Nonlinear response of biophoton emission to external perturbations.

By considering an exciplex system consisting of collective molecules in interaction with both the 'pumping' fields and the biophoton fields, the two-level exciplex model and the three-level exciplex model are presented. They are useful for the investigation of the quasi-stationary behaviour of biophoton emission, and biophoton emission as a dynamic process in the presence of external perturbations. Our theoretical results predict a series of nonlinear effects, such as chaos, fractal behaviour, and non-equilibrium phase transition. These effects characterize the coherence nature of living systems. In our approaches, there are two important quantities f and x, which can be used to mark the working points of the two-level and three-level exciplex systems. All the influences of external perturbations on the exciplex systems, e.g. change of temperature, the addition of agents, exposure to light, etc., can be interpreted as shifts of the working points of the systems, leading to a diversity of nonlinear response of biophoton emission. In addition, the agreements of the theoretical results and the corresponding experimental observations on biophoton emission from biological systems in the presence of external perturbations are demonstrated.     

A New Discipline of Science-The Study of Open Complex Giant System and Its Methodology

This paper introduces the conception of open complex giant system and the methodology for dealing with the system, with stress on its profound significance in development of science and technology. The authors conclude that the reductionism underlying the exact science is not suitable to open complex giant system, and the only feasible alternative is the meta-synthetic engineering from the qualitative to the quantitative.     

Channel Mismatching in Sidelobe Canceler: Limitations and Remedies

After a brief recall of the Sidelobe Canceler (SLC) working principle, including the derivation of a general formula for the Cancellation Ratio (CR), the effects of channel mismatching are investigated. In particular, curves providing CRvalues as a function of amplitude and phase channel mismatching, radar bandwidth, and jammer direction of arrival (JDOA) are provided for the cases of one and two auxiliary antennas. Subsequently, a time -space processor for performance restoration is analyzed in detail. In addition to the above mentioned quantities, the attainable CR value is expressed as a function of the space-time processor parameters. The contribution of the paper is related to the derivation of a number of mathematical equations of CR for several cases of practical interest for the radar engineer. In addition, several curves are presented to assist design of SLC systems.     

Chromosomal localization of a unique gene by non-autoradiographic in situ hybridization

During the past few years, several methods have been developed for the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences by in situ hybridization using non-radioactive labels such as fluorochromes, cytochemically detectable enzymes and electron-dense markers. These methods are preferable to autoradiography in terms of speed of performance and topological resolution. Their limited sensitivity, however, has so far restricted their use to the detection of repeated sequences. Here we report single gene detection with a procedure using 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF)-modified probes, immunoperoxidase cytochemistry and reflection-contrast microscopy. We confirmed the autoradiographic data on the localization of the human thyroglobulin (Tg) gene to the distal end of the long arm of chromosome 8. A mixture of cosmid cHT2-derived subclones of the 3' part of the Tg gene, 22.3 kilobase pairs (kbp) in total, was used as a hybridization probe. This procedure can be used to map other unique sequences, if genomic clones are available from which clones with an appropriate amount of inserts can be isolated.     

Acquired immunity and epidemiology of Schistosoma haematobium

Human immune responses to schistosome infection have been characterized in detail. But there has been controversy over the relative importance of ecological factors (variation in exposure to infection) and immunological factors (acquired immunity) in determining the relationships between levels of infection and age typically found in areas where infection is endemic. Independent effects of exposure and age on the rates of reinfection with Schistosoma haematobium after chemotherapy have been demonstrated in the Gambia and Zimbabwe. This age effect could be the result of acquired immunity to infection. Indeed, allowing for variation in exposure and age, low rates of reinfection in the Gambia are correlated with high amounts of specific IgE antibodies--human IgE can kill S. mansoni schistosomulae in vitro. Further, animals can acquire immunologically mediated resistance to S. mansoni infection, although nonimmunological factors could also be involved. Acquisition of this immunity seems to be related to the cumulative effects of repeated infection and provides only partial protection. These characteristics are consistent with immuno-epidemiological data for both S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections of humans. We have now analysed age-prevalence data for human infection with S. haematobium, and find patterns of variation that are indeed consistent with the epidemiological effects of acquired immunity predicted by mathematical models.