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Project Cluster development usually reflects a large scale construction, the mutual connections of the project working programs, complex constitutions. This paper tries to analyses the difficulties of project clusters progress control and study some processes and methods of project cluster time management, through a series of measures of making the progress plan, schedule monitoring, adjustment and coordination in order to guarantee the project progress goals realization and internal resources coordination and ensure time management operates smoothly of a company.Keywords: Project Cluster; Method Study; Schedule Control; Resource Optimization; Time Management

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) constitute a subpopulation of cancer cells that have the potential for self-renewal, multipotent differentiation, and tumorigenicity. Studies on CSC biology and CSC-targeted therapies depend on CSC isolation and/or enrichment methodologies. Scientists have conducted extensive research in this field since John Dick's group successfully isolated CSCs based on the expression of the CD34 and CD38 surface markers. Progress in CSC research has been greatly facilitated by the enrichment and isolation of these cells. In this review, we summarize the current strategies used in our and other laboratories for CSC isolation and enrichment, including methods based on stem cell surface markers, intracellular enzyme activity, the concentration of reactive oxygen species, the mitochondrial membrane potential, promoter-driven fluorescent protein expression, autofluorescence, suspension/adherent culture, cell division, the identification of side population cells, resistance to cytotoxic compounds or hypoxia, invasiveness/adhesion, immunoselection, and physical property. Although many challenges remain to be overcome, it is reasonable to believe that more reliable, efficient, and convenient methods will be developed in the near future.

Four simple rodlike Schiff base mesogens with tolane moiety were synthesized and applied to stabilize cubic blue phases (BPs) in simple binary mixture systems for the first time. When the chiral additive ISO(6OBA)2 or R811 was added into a chiral salicylaldimine-based compound, the temperature range of the cubic BP could be extended by more than 20 °C. However, when the chiral Schiff base mesogen was blended with chiral dopant possessing opposite handedness, S811, BPs could not be observed. Interestingly, the widest temperature range of the cubic BPs (∼35 °C) could be induced by adding the rodlike chiral dopant R811 or S811 into the rodlike racemic Schiff base mesogen with hydroxyl group. On the basis of our experimental results and molecular modeling, the appearance and temperature range of the BPs are affected by the dipole moment and the biaxiality of the molecular geometry. Accordingly, we demonstrated that the hydroxyl group and the methyl branch in this type of Schiff base mesogen play an important role in the stabilization of BPs.

The invasion of malignant glioma cells into the surrounding normal brain tissues is crucial for causing the poor outcome of this tumor type. Recent studies suggest that glioma stem-like cells (GSLCs) mediate tumor invasion. However, it is not clear whether microenvironment factors, such as tumor-associated microglia/macrophages (TAM/Ms), also play important roles in promoting GSLC invasion. In this study, we found that in primary human gliomas and orthotopical transplanted syngeneic glioma, the number of TAM/Ms at the invasive front was correlated with the presence of CD133+ GSLCs, and these TAM/Ms produced high levels of TGF-β1. CD133+ GSLCs isolated from murine transplanted gliomas exhibited higher invasive potential after being cocultured with TAM/Ms, and the invasiveness was inhibited by neutralization of TGF-β1. We also found that human glioma-derived CD133+ GSLCs became more invasive upon treatment with TGF-β1. In addition, compared with CD133− committed tumor cells, CD133+ GSLCs expressed higher levels of type II TGF-β receptor (TGFBR2) mRNA and protein, and downregulation of TGFBR2 with short hairpin RNA inhibited the invasiveness of GSLCs. Mechanism studies revealed that TGF-β1 released by TAM/Ms promoted the expression of MMP-9 by GSLCs, and TGFBR2 knockdown reduced the invasiveness of these cells in vivo. These results demonstrate that TAM/Ms enhance the invasiveness of CD133+ GSLCs via the release of TGF-β1, which increases the production of MMP-9 by GSLCs. Therefore, the TGF-β1 signaling pathway is a potential therapeutic target for limiting the invasiveness of GSLCs.

This paper proposes a new addressing method for high-efficiency switching-capacitor DC-DC voltage converter based on combination of CTS (charge-transfer-switch) charge pump and cross-coupled output stage is proposed in order to get a high output power and pump-efficiency. By using three level addressing methods, it can increase both of pump-efficiency and power-efficiency. The proposed three level addressing mixed-structure charge pump can operate at as high as 1MHz switching-frequency on the 0.1 μF pump-capacitors. Simulation by using HSPICE level 3 model shows that our work can convert the input low DC-voltage (Vin=1.5V) up near to 11.26 times of it (VOUT=16.9V), so that more output power can be generated with a little power loss. The newly proposed addressing method for DC-DC charge pump circuit is suitable for various low-voltage applications.

This paper proposed a bootstrapped type high-efficient charge pump circuit based on the Dickson charge pump for high output power and pump-efficiency. By using bootstrapped technique, it can increase both of pump-efficiency and power-efficiency. The proposed bootstrapped based charge pump can avoid the threshold voltage drop and enable to generate a higher output voltage. Simulation by using HSPICE level 3 model shows that for conventional Dickson charge pump, it convert the input low DC-voltage (Vin=1.5V) up to 3.8 times of it (VOUT=5.77V), the pump efficiency was 76.93%. Our work, however, can convert the low input DC-voltage (Vin=1.5V) up near to 4.4 times of it (VOUT=6.62V), pump efficiency can reach up to 88.26%.

Growing evidence suggests that myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which have been named "immature myeloid cells" or "myeloid suppressor cells" (MSCs), play a critical role during the progression of cancer in tumor-bearing mice and cancer patients. As their name implies, these cells are derived from bone marrow and have a tremendous potential to suppress immune responses. Recent studies indicated that these cells also have a crucial role in tumor progression. MDSCs can directly incorporate into tumor endothelium. They secret many pro-angiogenic factors as well. In addition, they play an essential role in cancer invasion and metastasis through inducing the production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), chemoattractants and creating a pre-metastatic environment. Increasing evidence supports the idea that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumorigenesis, resistance to therapies, invasion and metastasis. Here, we hypothesize that CSCs may "hijack" MDSCs for use as alternative niche cells, leading to the maintenance of stemness and enhanced chemo- and radio-therapy resistance. The countermeasure that directly targets to MDSCs may be useful for against angiogenesis and preventing cancer from invasion and metastasis. Therefore, the study of MDSCs is important to understand tumor progression and to enhance the therapeutic efficacy against cancer.

The structures of Ωω states with spin-parity Jp = 5/2−, 3/2−, and 1/2− are dynamically studied in both the chiral SU(3) quark model and the extended chiral SU(3) quark model by solving a resonating group method (RGM) equation. The model parameters are taken from our previous work, which gave a satisfactory description of the energies of the baryon ground states, the binding energy of the deuteron, the nucleon-nucleon (NN) scattering phase shifts, and the hyperon-nucleon (YN) cross sections. The calculated results show that the Ωω state has an attractive interaction, and in the extended chiral SU(3) quark model such attraction can make for a Ωω quasi-bound state with spin-parity Jp = 3/2− or 5/2− and the binding energy of about several MeV.

Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been a promising alternative for treating several neural disorders, the mechanisms underlying the DBS remain not fully understood. As rat models provide the advantage of recording and stimulating different disease-related regions simultaneously, this paper proposes a battery-less, implantable neuro-electronic interface suitable for studying DBS mechanisms with a freely-moving rat. The neuro-electronic interface mainly consists of a microsystem able to interact with eight different brain regions bi-directionally and simultaneously. To minimize the size of the implant, the microsystem receives power and transmits data through a single coil. In addition, particular attention is paid to the capability of recording neural activities right after each stimulation, so as to acquire information on how stimulations modulate neural activities. The microsystem has been fabricated with the standard 0.18 $\mu$ m CMOS technology. The chip area is 7.74 mm $^2$ , and the microsystem is able to operate with a single supply voltage of 1 V. The wireless interface allows a maximum power of 10 mW to be transmitted together with either uplink or downlink data at a rate of 2 Mbps or 100 kbps, respectively. The input referred noise of recording amplifiers is 1.16 $\mu$ Vrms, and the stimulation voltage is tunable from 1.5 V to 4.5 V with 5-bit resolution. After the electrical functionality of the microsystem is tested, the capability of the microsystem to interface with rat brain is further examined and compared with conventional instruments. All experimental results are presented and discussed in this paper.

Previously, we extended our chiral SU(3) quark model to include the coupling between the quark and vector chiral fields [Nucl. Phys. A 727 (2003) 321]. Here we further study the structure of (ΩΩ)ST = 00 dibaryon in the extended chiral SU(3) quark model by solving a resonating group method equation. The vector meson exchanges effect, hidden colour channel and colour screening effect are investigated, respectively. The results show that the (ΩΩ)ST = 00 system is still the deeply bound state in the extended chiral SU(3) quark model in which the vector meson exchanges control the short-range quark–quark interaction, which is similar to the results obtained from the chiral SU(3) quark model. When the model space is enlarged by including the hidden colour channel, it is found that the energy of the hidden colour state |CCstr = −6,ST = 00 is much higher than that of the (ΩΩ)ST = 00 state, thus the CC channel has little effect on the binding energy of (ΩΩ)ST = 00 state. When the error function confinement potential is considered, the bound state property would not change largely. Further, scalar meson mixing is considered. No matter whether θS = −18° or ideal mixing is taken, (ΩΩ)ST = 00 state is still a bound state.

The low-energy region kaon-pion S- and P-wave phase shifts with isospin I = 1/2 and I = 3/2 are dynamically studied in the chiral SU(3) quark model by solving a resonating group method equation. The model parameters are taken to be the values fitted by the energies of the baryon ground states and the kaon-nucleon elastic scattering phase shifts of different partial waves. As a preliminary study the s-channel q(-q) annihilation interactions are not included since they only act in the very short range and are subsequently assumed to be unimportant in the low-energy domain. The numerical results are in qualitative agreement with the experimental data.

The structures of (ΩΩ)0+ and (([1])Ω)1+ are studied in the extended chiral SU(3) quark model in whichvector meson exchanges are included. The effect from the vector meson fields is very similar to that from the one-gluonexchange (OGE) interaction. Both in the chiral SU(3) quark model and in the extended chiral SU(3) quark model,di-omega (ΩΩ)0+ is always deeply bound, with over one hundred MeV binding energy, and (([1])Ω)1+ 's binding energyis around 20 MeV. An analysis shows that the quark exchange effect plays a very important role for making di-omega(ΩΩ)0+ deeply bound.

The chiral SU(3) quark model is extended by including the vector meson exchanges to describe the short range interactions. The phase shifts of NN scattering are studied in this model. Compared with the results of the chiral SU(3) quark model in which only the pseudo-scalar and scalar chiral fields are considered, the phase shifts of 1S0 wave are obviously improved.

Tzou, Wen-Shyong et al., Adaptation of enzymes in a metabolic pathway can occur not only through changes in amino acid sequences but also through variations in transcriptional activation, mRNA splicing and mRNA translation. The heme biosynthesis pathway, a linear pathway comprised of eight consecutive enzymes in animals, provides researchers with ample information for multiple types of evolutionary analyses performed with respect to the position of each enzyme in the pathway. Through bioinformatics analysis, we found that the protein-coding sequences of all enzymes in this pathway are under strong purifying selection, from cnidarians to mammals. However, loose evolutionary constraints are observed for enzymes in which self-catalysis occurs. Through comparative genomics, we found that in animals, the first intron of the enzyme-encoding genes has been co-opted for transcriptional activation of the genes in this pathway. Organisms sense the cellular content of iron, and through iron-responsive elements in the 5′ untranslated regions of mRNAs and the intron-exon boundary regions of pathway genes, translational inhibition and exon choice in enzymes may be enabled, respectively. Pathway product (heme)-mediated negative feedback control can affect the transport of pathway enzymes into the mitochondria as well as the ubiquitin-mediated stability of enzymes. Remarkably, the positions of these controls on pathway activity are not ubiquitous but are biased towards the enzymes in the upstream portion of the pathway. We revealed that multiple-level controls on the activity of the heme biosynthesis pathway depend on the linear depth of the enzymes in the pathway, indicating a new strategy for discovering the molecular constraints that shape the evolution of a metabolic pathway., This work was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C. (Grant Nos. NSC 95-2113-M-019-003, NSC 96-2627-B-019-002, NSC 97-2627-B- 019-002, NSC 98-2627-B-019-002, NSC 98-2313-B-019-004-MY3, NSC 101-2311-B-019 -001, NSC 102-2627-B-019-002-, NSC 102-2633-B-019 -001 -) and the Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University.

The cross sections of Ω + Ω→ (ΩΩ)Jx+ X are studied by using an effective Hamiltonian method.The results are ern+ΩΩ→(nΩ)0++ = 0.03 ～ 0.16 × 10- cm2 for pn = 100 ~ 400 MeV,and the cross sections ofη production are about 10-28 cm2 for pΩ＞ 880 MeV.

The structure of a new dibaryon (ΩΩ)0+ is studied and predicted in the framework of the chiral SU(3) quark model by solving a resonating group method equation. The binding energy of this dibaryon is around 100 MeV, the mean root square of the distance between two Ωs is 0.84 fm and the preliminary estimated mean lifetime is about two times longer than that of the free Ω. All these interesting properties and also the two negative charge units it carried could make it be easily identified experimentally in the heavy-ion collision process. The production probability of this new dibaryon in 158A GeV Pb+Pb collision is estimated using the thermal model, which is of the order of 10-6 to 10-5 per event; And it is expected, that with the increase of temperature, the production rate will also be increased.

We discuss the structure of deltaron dibaryon in the chiral quark model. The energy of deltaron is obtained by considering the coupling of the and CC (hidden color) channels. It is shown that the mass of deltaron is lower than the mass of but higher than the mass of .

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been found useful for treating neural diseases such as the Parkinson's disease, while the mechanism is not well understood and the DBS is suspected of inducing various side effects. This paper presents a microsystem suitable for studying the mechanism of the DBS. The microsystem contains eight channels of neural recording and stimulation circuits, an analog-to-digital converter, and a digital information hub. In addition, to facilitate long-term study, the microsystem is implantable and batteryless. Both power and data are transmitted wirelessly through a single coil by the time-division-multiple-access (TDMA) technique. The microsystem has been designed and fabricated with the 0.18μm CMOS technology. The pilot testing results are presented and discussed.

The Pakinson's Disease (PD) is one of the most common diseases for the elderly, and is attributed to the degeneration of neurons in the brain. This paper presents a microsystem suitable for recording the neural activity relating to the PD symptons for a long term, as well as for stimulating the neurons in the deep brain. As many studies indicate that changes of low-frequency field potentials correlate with the PD symptoms, eight chopper amplifiers with tunable bandwidth are designed to record not only low-frequency potentials but also neuronal spikes. Two stimulation circuits with adjustable stimulation voltage are also incorporated to investigate how neural activities change with the stimulation condition. Moreover, the microsystem contains wireless modules for both power and data transmission, facilitating long-term implantation. The functionality of microsystem is tested and discussed in this paper.

The quark-cluster model with coupling constants constraint by chiral symmetry is extended to include strange quarks. In this model, besides the confinement and one-gluon exchange potentials, the pseudoscalar mesons and sigma (σ) meson exchanges are included as the nonperturbative effect. Using this interaction we studied the binding energy of the deuteron, the NN scattering phase shifts and the hyperon-nucleon cross sections in the framework of the resonating group method (RGM). The results are reasonably consistent with experiments.

In this paper, we introduce two parts of work: the hyperon-meson vertex structure from the one-gluon-exchange quark-antiquark pair creation model and the hyperon-nucleon interactions on a modified quark potential model. For both parts some significant results have been obtained.

Malfunctioned gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) has been thought associated with malignant transformation of normal cells. However, the role of GJIC-related proteins such as connexins in sustaining the malignant behavior of cancer stem cells remains unclear. In this study, we obtained tumorspheres formed by glioma stem cells (GSCs) and adherent GSCs and then examined their GJIC. All GSCs showed reduced GJIC, and differentiated glioma cells had more gap junction-like structures than GSCs. GSCs expressed very low level of connexins, Cx43 in particular, which are key components of gap junction. We observed hypermethylation in the promoter of gap junction protein α1, which encodes Cx43 in GSCs. Reconstitution of Cx43 in GSCs inhibited their capacity of self-renewal, invasiveness, and tumorigenicity via influencing E-cadherin and its coding protein, which leads to changes in the expression of Wnt/β-catenin targeting genes. Our results suggest that GSCs require the low expression of Cx43 for maintaining their malignant phenotype, and upregulation of Cx43 might be a potential strategy for treatment of malignant glioma. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

By using the color confinement potential which includes the color screening effect, we studied the baryon spectra and the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The results show that the color screening effect not only improves the baryon spectrum calculation, but also can solve the long-tail problem of the color Van der Waals force. A part of the medium attraction of the nuclear force can be obtained from the color Van der Waals force.

The relationship between cancer-initiating cells and cancer-related inflammation is unclear. Exploring the interaction between glioma-initiating cells (GICs) and tumor-associated microglia/macrophages (TAM/Ms) may offer us an opportunity to further understand the inflammatory response in glioma and the cellular/molecular features of the GIC niche. Here，we reported a positive correlation between the infiltration of TAM/Ms and the density of GICs. The capacity of GICs to recruit TAM/Ms was stronger than that of adhesive glioma cells (AGCs) in vitro. In vivo experiments suggested that implantations formed by GICs had a higher level of TAM/M infiltration than those formed by AGCs. Our studies indicate a predominant role of GICs in microglia/macrophages tropism to glioma and a close positive correlation between the distribution of GICs and TAM/Ms. As an important part of cancer-related inflammation, TAM/Ms may participate in the architecture of the GIC niche.

The structure of H dihyperon (DH) is investigated by employing the SU (3) chiral quark model. As the structure of DH, two different configurations, six-quark cluster configuration and two-cluster configuration, are considered respectively. The result shows that except the sigma chiral field, the overall effect of the other SU (3) chiral fields is destructive in forming a stable DH and the two-cluster configuration is the preferred structure. The resultant mass of DH in a three-coupled-channel calculation in the SU (3) chiral quark model is ranged from 2225 to 2234 MeV.

The bound state problem of D{sup 0}D*{sup 0}(D{sup 0}D*{sup 0}) is relevant to the molecular interpretation of the X(3872). We investigated this problem in a chiral quark model by solving the resonating group method equation. We found the system is unbound through S-wave {pi} and {sigma} interactions. The inclusion of {rho} and {omega} meson exchanges is helpful to the formation of a molecule. Because the binding energy relies on the coupling constants, we cannot draw a definite conclusion as to whether a molecular state exists in the D{sup 0}D*{sup 0}(D{sup 0}D*{sup 0}) system. When moving on to the bottom counterpart, we obtained an S-wave BB* state.

We investigated systematically whether the S-wave ($\bar{Q}q$) meson and the ($Q\bar{q}$) meson may form S-wave bound states in a chiral SU(3) quark model by solving the resonating group method equation. Here $Q=c$ or $b$ and $q=u$, $d$ or $s$. Our preliminary calculation disfavors the existence of $I=\frac12$ ($\bar{Q}l$)-($Q\bar{s}$) molecules ($l=u,d$) while favors the existence of isoscalar $B\bar{B}$, $B^*\bar{B}^*$ (J=2) and $B\bar{B}^*$ (C=+) molecules. The existence of isovector (charm-anticharm) and (charm-bottom) molecules is also disfavored. Therefore the resonance-like structure $Z^+(4051)$ is unlikely to be an S-wave $D^*\bar{D}^*$ molecule., 8 pages, 7 tables, accepted by Phys. Rev. C