The Prospects for Immigration Amendments

Obg proteins are a family of P-loop GTPases, conserved from bacteria to human. The Obg protein in Escherichia coli (ObgE) has been implicated in many diverse cellular functions, with proposed molecular roles in two global processes, ribosome assembly and stringent response. Here, using pre-steady state fast kinetics we demonstrate that ObgE is an anti-association factor, which prevents ribosomal subunit association and downstream steps in translation by binding to the 50S subunit. ObgE is a ribosome dependent GTPase; however, upon binding to guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp), the global regulator of stringent response, ObgE exhibits an enhanced interaction with the 50S subunit, resulting in increased equilibrium dissociation of the 70S ribosome into subunits. Furthermore, our cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the 50S? ObgE? GMPPNP complex indicates that the evolutionarily conserved N-terminal domain (NTD) of ObgE is a tRNA structural mimic, with specific interactions with peptidyl-transferase center, displaying a marked resemblance to Class I release factors. These structural data might define ObgE as a specialized translation factor related to stress responses, and provide a framework towards future elucidation of functional interplay between ObgE and ribosome-associated (p) ppGpp regulators. Together with published data, our results suggest that ObgE might act as a checkpoint in final stages of the 50S subunit assembly under normal growth conditions. And more importantly, ObgE, as a (p) ppGpp effector, might also have a regulatory role in the production of the 50S subunit and its participation in translation under certain stressed conditions. Thus, our findings might have uncovered an under-recognized mechanism of translation control by environmental cues

Performance Analysis of Equity Index Universal Life Insurance

Equity Index Universal Life (EIUL) is a variation of whole life insurance which carries a death benefit component and a cash value component. The popularity of EIUL has been growing quickly in recent years because of its promised downside protection and upside potential. However, its long-term viability can’t be directly verified since no public data of EIUL is available to check its historical performance. This paper models the stock market return, interest rate and other market variables simultaneously to simulate the potential future returns of EIUL under different scenarios. Research in the literature often only models the stock market return and ignore the other market variables completely or fix their values in simulations. This research believes market variables such as the interest rate and credit spread will play an important part in analyzing the EIUL performance. The viability analysis is then applied to policy holders with different ages, tax brackets and financial goals. With the same initial capital, EIUL performance is compared with combination of stock index investment and a term-life policy

A connection between the stochastic heat equation and fractional Brownian motion, and a simple proof of a result of Talagrand

We give a new representation of fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter H<=1/2 using stochastic partial differential equations. This representation allows us to use the Markov property and time reversal, tools which are not usually available for fractional Brownian motion. We then give simple proofs that fractional Brownian motion does not hit points in the critical dimension, and that it does not have double points in the critical dimension. These facts were already known, but our proofs are quite simple and use some ideas of Levy

Translation of selected chapters from the book Los recuerdos de la iguana: historias del Guayaquil que se fue for providing domestic study material for bilingual high school students.

The aim of this project was to provide a translation of selected chapters of the book Los recuerdos de la iguana: historias del Guayaquil que se fue to provide local literature for teenage EFL learners in Ecuadorian bilingual schools, as a resource to help students learn and be aware of Guayaquil's early twentieth-century history (which is basically unknown to teenagers), during the development of their reading skills in the English class. The translation was carried out by applying the communicative approach and some of the techniques, procedures, and strategies proposed by Newmark (1988) and Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) to carry out a translation that is readable for EFL students. Teaching techniques for the development of reading skills were also considered to develop reading comprehension exercises that enable EFL students to understand and learn the local content mentioned

Fixed Index Annuity Return and Risk Analysis with an Enhanced Model

This paper examines the risk and return of fixed index annuity (FIA) with an enhanced model framework which takes into account correlations among market variables and a changing participation rate fluctuating with the market moves. The FIA business model is discussed to explain the participation rate model. Sensitivity analysis of FIA returns is performed for key model assumptions. The risk and return profile of the mix (30/70, 40/60, 50/50, 100/0) of the S&P 500 Index and the 1-year Treasury bills is compared with that of the FIAs. This study focuses on 2 hypothetical contracts: (10-year) annual reset Point-to-Point (PTP) and Monthly-Averaging (MA) contracts with participation rate but no cap or yield spread. PTPs outperformed MAs. They together outperformed the mixes of stock/treasury with comparable risk. Simulated stock index shows higher returns than FIAs most of the time, but FIAs has much less volatilities and much lower tail risk

1988 DWC Membership and Mailing Lists

Membership list of DWC members, 198

Analysis of Trawl Net Fishing of Antarctic Krill in a Polar Ice Area

To analyse the operations of Antarctic krill fishing vessels in regions with polar ice floes, this study used Star-CCM+ software to simulate the effects of towing speed on the height and width of the midwater trawl net of these vessels. The simulation accorded with the experimental results of Su (2017) and was thus shown to be accurate. The fluctuations in the area of the net and the flow passing through it were determined under different L/S ratios (the ratio of the horizontal and vertical distances between the ends of the net gear), ice concentrations, and towing speeds. On the basis of the obtained results, a suitable L/S ratio and towing speed were identified for maximising the fishing efficiency of Antarctic krill fishing vessels. The significant innovation of this article is to link polar ice floes with krill fishing efficiency through net flow. Net flow can more intuitively reflect krill fishing efficiency compared to the net mouth area. Based on the habitat characteristics of Antarctic krill, the conclusion was drawn to choose a trawl with an L/S ratio of 0.55