A procedure for the determination of proteolytic activity

The difficulties introduced by the desire to maintain a constant pH during an enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of peptide-like substrates and at the same time to determine the extent of hydrolysis by an acid-base titration have been pointed out (1), but to date no completely satisfactory solution of the problem has been given. With those enzymes whose pH optima lie in the region between pH 7.5 to 8.5, e.g. trypsin and chymotrypsin, the poor buffering capacity of phosphate in this region prompted us, as it has others (2-5), to consider the use of organic amines whose pK’alpha values were near to or identical with the pH optimum of the enzyme being used. In the course of such studies it soon became evident that coincidental use of a suitable primary or secondary amine buffer system and a formol titration (1) would insure adequate buffering capacity with low buffer concentration during the hydrolysis and at the same time permit the final acid-base titration to be conducted under nearly ideal conditions. In this communication we shall limit the discussion to results obtained with chymotrypsin and specific acylated-a-amino acid amide substrates, since the application of the general method to other proteolytic enzymes and other types of substrates will be obvious

An Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Determine Overwintering Habits of American Robins and Eastern Bluebirds

American Robins (Turdus migratorius) and Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) are two species of migratory thrushes that breed in Northwest Indiana but historically are uncommonly present during the winter season (November 1 - March 1). These trends have changed recently, and both species are seen more abundantly during the winter. Recently invaded non-native fruiting plants continue to provide nutrients for the birds throughout the winter and may contribute to the increased avian populations during that time. To measure the effect these food sources contribute to thrush wintering habits, we created an agent-based computer model to simulate the birds\u27 movement in Northwest Indiana along with their food consumption over the course of the winter season. The model incorporates availability of food sources, foraging and roosting behavior, bio-energetics, and starvation, with parameter values informed by the literature. Ultimately, this model will yield a carrying capacity that could explain changes in the birds\u27 migratory patterns

Hvordan kan sykepleiere ved hjelp av gode rutiner få ivaretatt tannhelsen hos pasienter med en demenssykdom, på sykehjem?

Studentarbeid i sykepleie (bachelorgrad) - Høgskolen i Bodø, 201

Modern Education and Changing Identity Constructions in Amdo

This paper examines identity constructions of young and educated Tibetans from a socio-cultural background of nomadic pastoralism in Amdo. It is based on qualitative research conducted between 2003 and 2008, comparing two generations of educated young people from a township in the Amdo region of Northern Sichuan in the People’s Republic of China. It examines developments in education policies and practices as well as economic developments from 2003 to 2008 and argues that identity constructions of school students and graduates need to be analysed against the background of such changes. Conceptualisations of nomad identity are linked to nomadic pastoralism, and when students return to their home communities after graduation or during school vacation, they do not fit easily into categories of being a nomad. This paper argues that in 2003, these graduates, who were a marginal group, underlined the usefulness of education for pastoral production by constructing an identity that showed them to be of use for the pastoral community. In 2008 increased school enrolment, changed attitudes towards education, the emergence of new and alternative sources of income in pastoral regions alongside pastoralism have widened the context for identity constructions. They seem to require less emphasis on a link to the pastoral context, as acceptance of new orderings has come into place. Those orderings are expressed in perceptions that non-educated people are the practising pastoralists while the educated are accessing and expected to access different sources of income and are linked to pastoralism by their upbringing, culture, traditions and language

"Nåtidens pirater i den maritime næring"

Formålet med oppgaven er ment til å rette fokus på piratvirksomheten og områdene det utspiller seg i, det er en virksomhet som har vist seg å bli et verdensomfattende problem og som truer sikkerheten til arbeidere på utsatte farvann. Oppgaven skal gi et overblikk over situasjonen, hvordan det har utviklet seg de siste 15 årene og hva dagens situasjon forteller oss. Jeg skal gå nærmere inn på hvilke områder som medfører størst risiko, hvorfor akkurat disse områdene og grunnene til piratvirksomhet. For å finne svar på hvor reell denne trusselen er, har jeg undersøkt hvilke tiltak som er iverksatt, hvordan de fungerer og suksessen av de, dette gjelder tiltak ombord skip, endring av ruter, militære tiltak og lovverk. Gjennom rapporter og undersøkelser vil jeg presentere kostnadene denne virksomheten medfører. Både økonomiske og menneskelige. Den maritime næringen demonstrerer et høyt fungerende globalt marked etterfulgt av en velfungerende økonomi, mens piratvirksomheten demonstrerer et avvik i sikker

Guerilla-Feldforschung im tibetischen Hochland: Ethische und praktische Herausforderungen

It is a characteristic of ethnographic field research that it seldom evolves according to plan. Once in the field, researchers must adapt their research designs in response to circumstances and people they encounter. This paper exemplifies this by discussing actual research carried out for the project presented in this paper. The project examines social and spatial transformation in Tibetan nomad communities related to motorized mobility and mobile telecommunication. Geographically, research was located in a contested region of Western China and carried out without official permission. The resulting difficulties and challenges were negotiated by doing guerilla-fieldwork, a term introduced to describe fieldwork pursued without state authorization. This article exposes some of the challenges, both practical and methodological, of guerilla-fieldwork and discusses their implications regarding research ethics. It contributes to current discussions on research ethics and argues that guerilla-fieldwork requires a heightened measure of transparency, openness and reflexivity of the researcher to maintain ethical integrit

Using newspapers for tracking the business cycle: A comparative study for Germany and Switzerland

On the basis of keyword searches in newspaper articles several versions of the Recession-word Index (RWI) are constructed for Germany and Switzerland. We use these indices in order to track the business cycle dynamics in these two countries. Our main findings are the following. First, we show that augmenting benchmark autoregressive models with the RWI generally leads to improvement in accuracy of one-step ahead forecasts of GDP growth compared to those obtained by the benchmark model. Second, the accuracy of out-of-sample forecasts obtained with models augmented with the RWI is comparable to that of models augmented with established economic indicators in both countries, such as the Ifo Business Climate Index and the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany, and the KOF Economic Barometer and the Purchasing Managers Index in manufacturing for Switzerland. Third, we show that the RWI-based forecasts are more accurate than the consensus forecasts (published by Consensus Economics Inc.) for Switzerland, whereas we reach the opposite conclusion for Germany. In fact, the accuracy of the consensus forecasts of GDP growth for Germany appears to be superior to that of any other indicator considered in our study. These results are robust to changes in estimation/forecast samples, the use of rolling vs expanding estimation windows, and the inclusion of a web-based recession indicator extracted from Google Trends into a set of the competing models

Experience with the classic library in MAD version 9

The CLASSIC library is a C++ class library which provides services for building portable accelerator models and algorithms for their analysis. This paper describes the motivations behind the CLASSIC library and its main features. It shows how this library can be used in a large accelerator design program like the new version 9 of MAD written in C++. The possibilities are illustrated by presenting some new developments in MAD version 9, like sophisticated matching features with simultaneous matching of two rings.The major part of the CLASSIC library is now implemented. Its source code and some preliminary documentation are available from the author

The CLASSIC Project

Exchange of data and algorithms among accelerator physics programs is difficult because of unnecessary differences in input formats and internal data structures. To alleviate these problems a C++ class library called CLASSIC (Clas Library for Accelerator System Simulation and Control) is being developed with the goal to provide standard building blocks for computer programs used in accelerator lattice structures in computer memory using a standard input language, a graphical user interface, or a programmed algorithm. It also provides simulation algorithms. These can easily be replaced by modules which communicate with the control system of the accelerator. Exchange of both data and algorithm between different programs using the CLASSIC library should present no difficulty