Recently, we identified an alginate-assimilating gene cluster in the genome of Flavobacterium sp. strain UMI-01, a member of Bacteroidetes. Alginate lyase genes and a 4-deoxy-l-erythro-5-hexoseulose uronic acid (DEH) reductase gene in the cluster have already been characterized; however, 2-keto-3-deoxy-d-gluconate (KDG) kinase and 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate (KDPG) aldolase genes, i.e., f...

Mieko Yamada Department of Applied Mathematics Konan University Okamoto, Higashinada-ku Kobe 658, Japan Partially balanced incomplete block designs, PBIBDs, are designs for which the property of balance of BIBD is relaxed. They are based on an association scheme. We introduce the concept of generalized relative difference sets, generalizing the concept of relative difference sets introduced by ...

Background and Objectives: To evaluate the utility of the constructs functioning and disability (F&D) and dependency for case-mix and subtyping of patients with schizophrenia by psychosocial, clinical, use of services and attention received from informal carers. Methods: A randomly selected total of 205 people with schizophrenia, and their careers were evaluated through PANSS, DAS-sv, Objective...

We report on the self-assembly behaviour of two homologue series of rod-coil block copolymers in which, the rod, a pi -conjugated polymer, is maintained fixed in size and chemical structure, while the coil is allowed to vary both in molecular weight and chemical nature. This allows maintaining constant the liquid crystalline interactions, expressed by Maier-Saupe interactions, omega , while var...

Globalisation aims at bringing the world closer like a global village. But it has not had much impact on small-scale farming communities in Africa due to several barriers. These include illiteracy which hinders access to printed and electronic information; poverty which does not allow farmers to have the purchasing power to acquire equipment, such as television sets, radio sets, computer, etc, ...

The success of the Internet has launched McLuhan’s idea of the global village. Over the years, the Internet has become a real political medium which has inspired the emergence of the concept of e-democracy. Despite some successful applications, many limitations prevent its wide expansion. Some of these limitations can be solved with social software, in particular with the emerging Web 2.0 appli...

Information technology is currently taking center stage and transformed the whole world into a global village with a global economy, which is increasingly dependant on the creative management and distribution of information. The enormous advantages it has in easing the delivery of information around the world. The paper discusses the impact of information technology and role of libraries in the...

People have always been mobile. In the Middle Ages, masses moved because of pilgrimages. Today, these masses are called holiday travellers. People have never been more mobile than today. Because of increasing prosperity and the abolishment of many borders in Europe, "freedom" has become a new symbol. Freedom causes movement. We have yet to overcome the borders of the countries behind the former...