-3B2E-43CD-A3C0-1C6C237471E2     

Optimal prediction with nonstationary ARFIMA model

We propose two methods to predict nonstationary long‐memory time series. In the first one we estimate the long‐range dependent parameter d by using tapered data; we then take the nonstationary fractional filter to obtain stationary and short‐memory time series. In the second method, we take successive differences to obtain a stationary but possibly long‐memory time series. For the two methods the forecasts are based on those obtained from the stationary components. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.