What is claimed is:
1. A moving image reception quality determination apparatus comprising:
a moving image transmitter for transmitting a moving image;
a first moving image receiver for receiving the moving image transmitted by said moving image transmitter through a network;
a first moving image reception quality evaluator for evaluating reception quality of the moving image of said first moving image receiver;
a second moving image receiver for receiving the moving image transmitted by said moving image transmitter through said network;
a second moving image reception quality evaluator for evaluating reception quality of the moving image of said second moving image receiver; and
a determination machine for determining the reception quality of the moving image of said first moving image receiver based on comparison between a first evaluation value output by said first moving image reception quality evaluator and a second evaluation value output by said second moving image reception quality evaluator.
2. The moving image reception quality determination apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said determination machine determines the reception quality based on a quality degradation index, a value of summing up differences between the first and second evaluation values over a specific time period.
3. The moving image reception quality determination apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a service provider for providing moving image communication service between said moving image transmitter and said first moving image receiver contracts with a user using said first moving image receiver to receive a moving image for returning a part of service charge to the user based on the first evaluation value; and
wherein contracts with a quality provider for managing said first moving image reception quality evaluator, said second moving image reception quality evaluator, and said determination machine for the quality provider to pay an amount determined based on the reception quality determined by said determination machine to the service provider.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for identifying a regulatory element capable of directing or regulating transcription within a test nucleic acid sequence comprising:
providing a construct comprising said test nucleic acid sequence operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a cytoplasmic form of chitobiase;
introducing said construct into host cells; and
determining the level of chitobiase activity.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said cytoplasmic form of chitobiase lacks a signal sequence.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said nucleic acid encoding a cytoplasmic form of chitobiase encodes a fusion protein, said fusion protein comprising a cytoplasmic form of chitobiase fused to a heterologous polypeptide.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid encoding a cytoplasmic form encodes a cytoplasmic form of chitobiase obtained from an organism selected from the group consisting of Alteromonas sp. 0-7, Arabidopsis thaliana, Bacillus subtilis, Bombyx mori, Bos taurus, Caenorhabditis elegans, Candida albicans, Dictyostelium discoideum, Entamoeba histolytica, Felis catus, Homo sapiens, Korat cats, Lactobacillus casei, Leishmania donovani, Mus musculus, Pisum sativum, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Pseudoalteromonas sp. S9, Rattus norvegicus, Serratia marcescens, Streptomyces plicatus, Streptomyces thermoviolaceus, Sus scrofa, Trichoderma harzianum, Vibrio furnissii, Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Vibrio vulnificus.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporter gene construct is introduced transiently.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said reporter gene construct is introduced stably.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said host cells are selected from the group consisting of prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising permeabilizing or lysing said host cells.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein said permeabilizing or lysing step comprises treating said host cells with toluene.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining the level of chitobiase activity is selected from the group consisting of measuring the amount of a chemiluminescent product produced from a substrate, measuring the amount of a fluorescent product produced from a substrate, measuring the amount of light absorbed by a product produced from a substrate and measuring a decrease in the amount of a detectable substrate.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining the level of chitobiase activity comprises determining the level of p-nitrophenol released from a substrate.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein said test nucleic acid sequence comprises a portion of genomic DNA.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining the level of chitobiase activity comprises determining the level of chitobiase activity after exposing said host cells to a desired set of environmental conditions.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining the level of chitobiase activity comprises determining the level of chitobiase activity after contacting said host cells with a compound to be tested for its influence on the level of transcription from said regulatory element.