We can define Supersecondary structures as combinations of alpha-helices and beta-structures connected through loops, that form patterns that are present in many different protein structures. These folding patterns are stabilized through the same kind of linkages than the tertiary level. Sometimes the term “motif” is used to describe these supersecondary structures.

These structures can be relatively simples, as alpha-alpha (two alpha helixes linked by a loop), Beta-Beta (two beta-strands linked by a loop), Beta-alpha-Beta (Beta-strand linked to an alpha helix that is also linked to other beta strand, by loops) or more complexes structures, like the Greek key motiv or the beta-barrel.

It is very interesting in these motifs that these repetitive structures can be very different in their primary structure and they can be present in very different proteins.  Some proteins have no supersecondary structures.

Domains

They are stable, independently folding, compact structural units  within a protein, formed by segments of the polypeptide chain, with relative independent structure and function distinguishable from other regions and stabilized through the same kind of linkages than the tertiary level.

Following this definition, in this representation of Pyruvate kinase, it is possible to distinguish three domains:

Protein domains may be considered as elementary units of protein structure and evolution, capable, to some extent, of folding and functioning autonomously. A domain sometimes contain motifs, sometimes don’t.

The tertiary structure of many proteins is built from several domains

Domain Functions:

Often each domain has a separate function to perform for the protein, such as:

- Bind a small ligand

- Spanning the plasma membrane (transmembrane proteins)

- Contain the catalytic site (enzymes)

- DNA-binding (in transcription factors)

- Providing a surface to bind specifically to another protein

In some (but not all) cases, each domain in a protein is encoded by a separate exon in the gene encoding that protein.

More information:

Supersecondary structures

Motifs

Protein domains

So I titled this post that. But it really isn't about that. We the Stetson-goers leave today, and I will be going to sleep soon. I couldn't sleep, so I wrote the poem following this post and am now writing this.

But I have news: My musical style has changed. I've been noticably more happy lately, and as such, my musical improvisation has become more depressing and emotional. I know it makes no sense, but it is absolutly logical if the X axis is the happiness of music and Y is the happiness of self and the equation has a slope of -1. Math fun!

Anyway, I'm feeling good about myself. So maybe next week I'll try to improvise and just record it to see how it goes. I may end up having Motifs created right there with a different track list! Also, as a part of my international and inter-generational idiology, I am working on graphic music and a canon in round. Literally. It's a canon written in a cirlce.

I'm not crazy. I'm visionary, hyper from caffine and lack of sleep, and happy.

THE PHULKARI NEEDLE-CRAFT OF PUNJAB HAS A RARE MAGNIFICENCE NOT ONLY AS A THING OF beauty and love but also as an expression of aesthetic emotions rendered with the minimum of materials and maximum of patient labour that determined its intrinsic value. It reflects as much the colourful vivacity, warmth' and vitality of a people that braved all geographical and political adversities with equanimity and courage. Nimble fingers of the unsophisticated rural women exposed exclusively to the nature with whom they identified themselves created this charming fabric art tradition

The word Phulkari literally means flower-craft or `flowering work" and it certainly creates a flowery surface' through the process of embroidery. Though the literal meaning of Phulkari implies a flowering work', which may be applied ordinarily to any form of floral embroidery, actually it connotes a particular form of needle-craft practised in the Punjab region by the peasant women' for decorating their shawls, veils, etc.

Phulkari : Flower Embroidery, Phulkari Work Designs

There is a wide controversy over the origin of this craft. Some believe that the art was inducted in India by the Persian immigrants who settled in Kashmir. It was known as `Gulkari' and `Gul' is the Persian synonym of a flower.' But it is to be noted that the Kashmiri Embroidery has some sort of link with that of the Persian but the Phulkari has no semblance whatsoever with the Kashmir-Persian form.

Hand Embroidery, Flower Patterns

I can play piano now; but I can't really record.

Tomorrow I have a bit of time to try and record some, but only between about noon after service and four, when I start my final round of confirmation curriculum. And this is slightly off topic but a fun fact: LaBour is in a lot of my life now. Church in my Faith Formation class, ROTC in my squad, and Spanish class in my project group. Interesting...

But I don't have much time to get that. At least I have CDs already and I have sleeves. Granted, I have no ink left in my printer, so I may have a lot of fun (sarcasm) writing out the track lists for Motifs. But the good thing is that since this is solely my work and I have all copyrights to it, I can sell and market it. Holding copyrights is fun.

Now I just wish my Japanese grammar was better so I could write music in Japanese, rather than performing covers from Ayu and Hikki (Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru).

Still, I have not composed recently, and now I no longer have the tools to compose pop music at all, so I can only focus on choral and instrumental with NOTION. Whoo.

This Spring Meadowlark rolls into town with their latest naughty but nice

range

"Twilight in November".

Staying true to their previous three collections, Meadowlark sticks with

their long running ethos of combining whimsical, feminine imagery with edgy,

dark elements.

Inspiration comes from both designers personal perspective on music, art,

vintage finds, tattoo art, fashion and symbolism from history.

"Twilight in November" plays on motifs

from rock'n'roll, biker culture and the punk era

juxtaposing them with the sweet fragility of quirky pendants and precious

stones.  This is another collection of firsts with Meadowlark offering

studded bracelets and  knuckle  dusters and the opportunity for their

customers to personalise their own book shaped locket.

"Each season we build upon existing collections, adding new pieces or stone

colours", says Claire Hammon (Director, Meadowlark Jewellery), proving that

fashion doesn't have to be fast to be fresh.

"Twilight in November has something for everyone with pretty pieces and edgy

pieces that will hopefully be heirlooms in years to come" continues Claire.

Each piece is available in sterling silver, yellow gold or white gold and

this seasons stone colours options include black sapphire, smoky quartz and

blue topaz.

Available nationwide from November 2008.

All  pieces  are designed with the Meadowlark woman (or man!) in mind.

Creative,  off  beat souls with a strong sense of their own style. The

Meadowlark design team respect this and produce ranges that allow their

customers to continue to explore their own style while easily combining

their favorite originals with each seasons new concept.

ABOUT THE DESIGNERS

Meadowlark is true personal outlet for two talented young designers who take

their craft seriously enough to produce long lasting, precious jewellery for

others to treasure.

Claire Hammon is a self educated, uninhibited designer of much. In her late

teens, early twenties she created and grew a successful street wear label

into the solid brand Urchin. The sale of this in 2004 allowed her to launch

fully into her passion for graphic design. She now runs a studio that holds

a solid portfolio of magazine, textile, graphic and web design work.

Greg is a trained visual artist who turned his hand to mastering the craft

of jewellery design and construction. He has worked on signature range's for

brands such as Huffer and also creates stunning one off pieces for private

clients wanting personal, memorable wedding jewellery.

M E A D O W L A R K

I'm already done composing for the album. I have all six tracks. Most of them are minor key or atonal. I suppose I may as well go into detail about them:

Faint of Heart is a piece for solo piano that I originally started by thinking something along the lines of Passion and Dearly Beloved. Odd, since I haven't seen a Kingdom Hearts disc forever. Anyway, I wound up with this at... Well, this morning. (Sudden realization: I composed 6 works in under 15 hours. Wow lol.) It's idea is falling, hopeless, dissonance that fits into the chords to not sound dissonant and a completely repeated motif. After a while, the tension builds as it wavers out of key often.

Walk in the Park... Seriously needs a title revision. (I'll work on that.) Anyway, it begins with a solo treble line in 5/8 time. Jazzy and atonal, but occasionally finds a home in D major. In writing, the page is only one measure. Actually, that's rather funny.

Yume, Japanese for "Dream" is an organ piece based on the motif I inserted into my "Symphony of the Bells." The straight eighth motif of the melody in A minor works pretty well on an organ. It's a bit fast for me, though, so I might actually end up playing it differently than I interpret it, even though I am improvising... Does that even make sense?

Aqueuse, French for "Aqueous" is a fluid piece for male voice and piano. There are no words, just syllables "aah" and "n." The piano repeats a C sharp major scale the entire time, while the treble hand plays octaves that fall into place like raindrops on a colorful pond. The song in itself is an exploration of new age and jazz, and is written in 7/8, with the occasional measure of common time.

My most dramatic piece is El Sueño de Incendios, literally "The Dream of Fire." This is probably one of the few places where you will find a trained pianist doing everything his teacher told him not to! Not only do I hit the piano constantly, I bang the keys with my palm (granted, who cares about that? This piece is much more focused on percussion.) and even use the pedal to make slamming and jolts. It is by far the most intense composition I have written (Improvised, actually) and i really look forward to scaring the person recording me when all of a suden I start to bang on the old Wurlitzer. The peice is designed specifically for a wooden upright, and luckily for me, we have two at church—granted, it is obvious; without having one, I would never have come up with this! It's kind of like if you put one of the great war scenes in Lord of the Rings, Narnia, or any other major fantasy movie into a piano. Very scary stuff.

My last composition in this set, which I finished about twenty minutes ago, is another organ piece, this one titled Torture. Yes. Torture. I'm horrible, get over it. Here, it is written in C minor and is based on the key skill of the organ; the ability to hold notes indefinately. The chords do change, but most of the time my left and is holding a C octave or power chord on the Swell organ while the Great moves into a descending pattern reminiscent of Wonderland. The bass is used sparingly, but it can be almost guaranteed that where there is no left hand, the pedalboard is substituting.

And that is my album summary, for any who care enough to read it.

Actually, if you did care enough to read it, congratulations. Especially if you understood it all! Anyway, as soon as I can get into church and set up to record the organ and somehow record the Wurlitzer without the reverb our fellowship hall has, I'll have this on a CD. That really shouldn't be any more than two or three weeks, which is actually good, because I'm going to need to practice on the various instruments.

I don't happen to own a two-manual organ or a grand piano, nor a wooden one. I own a crappy 66-key keyboard that luckily has *most* of the keys working. There is no pedal, and I have to avoid the F below high C since it makes no sound whatsoever... I assure everyone, after I get my software and hardware, I'm replacing this keyboard with a Clavinova or something. I need power, which I don't have. Anyway, as I was saying, having the few weeks gives me some time to practice the various instruments at church before I record.

This should be fantastical. Not fantastic. Fantastical.

And just a side note to those of you who wonder what I consider "experimental": how many people do you know who hit upright pianos to make music?

D Major.

5/8 time.

That means jazz.

Oh, and I uploaded my initial ideas on Motifs's artwork. It's on the link under "echoes" on the right-hand side. If you didn't notice, The Awakening's info is there, too. :)

I reset my hard drive again; my computer just tends to be prone to virus and I'm too lazy to actually buy an antivirus software... Don't tell me to use AVG, I don't like it. I prefer this anyway, it's a nice clean slate.

I digress. I opened up a NOTION template for solo piano and started working. Well, it didn't go like that. I tried a lot of different ideas, trying to work on Starlight, since I do have a prelude for it and all... But that didn't go too well. So I went to my (horrible, pedal-less, 66-key piece of crud) keyboard and just imporvised a bit on a bass motif. Ding! Idea.

So, back to NOTION. I start a new template and give it no title, just a C minor key signature and Common time. And I begin. Sadly, my MIDI is not hooked up to my computer because it's impossible to find a MIDI to USB cable ANYWHERE. *steam blows out of nostrils* I put in the bass notes, add a horn section, decide it sounds bad, and voila! In ten minutes, I have a very short composition for solo piano. And by very short, I mean 30 seconds.

This album is... a stretch for someone sheet-music savvy like myself. My goal here is to only use live performances with the equipment I can access (though I will still need the new equipment because a fifty-person chorus singing fortississimo usually overloads most microphones) and to follow the sheet music like a jazz musician would. By not doing it. The sheet music for each piece in Motifs—the title of this new album (I'm sneaky)—will be like a lead sheet with some basic motifs in it. No chord symbols unless the object is to improvise based solely on chords. There are a few things I'm going to have to watch out for here, including that a piano is not a choral reduction and therefore I should attempt to avoid giving up a bass line in favor of two-handed chords, and my favorite key to work in: C minor.

However, I have started the album, so expect it... eventually. Now that school has started it may be longer, and I also will have to find a good recording venue... like the Performing Arts building at school, if only I could get permission to use the new piano and some of my church's equipment... ;)

By the way, track one will be titled "Faint of Heart" and it just so happens to be in C minor.

Hi folks

Just to let you know I have not forgotten you but is has been so hectic setting up to the Black and White Exhibition last week that time has just flown by and I really had to take a couple of days off this week to sort out my home! I could do with the elves coming in after I have gone to bed and sprucing the place up a bit!

The launch of Black and White went really well and I will post up some piccies next week for you but in the meantime here are some individual images of some of the fantastic work I have in Heart Gallery at the moment.

Take care.

Alison

WHATEVER.

It is very important for me to know the right words to describe everything, as well as important nouns like seismograph so if I ever need to describe a machine with such a function than I don't have to peruse through the words I know, I can just say seismograph. Right? It is very important to be able to explain your thoughts. But sometimes it is more complicated than a simple noun, because the flow and flux of emotion and biochemical chances that result in intangible feelings cannot always be transliterated. So I find myself often thinking of certain words to describe something But Not Quite.

It is like in Choke by C Palahniuk, where he says, ____ is not the right word, but it's the first one that comes to mind. So that will be one of my motifs, just so you know. Who am I talking to?

I think this entry will be drenched in that approximation of thought.

BUT OKAY HERE IS THE THING:

So the other day we went to this lady's house to pick something up, and we have known her for years because we met her when we lived in Pittsburgh. We used to live down the street from each other and she has a son that is my age(but now in boarding school in Utah because he was being a jackass?) so we used to play and know each other and blahblahblah.

I asked my mom how exactly we knew her, how we met her, on the car ride back to our house. And my mom told me that no, we did not know her through family or anything. One day when we lived in Pittsburgh this lady knocked on our door and said something like, you seem like you are one of our people(culture-wise, I'm translating poorly), and my children are having a birthday party today so if you'd like, come over. We went and we met that lady and her son and the neighborhood full of people.

Well here is the thing that has been rather annoying me.

I lived in Pittsburgh when I was really really sick. And I was always hopped up on intense medications that made me rather aggressive and prone to violence, tantrums, fits, severe mood swings, etc. And oh yes, this is another entry dealing with COPING and REPRESSED MEMORIES.

Well my mom told me that I used to beat up that lady's daughter(the one who invited us over) a lot. I used to just kick her ass, and no one else. And of course she quickly added that it was not my fault because I was really sick and on lots of medicines, but it left me a bit perturbed.

Maybe it was because my mother told me in Urdu, the scenario of having that girl over to babysit and I would beat the hell out of her. Urdu is a much more vivid, graphic, impact-ful language(at least to me). It did not strike me as funny, or silly, or ordinairy. It really disturbed me. I vaguely remember how full of rage I used to be, and I vaguely remember the belligerence when my rage manifested itself, but mostly I recall a sickly feeling thinking back on those incidents.

Because now I am all fucking grown up(well almost) and I am wondering what would go through that little girl's head, and her mother's head, when I became violent. I wonder what all the people in the neighborhood thought about me, that sick little girl who sometimes bursts into flame. I am thinking of when people see a disabled person or a sick person in public, they often have feelings and expressions of Disgust even though they know that this person is not so out of their own accord. And I know a lot of us will say that we never have those feelings, but it is always difficult to suppress the despairity people feel once they witness something ever so out of the normal.

And yes, I used to think like that when I was younger. You are not supposed to Stare at these individuals, your parents might turn you away quickly, whatever. But now I really don't because of whatever reasons, but mainly because I used to be that child that people would look at in the mall, a park, whatever, with my swollen cheeks and bruised body, with IVs and strips of wiring hanging out of me, who did not Look Normal but really Quite Sick.

And I am wondering what these people thought about me.

But mainly, I feel very guilty. Because yes, I could not control myself but that poor girl was so little and she could not rationalize the situation like her mother could, like the people on the street could. She just thought I was some Freak Who Beat Her.

So I think I will ask my mom what her last name is, I know her first name is Sonia, and maybe I will look her up on Facebook and tell her that I am really sorry. Because you know, I really really am.

Sonia, I feel really bad about that. I know I was not in the position to control myself, I know it was not something that would have took place in another circumstance, and I know that you probably don't even remember some weird fuck violently hitting you. And you don't know that I have really never beaten someone else in my whole life(with the exception of the occasional sibling fist fight), but who cares, the point is I AM REALLY SORRY AND I HOPE THAT IF I EVER GET TO SAY SORRY TO YOU PERSONALLY YOU WILL FORGIVE ME.

Yeah okay I have a high powered executive meeting tmr(two) and I should get some sleep but that will be hard because I feel realllllllllly sick.

I have felt this way the whole summer and I don't know what it is. Septic shock is not the right word, but it is the first one that comes to mind.

With a school auction, for example, you are going to start talking to your parent body (who are the primary attendees) very early on in the school year despite the fact that the auction won’t be scheduled until sometime in the spring.  The reason for the early notification here is that your parent body is the primary source of volunteers, as well as the primary source of donation items.  When it comes to your donated items, your parents will either donate items themselves or they will pound that pavement to solicit items from local businesses they patronize, as well as from their families, friends and business associates.  

You should always start the fundraising early on and all that ties into the messaging around the event.  You want the event look to be consistent throughout the communications you have with your constituents.  If you have a volunteer team that solicits local businesses versus soliciting your constituents directly, you are still going to want to have consistency in the look and feel of the materials that go out because there will be overlap amongst the various groups with whom you are communicating.  If any of your business donors decide to attend the event or participate in other ways, it’s important that they feel they are at the same event they donated too.

This goal requires communication from your marketing team, your solicitation team, as well as your decorations team as early on in the planning process as possible.

The first step in determining the look and feel of your messaging is to determine what the overall look and feel of your event is going to be – the theme.  There are a different ways you can go for your event theme.  You can pick a cultural theme (Asian, Italian, French, etc.), a party theme (Mardi Gras, etc.) or an inspirational theme (Reaching for the Stars, etc.).  You can also choose to go with symbols and motifs for your event theme. 

Whatever you choose to do, the key is that your marketing team and your decorations team are on the same page.

One example at a school auction, the graphic designer determined the theme with her inspiration for a French Provencal theme centered around Van Gogh’s painting Starry Night.  The materials incorporated a version of Van Gogh’s painting.  When the guests arrived at the auction,

the decorations team had pulled it all together with a beautiful French Provencal look, with the color scheme based on the colors of the painting itself – purples, golds, greens, and black. 

The next year, the auction committee selected their theme based on a culture, choosing an Asian-inspired event.  They then looked for a symbol to center their theme on within that broad category.  They selected a Chinese proverb that they felt was pretty symbolic for their community.  The proverb said “Learning is a treasure that follows its owner everywhere”.  When the theme was handed over to the design team, they came up with a very beautiful calligraphy version of the proverb and designed a gorgeous red materials plan.  Everything was red with white or black calligraphy.  It was very elegant and very well designed.  When carried out at the event by the decorations team, the linens, the signs, the decorative items all incorporated that calligraphy and the red, white and black color scheme.  They also utilized Asian style-decorative items, such as bamboo, to pull that theme through the event itself.

Overall, this school made conscious decisions to create complete events, where the thematic elements were consistently presented in all the materials from the solicitation forms to their final event decorations.  This kind of cohesiveness creates a incredibly powerful message for both the donors and the event attendees.

What’s the link between Tokyo and Hong Kong? Watashi wa (me), a Parisian traveler young lady going for a walk in Hong Kong, found an exhibition of amazingly beautiful Kimono and Obi (belts). And I wanted to cheer with you my passion of Japanese fabrics and patterns combinations, adding few Tokyo snapshots.

Quel lien entre Hong Kong et Tokyo ? Watashi wa (moi), la petite parisienne vagabonde qui en promenade dans Hong Kong tombe par hasard sur une exposition de magnifiques Kimono et Obi (ceintures). Et j’ai eu envie de vous faire partager ma passion des tissus et associations de motifs japonais, en y insérant quelques snapshots tokyoïdes.

Frith, M.C., Saunders, N.F.W., Kobe, B. and Bailey, T.L. (2008).
Discovering Sequence Motifs with Arbitrary Insertions and Deletions.
PLoS Computational Biology 4(4):e1000071. [Open Access] | [PubMed]

This paper describes GLAM2, a Gibbs sampler that finds and refines variable-width motifs, allowing insertion and deletion, in related but dissimilar sets of sequences. The work is Martin's baby; my very minor contribution was to try it out on some test datasets. It's open-access and open source, so you can all go and enjoy it then grab the software to try.

Two more (unrelated) in press to tell you about soon. See, I do have a day job outside of this blog.

1. Most people like the smell of their own farts –- Nil Fides [4/24/08]
2. Before the beginning, what color was the universe -- Nil Fides [4/24/08]
3. Suddenly the world seems so surreal, and you feel overwhelmed by the thought that you live a life in your body so dynamically -- Nil Fides [4/24/08]

4. You appreciate some things only in their absence, for example you appreciate a normal intact mouth when you try to eat with a sore on your tongue -- Nil Fides [4/24/08]

5. There is an increasing habit for people to respond to declarative statements with the response “Really.”  What I like to do in response to this motif: tell a believable lie and when they ask you ‘really’, curtly respond “No” with a flushed face :) -- Nil Fides [4/24/08]

6. Tendency for notes you want to be concise to get longer and longer, more and more detailed (irony) -- Nil Fides [4/24/08]

7. You yawn and laugh when you see other people do so -- Brad [4/25/08]

8. Sometimes people intentionally sing slightly louder or a few seconds ahead of a songs lyrics to show others that they “know this song” -- Nil Fides [4/26/08]

9. People cease to capitalize on intuitive ideas because they think that such ideas must have aldready been researched/probed -- Nil Fides [4/26/08]

=> une tête d'éléphant, corps de kangourou, queue de rat, ailes de chauve souris.

=> Travail à la plume et à l'encre de chine.

La dernière séance consistait à s'attacher aux motifs et aux graphismes d'un tas de tissus superposés les uns sur les autres. Il ne s'agissait pas de travailler sur le drapé et d'en faire un rendu académique mais plutôt de s'intéresser aux lignes et couleurs, de travailler sur des détails et organiser sur la feuille.

Liens : http://www.comboutique.com/shop/homeboutique-26990-27-0-0-0.html

Merci à webresistance pour le lien : http://webresistance.hautetfort.com

 Heart Shaped bags are highly coveted, recently H&M released a glossy, black PVC heart bag that has been in high demand all over the egl sales communties. The appeal of these bags is most likely in the price since most of the sweet lolita brands have released heart shaped bags and purses such as this Baby, the Stars Shine Bright one going for Y10, 290.

10,290Y according to www.xe.com conversion equals $99USD or $106AUD - the H&M bag retails for about $40 USD and the bag found at Dangerfield is $30 AUD (or about $28 USD).

The differences in price is one thing, quality and choice is another issue. I believe the H&M bag is of a glossier PVC than the BtSSB one and only comes in black. The Dangerfield one I am told comes in black, white and red but of the quality I cannot say, my friend, the Esteemed Miss Helen is offering to purchase one for me.

As far as popular motifs in lolita - mostly Sweet styles - Hearts are extreamly popular and there's something about these small bags thats inescapeably cutesy and sweet, whereever they originate from. A bag is a woman's world, or even just a fraction of who you are held in your hand or on your arm. The heart motif, being such a loaded symbol of love and life could not go anymore beautifuly with any lolita co-ordinate! Angelic Pretty, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Metamorphose have all carried or carry heart-shaped bags at varying prices and styles and all highly coveted.

Another faecet of it's appeal appart from being cheap and en vouge in the lolita community is that I'm currently obsessed with anything with a card suit motif. But about that current obsession later.

Doll Part