On totally projective QTAG-modules characterized by its submodules

A $QTAG$-module $M$ is called almost totally projective if it has a weak nice system. Here we show that the isotype submodules of a totally projective module which are almost totally projective are precisely those that are separable. From this characterization it follows that every balanced submodule of a totally projective module is almost totally projective. Finally, in some special cases we settle the question of whether a direct summand of an almost totally projective module is again almost totally projective.

The voting systems in the Council of the EU and the Bundesrat – What do they tell us about European Federalism?

The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a new system of weighted votes in the Council, which radically departs from the principles on which the distribution of votes between the Member States of the EU was based for more than half a century. At the same time, the system of double majority is fundamentally different from the assumptions on which voting systems in federal states are based, including in the Bundesrat. Systems used in federal states are usually based on a compromise between the equality of states, and the equality of citizens. Consequently, in the Nice system, smaller Member States in the EU had relatively greater power compared to their populations than smaller federal units in the German Bundesrat. The results presented in this paper indicate that the Lisbon system of voting in the Council differs significantly from voting systems in federal states.

pSEUDO, a Genetic Integration Standard for Lactococcus lactis

ABSTRACTPlasmid pSEUDO and derivatives were used to show thatllmg_pseudo_10inLactococcus lactisMG1363 and its homologous locus inL. lactisIL1403 are suitable for chromosomal integrations.L. lactisMG1363 and IL1403 nisin-induced controlled expression (NICE) system derivatives (JP9000 and IL9000) and two general stress reporter strains (NZ9000::PhrcA-GFP and NZ9000::PgroES-GFP) enablingin vivononinvasive monitoring of cellular fitness were constructed.

The Networking Integrated Character Education (NICE) Project: An Experimental Study

There are few studies connecting character education with Blog-assisted online learning environment in elementary school scenarios. Therefore, the Networking Integrated Character Education (NICE) project has been planned, designed, developed and implemented in the study. The NICE system focuses on the interaction and communication to enhance the awareness and behavior of character for children. There were sixty-nine fifth graders of a public elementary school in Taiwan involved in this study. The online questionnaires were given to find out the feasibility of the project. Data were analyzed by ANCOVA. The experimental results showed that there were significant in all of the two core values Thanksgiving and Helping Others. Based on the online survey, this Blog-based NICE project could help teachers or instructors facilitate students’ learning and would be a very useful and valuable instructional platform for young learners to implement and make progress on character development.

Flow Cytometric Testing of Green Fluorescent Protein-Tagged Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for Response to Defensins

ABSTRACT Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG is of general interest as a probiotic. Although L. rhamnosus GG is often used in clinical trials, there are few genetic tools to further determine its mode of action or to develop it as a vehicle for heterologous gene expression in therapy. Therefore, we developed a reproducible, efficient electroporation procedure for L. rhamnosus GG. The best transformation efficiency obtained was 104 transformants per μg of DNA. We validated this protocol by tagging L. rhamnosus GG with green fluorescent protein (GFP) using the nisin-controlled expression (NICE) system. Parameters for overexpression were optimized, which allowed expression of gfp in L. rhamnosus GG upon induction with nisin. The GFP+ strain can be used to monitor the survival and behavior of L. rhamnosus GG in vivo. Moreover, implementation of the NICE system as a gene expression switch in L. rhamnosus GG opens up possibilities for improving and expanding the performance of this strain. The GFP-labeled strain was used to demonstrate that L. rhamnosus GG is sensitive to human beta-defensin-2 but not to human beta-defensin-1.

New Expression System Tightly Controlled by Zinc Availability in Lactococcus lactis

ABSTRACT Here we developed the new expression system PZn zitR, based on the regulatory signals (PZn promoter and zitR repressor) of the Lactococcus lactis zit operon, involved in Zn2+ high-affinity uptake and regulation. A PZn zitR-controlled expression vector was constructed, and expression regulation was studied with two reporter genes, uspnuc and lacLM; these genes encode, respectively, a protein derived from Staphylococcus aureus secreted nuclease and Leuconostoc mesenteroides cytoplasmic β-galactosidase. Nuclease and β-galactosidase activities of L. lactis MG1363 cells expressing either uspnuc or lacLM under the control of PZn zitR were evaluated on plates and quantified from liquid cultures as a function of divalent metal ion, particularly Zn2+, availability in the environment. Our results demonstrate that PZn zitR is highly inducible upon divalent cation starvation, obtained either through EDTA addition or during growth in chemically defined medium, and is strongly repressed in the presence of excess Zn2+. The efficiency of the PZn zitR expression system was compared to that of the well-known nisin-controlled expression (NICE) system with the same reporter genes cloned under either PZn zitR or P nisA nisRK control. lacLM induction levels reached with both systems were on the same order of magnitude, even though the NICE system is fivefold more efficient than the PZn zitR system. An even smaller difference or no difference was observed after 3 h of induction when nuclease was used as a reporter for Western blotting detection. PZn zitR proved to be a powerful expression system for L. lactis, as it is tightly controlled by the zinc concentration in the medium.