Search results for "GAME"

Time-Lapse Dynamics of the Mouse Oocyte Chromatin Organisation during Meiotic Resumption

2014

In the mammalian oocyte, distinct patterns of centromeres and pericentromeric heterochromatin localisation correlate with the gamete’s developmental competence. Mouse antral oocytes display two main types of chromatin organisation: SN oocytes, with a ring of Hoechst-positive chromatin surrounding the nucleolus, and NSN oocytes lacking this ring. When matured to MII and fertilised, only SN oocytes develop beyond the 2-cell, and reach full term. To give detailed information on the dynamics of the SN or NSN chromatin during meiosis resumption, we performed a 9 hr time-lapse observation. The main significant differences recorded are: (1) reduction of the nuclear area only in SN oocytes; (2) ~17…

Cerebral toxicity of penicillins in relation to their hydrophobic character

1975

The neurotoxic effects of ticarcillin, methicillin, phenthicillin, oxacillin, cloxacillin and dicloxacillin were studied in the conscious rabbit. During and after intravenous administration of 1.2 and 2.4 g/kg, resp., over 50 min the blood concentrations of the drugs were determined and the neurotoxicity assessed by continuous recording of the electroencephalogram. The hydrophobia of the penicillins was characterized by determination of their partition coefficients between isobutanol and buffer solution pH 7.4. The penicillins showed quite different neurotoxic properties. A close correlation (r = 0.928) was found between the neurotoxic potency of the penicillins and their partition coeffici…

Impact of oral contraceptive use and menstrual phases on patellar tendon morphology, biochemical composition, and biomechanical properties in female …

2013

Sex differences exist with regards to ligament and tendon injuries. Lower collagen synthesis has been observed in exercising women vs. men, and in users of oral contraceptives (OC) vs. nonusers, but it is unknown if OC will influence tendon biomechanics of women undergoing regular training. Thirty female athletes (handball players, 18–30 yr) were recruited: 15 long-term users of OC (7.0 ± 0.6 yr) and 15 nonusers (>5 yr). Synchronized values of patellar tendon elongation (obtained by ultrasonography) and tendon force were sampled during ramped isometric knee extensor maximum voluntary contraction to estimate mechanical tendon properties. Furthermore, tendon cross-sectional area and lengt…

Sustainability and tourist flow networks: a mean field bi-level optimization approach

The widespread acknowledgement of tourism as a strategic pillar for economic growth and development has boosted competitiveness among tourist destinations. This concept has been greatly emphasized during the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Nevertheless, the massive presence of tourists imposes the challenge of adopting sustainable tourism practices to balance economic prosperity opportunities with potential threats to the environment and local communities. There are many definitions for sustainability, but the most effective one is ``the capacity to endure'' [Emel et al, 1997]: from an economic perspective this leads to find an equilibrium between short and long-term objectives so that to…

The Coordination Problem in Regional Integration

2021

A catch-22 situation or coordination failure between the slow creation of well-integrated regional markets and low economic diversification (plus sophistication and specialization) is unfolding in Africa. Ubiquitous trade barriers translate into a paradoxical tariff pattern by which African neighbours are treated worse than remote trade partners. In the face of widespread irregularities and high trade costs, ‘trade facilitation’ has become an important technical approach to easing trade with the support of donor agencies. This chapter examines the systemic potential and limits of trade facilitation programmes. As a general alternative to institution-heavy, imperfect integration along the tr…

A critical perspective on Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) applied in a Norwegian public hospital project

2020

Does the IPD concept deliver as required and expected, and if not, how can that be explained? This paper is a critical realist inspired methodology based on a combination of the inductive and deductive approaches used in case study research. IPD is based on relational contracting between multiple parties, in this case between the Owner, Contractor, MEP subcontractors and a group of Consulting engineers who share control of the project. At the core of the concept is shared risk and opportunities among the parties in the IPD contract. Our theoretical perspectives are based mainly on the Principal-Agent theory (PA), Transaction Cost theory (TC), and its related incentives. This paper reports o…

Integrating transaction cost economics and the resource-based view in services and innovation

2009

[EN] This study examines the complementary nature of Williamson's transaction cost theory and that of the resource-based view in the integration or externalisation of activities, with particular reference to services. Assessing comparative costs, idiosyncratic demands and core competences form the criteria for make or buy decisions, although the analysis of services endows idiosyncratic demands with particular relevance when internalisation of services does neither contribute cost advantages nor others related to the core competences of the firm. In addition to these make or buy questions, this study considers the front/back model in cases where the firm manages services internally.

Aberrant gene expression profiles in Mediterranean sea urchin reproductive tissues after metal exposures

2019

Abstract Marine organisms are simultaneously exposed to numerous pollutants, among which metals probably represent the most abundant in marine environments. In order to evaluate the effects of metal exposure at molecular level in reproductive tissues, we profiled the sea urchin transcriptional response after non-lethal exposures using pathway-focused mRNA expression analyses. Herein, we show that exposures to relatively high concentrations of both essential and toxic metals hugely affected the gonadic expression of several genes involved in stress-response, detoxification, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, without significant changes in gonadosomatic indices. Even though …

Trattamento Percutaneo Ecoguidato (TPE) di borsite calcifica del legamento collaterale mediale del ginocchio: case report.

2019

INTRODUZIONE Il dolore in regione mediale del ginocchio è una condizione di frequente riscontro nella pratica clinica. Numerose sono le strutture presenti in tale regione anatomica e le relative patologie a esse correlate che possono essere responsabili dell’insorgenza di dolore. Tra di esse, la borsite del legamento collaterale mediale di ginocchio è una condizione di non frequente riscontro ma che deve essere tenuta in considerazione in presenza della suddetta sintomatologia (1). La borsa del legamento collaterale mediale è una struttura situata tra i due strati che compongono il legamento, lo strato profondo e lo strato superficiale (2). Brantigan and Voshell per primi identificarono la …

Fuzzified Tree Search in Real Domain Games

2011

Fuzzified game tree search algorithm is based on the idea that the exact game tree evaluation is not required to find the best move. Therefore, pruning techniques may be applied earlier resulting in faster search and greater performance. Applied to an abstract domain, it outperforms the existing ones such as Alpha-Beta, PVS, Negascout, NegaC*, SSS*/ Dual* and MTD(f). In this paper we present experimental results in real domain games, where the proposed algorithm demonstrated 10 percent performance increase over the existing algorithms.