In the study of metabolic networks, optimization techniques are often used to predict flux distributions, and hence, metabolic phenotype. Flux balance analysis in particular has been successful in predicting metabolic phenotypes. However, an inherent limitation of a stoichiometric approach such as flux balance analysis is that it can predict only flux distributions that result in maximal yields...

Recent genomic analyses on the cellular metabolic network show that reaction flux across enzymes are diverse and exhibit power-law behavior in its distribution. While intuition might suggest that the reactions with larger fluxes are more likely to be lethal under the blockade of its catalysing gene products or gene knockouts, we find, by in silico flux analysis, that the lethality rarely has co...

The TOGA-COARE (Tropical OceadGlobal Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment) was an international observational campaign designed to study the processes that occur in the Pacific warm pool region. Data from the Meteorological Research Flight C130 aircraft are presented to illustrate some of the characteristics of the surface energy balance in this region. The dominant terms in ...

The elucidation of organism-scale metabolic networks necessitates the development of integrative methods to analyze and interpret the systemic properties of cellular metabolism. A shift in emphasis from single metabolic reactions to systemically defined pathways is one consequence of such an integrative analysis of metabolic systems. The constraints of systemic stoichiometry, and limited thermo...

Actual evapotranspiration is assessed via surface energy balance at an hourly rate. However, a robust estimation of daily evapotranspiration from hourly values is required. Outcomes of surface energy balance are frequently determined via measures of eddy covariance latent heat flux. Surface energy balance can be applied on images acquired at different times and spatial resolutions. In addition,...

The urban heat island phenomenon occurs as a mixed result of anthropogenic heat discharge, decreased vegetation, and increased artificial impervious surfaces. To clarify the contribution of each factor to the urban heat island, it is necessary to evaluate the surface heat balance. Satellite remote sensing data of Tainan City, Taiwan, obtained from Terra ASTER and Formosat-2 were used to estimat...

In this study, we developed a novel multiobjective linear programming (MOLP) strategy based on the noninferior set estimation (NISE) method (Solanki et al., 1993), whereby Pareto solutions for the given set of conflicting objectives and corresponding flux distribution profiles are generated to understand how the internal fluxes are changed in the metabolic system. Furthermore, this MOLP approac...

13C flux analysis studies have become an essential component of metabolic engineering research. The scope of these studies has gradually expanded to include both isotopically steady-state and transient labeling experiments, the latter of which are uniquely applicable to photosynthetic organisms and slow-to-label mammalian cell cultures. Isotopomer network compartmental analysis (INCA) is the fi...

When cultured hepatocytes are exposed to challenging environments such as plasma, they frequently suffer a decline in liver-specific functions. Media supplements are sought to reduce or eliminate this effect. A rational design approach for amino acid supplementation in hepatocyte culture has been developed in our prior work, and designed amino acid supplementation (DAA) was found to increase ur...