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Full Development (full + development)
Selected AbstractsThe Intermediate Band Solar Cell: Progress Toward the Realization of an Attractive ConceptADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 2 2010Antonio Luque Abstract The intermediate band (IB) solar cell has been proposed to increase the current of solar cells while at the same time preserving the output voltage in order to produce an efficiency that ideally is above the limit established by Shockley and Queisser in 1961. The concept is described and the present realizations and acquired understanding are explained. Quantum dots are used to make the cells but the efficiencies that have been achieved so far are not yet satisfactory. Possible ways to overcome the issues involved are depicted. Alternatively, and against early predictions, IB alloys have been prepared and cells that undoubtedly display the IB behavior have been fabricated, although their efficiency is still low. Full development of this concept is not trivial but it is expected that once the development of IB solar cells is fully mastered, IB solar cells should be able to operate in tandem in concentrators with very high efficiencies or as thin cells at low cost with efficiencies above the present ones. [source] MSI-1, a neural RNA-binding protein, is involved in male mating behaviour in Caenorhabditis elegansGENES TO CELLS, Issue 11 2000Akinori Yoda Neural RNA-binding proteins are thought to play important roles in neural development and the functional regulation of postmitotic neurones by mediating post-transcriptional gene regulation. RNA-binding proteins belonging to the Musashi family are highly expressed in the nervous system; however, their roles are poorly understood. We identified a Caenorhabditis elegans Musashi homologue, MSI-1, whose RNA-recognition motifs show extensive similarity to those of Drosophila and vertebrate Musashi proteins. We isolated a msi-1 mutant and found males with this mutation to have a mating defect. C. elegans male mating behaviour includes a distinct series of steps: response to contact, backing, turning, vulva location, spicule insertion, and sperm transfer. msi-1 is required for the turning and vulva location steps. Like other Musashi family members, MSI-1 is expressed specifically in neural cells, including male-specific neurones required for turning and vulva location. However, msi-1 was not expressed in proliferating neural progenitors in C. elegans, unlike the Musashi family genes in other systems. Our results suggest that msi-1 is expressed specifically in postmitotic neurones in C. elegans. msi-1 is required for full development of male mating behaviour, possibly through regulation of msi-1 expressing neurones. [source] Infant visual habituation and parental psychological distressINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 4 2001David P. Laplante Research is equivocal concerning the relationship between parental psychological distress and infant cognitive functioning. Four potential limitations of the literature are addressed: reliance on mothers' but not fathers' psychological distress, use of categorical measures of psychological distress, use of standardized measures of infant cognitive functioning, and failure to take into account potential gender differences. Ninety-nine twin pairs and both their mothers and fathers were assessed. Infants cognitive functioning was assessed using an infant-controlled habituation,recovery,dishabituation task. Maternal and paternal psychological distress was assessed using the Symptom Check List-90-Revised. No gender differences were obtained for infant visual information-processing abilities or parental psychological distress. Maternal and paternal psychological distress was related to female visual encoding abilities only. It was concluded that parental psychological distress might degrade parent,infant interactions. Characteristics of girls when faced with parents exhibiting psychiatric difficulties may exacerbate difficulties of parent,infant interactions, thereby hindering the full development of cognitive abilities involved in the process of habituation. A need exists to examine the relationship between parental psychological distress and infant visual attention separately for girls and boys. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] P-wave and S-wave decomposition in boundary integral equation for plane elastodynamic problemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 12 2003Emmanuel Perrey-Debain Abstract The method of plane wave basis functions, a subset of the method of Partition of Unity, has previously been applied successfully to finite element and boundary element models for the Helmholtz equation. In this paper we describe the extension of the method to problems of scattering of elastic waves. This problem is more complicated for two reasons. First, the governing equation is now a vector equation and second multiple wave speeds are present, for any given frequency. The formulation has therefore a number of novel features. A full development of the necessary theory is given. Results are presented for some classical problems in the scattering of elastic waves. They demonstrate the same features as those previously obtained for the Helmholtz equation, namely that for a given level of error far fewer degrees of freedom are required in the system matrix. The use of the plane wave basis promises to yield a considerable increase in efficiency over conventional boundary element formulations in elastodynamics. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Description and ontogeny of young Stolephorus baganensis and Thryssa kammalensis, two Engraulididae from Peninsular MalaysiaJOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2000V. Sarpéadonti The morphology of the digestive system was useful to distinguish the larvae of Stolephorus baganensis and Thryssa kammalensis before the full development of their dorsal and anal fins. The relative positions of these fins, the length of the anal fin, and body depth, were good criteria for identifying individuals >10·0 mm LS. For both species, the relative growth of the ten morphometric characters studied was best explained by linear piecewise regressions indicating inflection in allometry at specific standard lengths. Most of these sudden changes in growth rate occurred between 6·9 and 10·0 mm LS for S. baganensis and between 5·8 and 8·9 mm LS for T. kammalensis. Double-centred principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed important changes in the external morphology of both species during this transition period. Prior to this period, the main parameters characterizing the global morphological changes of both species were the length and position of dorsal and anal fins whereas they were body depth and eye diameter (only in S. baganensis) for larger specimens. Complete development of scales did not appear as a suitable criterion to define the end of the larval period, which, instead, was set at the size at which larvae presented an adult-like pigmentation (respectively 35·0 mm LS and 55·0 mm LS in S. baganensis and T. kammalensis). [source] Biochemical applications of mass spectrometry in pharmaceutical drug discoveryMASS SPECTROMETRY REVIEWS, Issue 3 2005Kieran F. Geoghegan Abstract Biochemical applications of mass spectrometry (MS) are important in the pharmaceutical industry. They comprise compositional analyses of biomolecules, especially proteins, and methods that measure molecular functions such as ligand binding. In early drug discovery, MS is used to characterize essential reagents and in structural biology. A number of MS-based methods have been proposed for use in high-throughput screening (HTS), but are unlikely to supplant established radiometric and fluorometric methods for this purpose. These methods, which include pulsed-ultrafiltration MS, frontal affinity chromatography-MS, and size-exclusion chromatography-MS, may ultimately be most successful in the post-screening lead development phase. In full development, MS is used heavily in the search for biomarkers that can be used to gauge disease progression and drug action. This review gives equal attention to the technical aspects of MS-based methods and to selective pressures present in the industrial environment that influence their chances of gaining wide application. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Mass Spec Rev 24:347,366, 2005 [source] Functional redundancy in the Arabidopsis Cathepsin B gene family contributes to basal defence, the hypersensitive response and senescenceNEW PHYTOLOGIST, Issue 2 2009Hazel McLellan Summary ,,Cysteine proteases are required for programmed cell death (PCD) in animals. Recent work in Nicotiana benthamiana has implicated cathepsin B-like cysteine proteases in the hypersensitive response (HR) in plants, a form of PCD involved in disease resistance. Here, we investigate the function and regulation of Cathepsin B (CathB) genes in plant defence, and in both pathogen-inducible and developmental forms of PCD. ,,Single, double and triple knockout mutants were isolated for the three Arabidopsis thaliana AtCathB genes. ,,AtCathB genes were redundantly required for full basal resistance against the virulent bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) DC3000. By contrast, AtCathB genes were not required for R gene-mediated resistance to Pst DC3000 expressing AvrB or AvrRps4. Neither did they contribute to PCD triggered by AvrRps4, although they were crucial for the full development of PCD during HR triggered by AvrB. Cathepsin B has also been proposed to play a positive regulatory role in senescence. Atcathb triple mutants showed a delay in senescence and a seven-fold decrease in accumulation of senescence marker gene SAG12. ,,Our results demonstrate a redundant function for AtCathB genes in basal defence as well as a potential regulatory role in distinct forms of plant PCD. [source] The myeloid differentiation factor 88 is dispensable for the development of a delayed host response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection in miceCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 2 2006M. R. Power Summary Because MyD88 transduces a core set of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-induced signals, microbial-induced host responses can be divided broadly into the MyD88-dependent and MyD88-independent pathways. A specific pathogen induces a distinct pattern of host response dependent upon the signalling pathways employed. Recently, we demonstrated that a MyD88-dependent pathway is essential for the development of early (4,8 h) host response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection. Here, we show that the development of a delayed (24,48 h) host response to P. aeruginosa is independent of MyD88. Using MyD88-deficient mice, the production of macrophage inflammatory protein 2, tumour necrosis factor and interleukin 1, in the airway was observed following P. aeruginosa lung infection for 24 or 48 h. Moreover, the MyD88-deficient mice recruited sufficient neutrophils in the lung and cleared the bacteria efficiently from the lung after 48 h. Thus, the full development of host responses to P. aeruginosa lung infection involves, in a sequential, stepwise fashion, a MyD88-dependent early response and a MyD88-independent delayed mechanism. [source] | ||||||||||