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10.1039/C1CS15155J | Traps And Cages For Universal Sers Detection | In this tutorial review, we provide an overview of the recent research toward surface functionalization of plasmonic nanoparticles for the generation of advanced optical sensors that make possible the analysis of various moieties by means of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Such moieties include atomic ions, low affinity target molecules, inorganic anions, biometabolites, pathogen markers and/or other analytes of interest even under very demanding circumstances such as those related to real life samples. We expect this review to be of interest to researchers in a broad diversity of fields that can take advantage of the unprecedented sensitivity of this type of molecular spectroscopy, in a wide variety of analytical and bioanalytical problems. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03997 | Crystal-Phase Quantum Wires: One-Dimensional Heterostructures with Atomically Flat Interfaces | In semiconductor quantum-wire heterostructures, interface roughness leads to exciton localization and to a radiative decay rate much smaller than that expected for structures with flat interfaces. Here, we uncover the electronic and optical properties of the one-dimensional extended defects that form at the intersection between stacking faults and inversion domain boundaries in GaN nanowires. We show that they act as crystal-phase quantum wires, a novel one-dimensional quantum system with atomically flat interfaces. These quantum wires efficiently capture excitons whose radiative decay gives rise to an optical doublet at 3. 36 eV at 4. 2 K. The binding energy of excitons confined in crystal-phase quantum wires is measured to be more than twice larger than that of the bulk. As a result of their unprecedented interface quality, these crystal-phase quantum wires constitute a model system for the study of one-dimensional excitons. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1214/13-STS416 | Modeling With Normalized Random Measure Mixture Models | The Dirichlet process mixture model and more general mixtures based on discrete random probability measures have been shown to be flexible and accurate models for density estimation and clustering. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the use of normalized random measures as mixing measures in nonparametric hierarchical mixture models and point out how possible computational issues can be successfully addressed. To this end, we first provide a concise and accessible introduction to normalized random measures with independent increments. Then, we explain in detail a particular way of sampling from the posterior using the Ferguson-Klass representation. We develop a thorough comparative analysis for location-scale mixtures that considers a set of alternatives for the mixture kernel and for the nonparametric component. Simulation results indicate that normalized random measure mixtures potentially represent a valid default choice for density estimation problems. As a byproduct of this study an R package to fit these models was produced and is available in the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). | [
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1126/science.1231895 | Comment on "Drosophila dosage compensation involves enhanced pol II recruitment to male X-linked promoters" | Conrad et al. (Reports, 10 August 2012, p. 742) reported that Drosophila dosage compensation might largely be due to increased recruitment of RNA polymerase II to promoters. A reassessment of the numerical operations revealed that the authors' calculations are severely confounded by an inappropriate numerical procedure. A rectified analysis strongly suggests that the authors' conclusions are not supported by their data. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Mathematics"
]
|
US 2009/0033318 W | ELECTRODE ORIENTATION AND PARALLELISM ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM FOR PLASMA PROCESSING SYSTEMS | A mechanism for adjusting an orientation of an electrode in a plasma processing chamber is disclosed. The plasma processing chamber may be utilized to process at least a substrate, which may be inserted into the plasma processing chamber in an insertion direction. The mechanism may include a support plate disposed outside a chamber wall of the plasma processing chamber and pivoted relative to the chamber wall. The support plate may have a first thread. The mechanism may also include an adjustment screw having a second thread that engages the first thread. Turning the adjustment screw may cause translation of a portion of the support plate relative to the adjustment screw. The translation of the portion of the support plate may cause rotation of the support plate relative to the chamber wall, thereby rotating the electrode with respect to an axis that is orthogonal to the insertion direction. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.3390/soilsystems3030045 | Sounds of Soil: A New World of Interactions under Our Feet? | Soils are biodiversity-dense and constantly carry chemical flows of information, with our mental image of soil being dark and quiet. But what if soil biota tap sound, or more generally, vibrations as a source of information? Vibrations are produced by soil biota, and there is accumulating evidence that such vibrations, including sound, may also be perceived. We here argue for potential advantages of sound/vibration detection, which likely revolve around detection of potential danger, e. g. , predators. Substantial methodological retooling will be necessary to capture this form of information, since sound-related equipment is not standard in soils labs, and in fact this topic is very much at the fringes of the classical soil research at present. Sound, if firmly established as a mode of information exchange in soil, could be useful in an ‘acoustics-based’ precision agriculture as a means of assessing aspects of soil biodiversity, and the topic of sound pollution could move into focus for soil biota and processes. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
10.1016/j.tcb.2014.06.006 | Lysosome: Regulator of lipid degradation pathways | Autophagy is a catabolic pathway that has a fundamental role in the adaptation to fasting and primarily relies on the activity of the endolysosomal system, to which the autophagosome targets substrates for degradation. Recent studies have revealed that the lysosomal-autophagic pathway plays an important part in the early steps of lipid degradation. In this review, we discuss the transcriptional mechanisms underlying co-regulation between lysosome, autophagy, and other steps of lipid catabolism, including the activity of nutrient-sensitive transcription factors (TFs) and of members of the nuclear receptor family. In addition, we discuss how the lysosome acts as a metabolic sensor and orchestrates the transcriptional response to fasting. | [
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1037/xhp0000566 | Tactile confusions of the fingers and toes | Recent research has shown systematic patterns of confusions between digits of the hands and feet. The present study addressed whether such confusions arise from early somatosensory maps or higher level body representations. As the glabrous and hairy skin of the hands and feet have distinct representations in somatosensory cortex, an effect arising from early somatotopic maps may show distinct patterns on each skin surface. In contrast, if the effect arises from higher level body representations which represent the digits as volumetric units, similar patterns should be apparent regardless of which side of the digit is touched. We obtained confusion matrices showing the pattern of mislocalization on the glabrous and hairy skin surfaces of the toes (Experiment 1) and fingers (Experiment 2). Our results replicated the characteristic pattern of mislocalizations found on the glabrous skin reported in previous studies. Critically, these effects were highly similar on the hairy skin surface of both the toes and fingers. Despite the pattern of mislocalizations being highly stereotyped across participants, there were consistent individual differences in the pattern of confusions across the two skin surfaces. These results suggest that mislocalizations occur at the level of individual digits, consistent with their resulting from higher level body representations. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
W2559648620 | New Bell inequalities for three-qubit pure states | We introduce a set of Bell inequalities for a three-qubit system. Each inequality within this set is violated by all generalized GHZ states. More entangled a generalized GHZ state is, more will be the violation. This establishes a relation between nonlocality and entanglement for this class of states. Certain inequalities within this set are violated by pure biseparable states. We also provide numerical evidence that at least one of these Bell inequalities is violated by a pure genuinely entangled state. These Bell inequalities can distinguish between separable, biseparable and genuinely entangled pure three-qubit states. We also generalize this set to n-qubit systems and may be suitable to characterize the entanglement of n-qubit pure states. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1145/2739008 | Removing And Adding Edges For The Traveling Salesman Problem | We present a framework for approximating the metric TSP based on a novel use of matchings. Traditionally, matchings have been used to add edges to make a given graph Eulerian, whereas our approach also allows for the removal of certain edges leading to a decreased cost. For the TSP on graphic metrics (graph-TSP), we show that the approach gives a 1. 461-approximation algorithm with respect to the Held-Karp lower bound. For graph-TSP restricted either to half-integral solutions to the Held-Karp relaxation or to a class of graphs that contains subcubic and claw-free graphs, we show that the integrality gap of the Held-Karp relaxation matches the conjectured ratio 4/3. The framework also allows for generalizations in a natural way and leads to analogous results for the s, t-path traveling salesman problem on graphic metrics where the start and end vertices are prespecified. | [
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pgen.1001388 | SHINE transcription factors act redundantly to pattern the archetypal surface of arabidopsis flower organs | Floral organs display tremendous variation in their exterior that is essential for organogenesis and the interaction with the environment. This diversity in surface characteristics is largely dependent on the composition and structure of their coating cuticular layer. To date, mechanisms of flower organ initiation and identity have been studied extensively, while little is known regarding the regulation of flower organs surface formation, cuticle composition, and its developmental significance. Using a synthetic microRNA approach to simultaneously silence the three SHINE (SHN) clade members, we revealed that these transcription factors act redundantly to shape the surface and morphology of Arabidopsis flowers. It appears that SHNs regulate floral organs' epidermal cell elongation and decoration with nanoridges, particularly in petals. Reduced activity of SHN transcription factors results in floral organs' fusion and earlier abscission that is accompanied by a decrease in cutin load and modified cell wall properties. SHN transcription factors possess target genes within four cutin- and suberin-associated protein families including, CYP86A cytochrome P450s, fatty acyl-CoA reductases, GSDL-motif lipases, and BODYGUARD1-like proteins. The results suggest that alongside controlling cuticular lipids metabolism, SHNs act to modify the epidermis cell wall through altering pectin metabolism and structural proteins. We also provide evidence that surface formation in petals and other floral organs during their growth and elongation or in abscission and dehiscence through SHNs is partially mediated by gibberellin and the DELLA signaling cascade. This study therefore demonstrates the need for a defined composition and structure of the cuticle and cell wall in order to form the archetypal features of floral organs surfaces and control their cell-to-cell separation processes. Furthermore, it will promote future investigation into the relation between the regulation of organ surface patterning and the broader control of flower development and biological functions. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1021/jacs.9b10053 | One-Pot Biocatalytic Cascade Reduction of Cyclic Enimines for the Preparation of Diastereomerically Enriched N-Heterocycles | Ene-reductases (EREDs) catalyze the reduction of electron-deficient C═C bonds. Herein, we report the first example of ERED-catalyzed net reduction of C═C bonds of enimines (α,β-unsaturated imines). Preliminary studies suggest their hydrolyzed ring-open ω-amino enones are the likely substrates for this step. When combined with imine reductase (IRED)-mediated C═N reduction, the result is an efficient telescoped sequence for the preparation of diastereomerically enriched 2-substituted saturated amine heterocycles. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-3962 | Differential Expression Of S6K2 Dictates Tissue Specific Requirement For S6K1 In Mediating Aberrant Mtorc1 Signaling And Tumorigenesis | The S6K1 and S6K2 kinases are considered important mTOR signaling effectors, yet their contribution to tumorigenesis remains unclear. Aberrant mTOR activation is a frequent event in cancer, that commonly results from heterozygous loss of PTEN. Here, we show for the first time a differential protein expression between S6K1 and S6K2 in both mouse and human tissues. Additionally, the inactivation of S6k1 in the context of Pten heterozygosity (Pten+/-) suggests a differential requirement for this protein across multiple tissues. This tissue-specificity appears to be governed by the relative protein expression of S6k2. Accordingly, we find that deletion of S6k1 markedly impairs Pten+/- mediated adrenal tumorigenesis, specifically due to low expression of S6k2. Concomitant observation of low S6K2 levels in the human adrenal gland supports the development of S6K1-inhibitors for treatment of PTEN loss driven pheochromocytoma. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1109/CVPR.2016.366 | Uncertainty Driven 6D Pose Estimation Of Objects And Scenes From A Single Rgb Image | In recent years, the task of estimating the 6D pose of object instances and complete scenes, i. e. camera localization, from a single input image has received considerable attention. Consumer RGB-D cameras have made this feasible, even for difficult, texture-less objects and scenes. In this work, we show that a single RGB image is sufficient to achieve visually convincing results. Our key concept is to model and exploit the uncertainty of the system at all stages of the processing pipeline. The uncertainty comes in the form of continuous distributions over 3D object coordinates and discrete distributions over object labels. We give three technical contributions. Firstly, we develop a regularized, auto-context regression framework which iteratively reduces uncertainty in object coordinate and object label predictions. Secondly, we introduce an efficient way to marginalize object coordinate distributions over depth. This is necessary to deal with missing depth information. Thirdly, we utilize the distributions over object labels to detect multiple objects simultaneously with a fixed budget of RANSAC hypotheses. We tested our system for object pose estimation and camera localization on commonly used data sets. We see a major improvement over competing systems. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
W2155100327 | Crossing Angles of Geometric Graphs | We study the crossing angles of geometric graphs in the plane. We introduce the crossing angle number of a graph G, denoted can(G), which is the minimum number of angles between crossing edges in a straight line drawing of G. We show that an n-vertex graph G with can(G) = O(1) has O(n) edges, but there are graphs G with bounded degree and arbitrarily large can(G). We also initiate studying the global crossing-angle rigidity of geometric graphs. We construct bounded degree graphs G = (V,E) such that for any two straight-line drawings of G with the same prescribed crossing angles, there is a subset V′ ⊂ V of |V′| ≥ |V|/2 vertices that are similar in the two drawings. | [
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1128/genomeA.01403-17 | Complete genome sequence of Escherichia coli strain WG5 | Escherichia coli strain WG5 is a widely used host for phage detection, including somatic coliphages employed as standard ISO method 10705-1 (2000). Here, we present the complete genome sequence of a commercial E. coli WG5 strain. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.1039/C7ME00090A | A Solution Processable Dissymmetric Porous Organic Cage | Two dissymmetric racemic analogues of the chiral porous organic cage, CC3, were isolated and unambiguously characterised as a racemate pair of the R,R,R,S,S,S and S,S,S,R,R,R-diastereomers (CC3-RS and CC3-SR). CC3-RS/CC3-SR equals the highest porosity measured for CC3 but is an order of magnitude more soluble, making it an excellent candidate for incorporation into a membrane for separation applications. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1364/OE.23.025425 | Phase Unwrapping With A Virtual Hartmann Shack Wavefront Sensor | The use of a spatial light modulator for implementing a digital phase-shifting (PS) point diffraction interferometer (PDI) allows tunability in fringe spacing and in achieving PS without the need for mechanically moving parts. However, a small amount of detector or scatter noise could affect the accuracy of wavefront sensing. Here, a novel method of wavefront reconstruction incorporating a virtual Hartmann-Shack (HS) wavefront sensor is proposed that allows easy tuning of several wavefront sensor parameters. The proposed method was tested and compared with a Fourier unwrapping method implemented on a digital PS PDI. The rewrapping of the Fourier reconstructed wavefronts resulted in phase maps that matched well the original wrapped phase and the performance was found to be more stable and accurate than conventional methods. Through simulation studies, the superiority of the proposed virtual HS phase unwrapping method is shown in comparison with the Fourier unwrapping method in the presence of noise. Further, combining the two methods could improve accuracy when the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficiently high. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1016/j.ces.2017.02.041 | A three-phase Robinson-Mahoney reactor as a tool for intrinsic kinetic measurements: Determination of gas-liquid hold up and volumetric mass transfer coefficient | The liquid hold-up, εL, as well as the volumetric gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient, kLa, have been measured in a bench-scale, gradientless, three-phase Robinson-Mahoney reactor at high temperature and pressure conditions using realistic feeds to verify its suitability for the acquisition of intrinsic chemical kinetics. kLa has been determined via the so called ‘dynamic gas absorption technique’. Even without stirring, the reactor internals cause already interaction between the gas and the liquid, resulting in a mass transfer coefficient amounting to 1. 17 × 10−2 s−1. Initially, a small increase in the agitator speed results in a moderate increase of kLa. However, once an agitator speed of 10 rps is reached, kLa was found to increase more rapidly. This observation is captured in the following correlation of the volumetric gas-liquid mass transfer with the power input per volume: kLa = 1. 06 × 10−2(P/V)1. 13 + 1. 17 × 10−2. The trend as well as the order of magnitude of our results are similar to those reported by Pitault et al. at ambient conditions, albeit that the kLa in the absence of stirring is significantly higher and the variation with the agitator speed is less pronounced in our case. The liquid hold-up was investigated at ambient conditions using a H2-water mixture as well as at high temperature and pressure (HTP) conditions using a H2-Halpasol™ mixture by injecting an impulse of tracer or by imposing a step change in the liquid phase fed to the reactor, respectively. At HTP conditions, the temperature and total pressure, which were varying between 523–583 K and 2. 5–5. 5 MPa respectively, were found to only exert a minimal impact on the liquid hold-up, i. e. , the liquid hold-up remained relatively constant at about 70%. A decrease to a liquid hold-up of about 50% was observed by changing the volumetric inlet gas-liquid ratio from 5 to 250 m3 NTP m−3 at these high temperature and pressure conditions. At ambient conditions, a change in the volumetric inlet gas-liquid ratio from 0 to 580 m3 NTP m−3 was necessary to achieve a similar reduction in liquid hold-up. This difference was attributed to differences in surface tension of the fluids used rather than in operating conditions such as temperature and total pressure. The experimentally observed liquid hold-up was higher compared to that obtained from vapour-liquid equilibrium calculations at similar volumetric inlet gas liquid ratio. The evolution of the liquid hold-up with increasing volumetric inlet gas-liquid ratio suggests the phase within the reactor changes from completely filled liquid with gas bubbles dispersed at low inlet gas-liquid ratio and potentially to continuous gas phase with entrained liquid droplets at very high inlet gas-liquid ratio. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
W1979482021 | What Cruising Infants Understand about Support for Locomotion | "Cruising" infants can only walk using external support to augment their balance. We examined cruisers' understanding of support for upright locomotion under four conditions: cruising over a wooden handrail at chest height, a large gap in the handrail, a wobbly unstable handrail, and an ill positioned low handrail. Infants distinguished among the support properties of the handrails with differential attempts to cruise and handrail-specific forms of haptic exploration and gait modifications. They consistently attempted the wood handrail, rarely attempted the gap, and occasionally attempted the low and wobbly handrails. On the wood and gap handrails, attempt rates matched the probability of cruising successfully; but on the low and wobbly handrails, attempt rates under- and over-estimated the probability of success, respectively. Haptic exploration was most frequent and varied on the wobbly handrail, and gait modifications-including previously undocumented "knee cruising"-were most frequent and effective on the low handrail. Results are discussed in terms of developmental changes in the meaning of support. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1021/acsnano.8b01665 | High Aspect Ratio Nanostructures Kill Bacteria via Storage and Release of Mechanical Energy | The threat of a global rise in the number of untreatable infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria calls for the design and fabrication of a new generation of bactericidal materials. Here, we report a concept for the design of antibacterial surfaces, whereby cell death results from the ability of the nanofeatures to deflect when in contact with attaching cells. We show, using three-dimensional transmission electron microscopy, that the exceptionally high aspect ratio (100-3000) of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) imparts extreme flexibility, which enhances the elastic energy storage in CNTs as they bend in contact with bacteria. Our experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that, for high aspect ratio structures, the bending energy stored in the CNTs is a substantial factor for the physical rupturing of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The highest bactericidal rates (99. 3% for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 84. 9% for Staphylococcus aureus) were obtained by modifying the length of the VACNTs, allowing us to identify the optimal substratum properties to kill different types of bacteria efficiently. This work highlights that the bactericidal activity of high aspect ratio nanofeatures can outperform both natural bactericidal surfaces and other synthetic nanostructured multifunctional surfaces reported in previous studies. The present systems exhibit the highest bactericidal activity of a CNT-based substratum against a Gram-negative bacterium reported to date, suggesting the possibility of achieving close to 100% bacterial inactivation on VACNT-based substrata. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
interreg_405 | Baltic-Adriatic Transport Cooperation | In 2006 the Federal Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Italy signed a letter of intent to conjointly develop the Baltic-Adriatic Transport Corridor, including the extension of the existing Pan-European Transport Corridor VI from Gdansk, Warsaw, Katowice, Zilina with branches to Poznan and Breclav/Brno and its South-Western extension to Bratislava/Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, Udine, Trieste/Venice and Bologna._x000D_
_x000D_
The favourable economic development of the Baltic States and the central and eastern European countries has resulted that the Danzig–Warsaw–Vienna section has been declared a Priority Project (PP23) within the TEN-T policy. The states bordering are endeavouring to ensure, in the context of the TEN (Trans European Networks) revisions in 2009/2010, that the high capacity railway which starts in Poland is connected to Upper Italy._x000D_
_x000D_
The five partner countries will cooperate in terms of an efficient and environment-friendly North-South interconnection of Central Europe considering the EU (eastern) enlargement and the great importance of a close cooperation in the development of the axis._x000D_
_x000D_
The project will contribute to the improvement of the economic development along the axis based on the best possible integration of corresponding markets and a balanced development (5 countries) in terms of economic and related ecological impacts of transport. It will be given top priority to the shift from road to rail transport mode and the efficient development and use of environment-friendly rail transport means. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1038/ncomms3155 | A hybrid high-speed atomic force-optical microscope for visualizing single membrane proteins on eukaryotic cells | High-speed atomic force microscopy is a powerful tool for studying structure and dynamics of proteins. So far, however, high-speed atomic force microscopy was restricted to well-controlled molecular systems of purified proteins. Here we integrate an optical microscopy path into high-speed atomic force microscopy, allowing bright field and fluorescence microscopy, without loss of high-speed atomic force microscopy performance. This hybrid high-speed atomic force microscopy/optical microscopy setup allows positioning of the high-speed atomic force microscopy tip with high spatial precision on an optically identified zone of interest on cells. We present movies at 960 ms per frame displaying aquaporin-0 array and single molecule dynamics in the plasma membrane of intact eye lens cells. This hybrid setup allows high-speed atomic force microscopy imaging on cells about 1,000 times faster than conventional atomic force microscopy/optical microscopy setups, and allows first time visualization of unlabelled membrane proteins on a eukaryotic cell under physiological conditions. This development advances high-speed atomic force microscopy from molecular to cell biology to analyse cellular processes at the membrane such as signalling, infection, transport and diffusion. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
W1054490 | A diagnostic approach to pruritus. | Pruritus can be a symptom of a distinct dermatologic condition or of an occult underlying systemic disease. Of the patients referred to a dermatologist for generalized pruritus with no apparent primary cutaneous cause, 14 to 24 percent have a systemic etiology. In the absence of a primary skin lesion, the review of systems should include evaluation for thyroid disorders, lymphoma, kidney and liver diseases, and diabetes mellitus. Findings suggestive of less serious etiologies include younger age, localized symptoms, acute onset, involvement limited to exposed areas, and a clear association with a sick contact or recent travel. Chronic or generalized pruritus, older age, and abnormal physical findings should increase concern for underlying systemic conditions. Initial evaluation for systemic disease includes complete blood count and measurement of thyroid-stimulating hormone, fasting glucose, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen. Hodgkin lymphoma is the malignant disease most strongly associated with pruritus, which affects up to 30 percent of patients with the disease. Chest radiography is needed when lymphoma is suspected. A wheal and flare response indicates histamine-induced pruritus in patients with urticaria or an allergic dermatitis. These patients benefit from continuous dosing of a long-acting antihistamine. Second-generation antihistamines, such as cetirizine, loratadine, and fexofenadine, may be more effective because of improved patient compliance. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1016/B978-0-12-384929-8.00025-3 | Microbiome And Autoimmunity | The causal relationship between infections and autoimmune diseases is ill-defined. Specific infections may cause autoimmunity as established in a limited number of diseases. Conversely, it appears that infections may nonspecifically protect from autoimmune diseases (the so-called hygiene hypothesis). Importantly, hygiene conditions affect both the occurrence of infectious diseases and the composition of the gut microbiome. Experimental and clinical data suggest that both pathogenic and commensal bacteria may contribute to protection from autoimmunity. Germ-free mice often show increased frequency of spontaneous or experimentally induced autoimmune diseases. Administration of commensal bacteria (probiotics) or deliberate infection with pathogens protect from autoimmunity. Lastly, converging data demonstrate that in both experimental models and in the clinic, autoimmune diseases are associated with reduction of the gut microbiome diversity. These observations open major perspectives for new understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and for the possible emergence of new therapeutic strategies mimicking the mechanisms associated with bacteria-induced protection, notably through stimulation of Toll-like receptors. Thus, presently one may wonder, what is the respective role of infectious pathogenic agents and of commensal bacteria in the protection from autoimmune diseases? | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
230239 | The Europeanisation of Citizenship in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia | CITSEE is a comparative and contextualised study of the citizenship regimes of the seven successor states of the former Yugoslavia (SFRY) in their broader European context. It focuses on the relationship between how these regimes have developed after the disintegration of SFRY and the processes of re-integration occurring in the context of the enlargement of the European Union applied in the region. It makes use of the varied statuses under EU law of the SFRY successor states, of which only Slovenia is so far a Member State. The processes at the heart of the study include the effects of previous and prospective enlargements of the EU and the broader stabilisation and association processes. CITSEE uses methods which look at legal and institutional change in its broader political context and applies the broad approach of constitutional ethnography. It has national case studies and thematic case studies of key issues which have a transnational dimension, including the status of residents of the former SFRY Republics resident in other Republics at the moment of independence, dual and multiple nationality, the granting or denial of political rights for resident non-nationals and non-resident nationals, the status of minorities such as the Roma, gender issues arising in a citizenship context, and the impact of citizenship concepts on free movement and travel across borders. While CITSEE s objectives are not normative in nature, and are not intended to supply answers as to best or worst practices in relation to citizenship regimes, or to evaluate the impact of Europeanisation as negative or positive, none the less such an evaluative study is likely to be of interest not only to researchers, but also to NGOs and to policy-makers in the region and in the EU and other international institutions because it fills in many gaps in our current knowledge and provides improved evidence on the basis of which policies may be developed in the future. | [
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1109/ACC.2016.7526560 | Intrinsic Euler Lagrange Dynamics And Control Analysis Of The Ballbot | Research on bipedal locomotion has shown that a dynamic walking gait is energetically more efficient than a statically stable one. Analogously, even though statically stable multi-wheeled robots are easier to control, they are energetically less efficient and have low accelerations to avoid tipping over. In contrast, the ballbot is an underactuated, nonholonomically constrained mobile robot, upward equilibrium point of whose body has to stabilized by active controls. In this work, we derive coordinate-invariant equations of motion for the ballbot. We present the linearized equations of motion followed by its controllability analysis. Excluding the rotary degree of freedom of the ball in the inertial vertical direction, the linear system turns out to be controllable. It follows that the nonlinear system is locally controllable and we provide a proportional-derivative type controller that locally exponentially stabilizes the upward equilibrium point as well as the translation of the ball. The basin of attraction turns out to be large in the simulation studies. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
W2186714808 | FDI in Multi-brand Retailing in India: Comparative study with China | Retailing is the interface between the producer and the individual consumer buying for personal consumption. As such, retailing is the last link that connects the individual consumer with the manufacturing and distribution chain. Indian retail industry is one of the sunrise sectors with huge growth potential. However, in spite of the recent developments in retailing and its immense contribution to the economy, retailing continues to be the least evolved industries and the growth of organised retailing in India has been much slower as compared to rest of the world. This paper captures the existing retail scenario in India with regard to organized and un-organized retail and presents the limitations of the current set-up along with the experiences of domestic players. The paper discusses about opening up of the multibrand retail sector to foreign direct investment by the government. The rationale for retail reforms and challenges to be addressed by the retail sector are discussed. FDI in Retail is like an allopathic medicine It would deliver quick results & would not work as hit & trial like Homeopath. Government must go for Policy Mix to avoid its side effects. It will require various changes in internal policies also. The whole process must be made socially & economically useful.It will be better to follow the Chinese model of caution and hurrying slowly. China took over 12years to liberalise its FDI regime and in stages with reversals as well. The Chinese retail environment is 20years ahead of us. Looking at their market today can give us a rough idea of how FDI in multi brand retail in India might pan out in the medium term and long term period. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
171630 | Story- added value of storage in distribution systems | The main objective of STORY is to show the added value storage can bring for a flexible, secure and sustainable energy system. This will be achieved by showing the inter-relations between technologies and stakeholders as well as the potential and impact of policy and regulation.
The future European grid has to serve a diverse and mixed landscape of users in a situation of mixed rules and responsibilities depending on the policy and regulatory choices that will be made. Challenges include high penetration of renewables, bi-directional flows of different energy vectors, growing number of users and requirements for higher security. The European commission wants to strengthen the position of the EU energy industry, including those players active in producing solutions for security of supply, increased share of renewables and grid stability. The advances in ICT technology, intelligent control algorithms, inverter and storage technologies provide strong tools to cope with these challenges.
Given this context, STORY focuses on providing relevant and wide-covering demonstrations that serve as input for a thorough and transparent analysis on what the impact of storage can be for the involved stakeholders. Storage is considered as a means, while not neglecting other competing technologies that could provide a similar or complementary functionality.
The actions that the 18 members from 9 European countries in STORY consortium are going to take in a 5-year project bring a valuable contribution to turn these challenges into opportunities. They will not only develop the most viable storage and ICT solutions for the demonstration sites, but they will also analyse the impact of large penetration of the technologies through simulations, analyse the effect of policies and regulations to the business opportunities of storage related industry and communicate the findings to wider community through systematic strategies for impact creation. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
950584 | Decoding spatio-temporal omics in progressive neuroinflammation | Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a paradigmatic progressive neuroinflammatory disease characterized by multiple lesions across the entire central nervous system including both gray and white matter areas. Deconvoluting the spatio-temporal cellular and molecular landscape is therefore key to understanding underlying disease mechanisms and to develop cell-type specific therapies. The DecOmPress proposal is about integrative human and mouse single-cell genomic strategies to track-down reactive cellular states in compartmentalized progressive neuroinflammation. DecOmPress has two major research tracks (RTs).
RT1 is an MS tissue discovery pipeline utilizing single-nucleus RNA and open chromatin sequencing. RT1 is about developing novel integrative computational tools to process sequencing data from different anatomical lesion areas implementing a large multiplex single-nucleus genomic dataset from the anterior visual system. RT1 is also about decoding compartmentalized inflammation in meningeal versus perivascular tissue niches.
RT2 is a functional validation pipeline utilizing complex transgenic and disease mouse models as well as human organoids in combination with single-cell physiology and genomics. RT2 is about dissecting glial-intrinsic mechanisms at the chronically inflamed white matter lesion rim focusing on MS-specific oligodendrocyte and microglia subtypes. RT2 is also about decoding neuron subtype specific pathologies focusing on projection neurons and the contribution of local (meningeal) and distant (white matter tracts) inflammation and demyelination to cell-type specific neurodegeneration.
In summary, DecOmPress is a highly innovative and fully translational multidisciplinary proposal aiming at identifying novel cell-type specific disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.2969/jmsj/06741551 | A Wong-Zakai theorem for stochastic PDEs | We prove a version of the Wong-Zakai theorem for onedimensional parabolic nonlinear stochastic PDEs driven by space-time white noise. As a corollary, we obtain a detailed local description of solutions. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
340748 | Condensation in designed systems | Quantum coherent phenomena, especially marcoscopic quantum coherence, are among the most striking predictions of quantum mechanics. They have lead to remarkable applications such as lasers and modern optical technologies, and in the future, breakthroughs such as quantum information processing are envisioned. Macroscopic quantum coherence is manifested in Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), superfluidity, and superconductivity, which have been observed in a variety of systems and continue to be at the front line of scientific research. Here my objective is to extend the realm of Bose-Einstein condensation into new conceptual and practical directions. I focus on the role of a hybrid character of the object that condenses and on the role of non-equilibrium in the BEC phenomenon. The work is mostly theoretical but has also an experimental part. I study two new types of hybrids, fundamentally different from each other. First, I consider pairing and superfluidity in a mixed geometry. Experimental realization of mixed geometries is becoming feasible in ultracold gases. Second, I explore the possibility of finding novel hybrids of light and matter excitations that may display condensation. By combining insight from these two cases, my goal is to understand how the hybrid and non-equilibrium nature can be exploited to design desirable properties, such as high critical temperatures. In particular, in case of the new light-matter hybrids, the goal is to provide realistic scenarios for, and also experimentally demonstrate, a room temperature BEC. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
639828 | The Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative: Exploring Resilience in the Engineered Landscapes of Early SE Asia | For over half a millennium, the great medieval capital of Angkor lay at the heart of a vast empire stretching across much of mainland SE Asia. Recent research has revealed that the famous monuments of Angkor were merely the epicentre of an immense settlement complex, with highly elaborate engineering works designed to manage water and mitigate the uncertainty of monsoon rains. Compelling evidence is now emerging that other temple complexes of the medieval Khmer Empire may also have formed the urban cores of dispersed, low-density settlements with similar systems of hydraulic engineering.
Using innovative airborne laser scanning (‘lidar’) technology, CALI will uncover, map and compare archaeological landscapes around all the major temple complexes of Cambodia, with a view to understanding what role these complex and vulnerable water management schemes played in the growth and decline of early civilisations in SE Asia. CALI will evaluate the hypothesis that the Khmer civilisation, in a bid to overcome the inherent constraints of a monsoon environment, became locked into rigid and inflexible traditions of urban development and large-scale hydraulic engineering that constrained their ability to adapt to rapidly-changing social, political and environmental circumstances.
By integrating data and techniques from fast-developing archaeological sciences like remote sensing, palaeoclimatology and geoinformatics, this work will provide important insights into the reasons for the collapse of inland agrarian empires in the middle of the second millennium AD, a transition that marks the emergence of modern mainland SE Asia. The lidar data will provide a comprehensive and internally-consistent archive of urban form at a regional scale, and offer a unique experimental space for evaluating socio-ecological resilience, persistence and transformation over two thousand years of human history, with clear implications for our understanding of contemporary urbanism and of urban futures. | [
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Earth System Science",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
W4281790795 | DISPOSIÇÃO IRREGULAR DE RESÍDUOS SÓLIDOS EM CONJUNTO HABITACIONAL DA CIDADE DO NATAL/RN | The growing urbanization and expansion of peripheral areas due to the economic development of the city generate a great challenge for the public power to attend them with cleaning service and urban garbage collection, in addition to coverage with basic sanitation, due to the growing increase in waste production.solids of the most diverse natures, which are directly associated with several public health problems faced by large cities.The present work sought to point out and map the areas that suffer from irregular disposal of solid waste generated in and around the Eldorado housing complex, located in the north of the municipality of Natal-RN and to identify the possible problems caused from these.To carry out the identification of irregular disposal of solid waste, orthomosaics elaborated by means of aerial survey carried out with Vant were used.The results of the analyzes show that the amount of areas of irregular disposal of these residues is numerous in different parts of the set, the amount accumulated in each one of them varies greatly according to its location.It is noted the feasibility of using new technologies to monitor areas further away from urban centers, and with that the problems caused by the large production of waste on the outskirts of large cities and how they continue to be unattended by the government, articulations with civil society and greater investments in urban waste collection can be a solution to face these old problems.. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.1016/j.stem.2016.07.004 | Proximity-Based Differential Single-Cell Analysis of the Niche to Identify Stem/Progenitor Cell Regulators | Physiological stem cell function is regulated by secreted factors produced by niche cells. In this study, we describe an unbiased approach based on the differential single-cell gene expression analysis of mesenchymal osteolineage cells close to, and further removed from, hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) to identify candidate niche factors. Mesenchymal cells displayed distinct molecular profiles based on their relative location. We functionally examined, among the genes that were preferentially expressed in proximal cells, three secreted or cell-surface molecules not previously connected to HSPC biology—the secreted RNase angiogenin, the cytokine IL18, and the adhesion molecule Embigin—and discovered that all of these factors are HSPC quiescence regulators. Therefore, our proximity-based differential single-cell approach reveals molecular heterogeneity within niche cells and can be used to identify novel extrinsic stem/progenitor cell regulators. Similar approaches could also be applied to other stem cell/niche pairs to advance the understanding of microenvironmental regulation of stem cell function. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
W2090707656 | MJO Intensification with Warming in the Superparameterized CESM | Abstract The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is the dominant mode of tropical intraseasonal variability, characterized by an eastward-propagating envelope of convective anomalies with a 30–70-day time scale. Here, the authors report changes in MJO activity across coupled simulations with a superparameterized version of the NCAR Community Earth System Model. They find that intraseasonal OLR variance nearly doubles between a preindustrial control run and a run with 4×CO2. Intraseasonal precipitation increases at a rate of roughly 10% per 1 K of warming, and MJO events become 20%–30% more frequent. Moist static energy (MSE) budgets of composite MJO events are calculated for each scenario, and changes in budget terms are used to diagnose the physical processes responsible for changes in the MJO with warming. An increasingly positive contribution from vertical advection is identified as the most likely cause of the enhanced MJO activity. A decomposition links the changes in vertical advection to a steepening of the mean MSE profile, which is a robust thermodynamic consequence of warming. Surface latent heat flux anomalies are a significant sink of MJO MSE at 1×CO2, but this damping effect is reduced in the 4×CO2 case. This work has implications for organized tropical variability in past warm climates as well as future global warming scenarios. | [
"Earth System Science"
]
|
EP 09003090 A | Cheese production device and method | The method involves cooling an intermediate mass (8) provided in a container (2), which is made of plastic. The mass is cooled in such a manner that contracting and/or stabilizing the shape of the mass, so that the mass lies under displacement of side walls (5) from a container base (4) after cooling, without lateral pressure on the side walls. The container is turned by guiding a conveyor belt around a turning point (11) with horizontally aligned turning point axis (12), so that the mass formed as a cheese block (13) falls based on gravitational force from the container. An independent claim is also included for a partially or fully-automatic cheese production device for producing fresh cheese suitable for roasting and broiling. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1039/C2SC01000C | Comparing The Ultraviolet Photostability Of Azole Chromophores | Ultrafast time-resolved velocity map imaging methods are used to interrogate the timescales for H-atom elimination in the azole isomers imidazole and pyrazole, the former of which is a prevalent moiety in biomolecules that exhibit a high degree of photostability following the absorption of ultraviolet (UV) radiation (e. g. DNA bases and aromatic amino acids). The results presented here, for the first time, draw focus on the statistical H-atom elimination dynamics in these two heteroaromatics, which result from vibrationally hot ground state (S0) molecules that are formed following ultrafast internal conversion from an initially populated excited electronic state (1ππ* or 1πσ*) at 200 nm. Measurements on imidazole suggest that statistical H-atom elimination is minimal over the temporal window of these experiments (which extends to 600 ps) and occurs on a timescale of >270 ps. Conversely, pyrazole shows a significant statistical H-atom yield by 600 ps with a time constant of 165 ± 30 ps. This highlights statistical unimolecular dissociation dynamics which, on these timescales, cannot be interpreted with traditional RRKM theory. Additional experiments on deuterated isotopomers of the two species also reveal that in imidazole statistical H-atom generation is localized to N–H bond fission, while in pyrazole there is approximately a 1 : 1 ratio between statistical C–H and N–H cleavage, and the two processes have associated time constants of 151 ± 20 ps and 193 ± 35 ps, respectively. We postulate that the observed high fraction of rapid irreversible C–H fission in pyrazole, relative to imidazole, may lead to the formation of toxic free radicals within specific biological environments, whereas statistical dissociation, restricted to only the N–H coordinate, may hypothetically quench UV photodamage yields via H-atom ‘caging’ and ‘recombination’ dynamics in hydrogen bonded networks (e. g. secondary protein structures). | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1007/s00466-015-1256-9 | A Galerkin-based formulation of the probability density evolution method for general stochastic finite element systems | The present paper proposes a Galerkin finite element projection scheme for the solution of the partial differential equations (pde’s) involved in the probability density evolution method, for the linear and nonlinear static analysis of stochastic systems. According to the principle of preservation of probability, the probability density evolution of a stochastic system is expressed by its corresponding Fokker–Planck (FP) stochastic partial differential equation. Direct integration of the FP equation is feasible only for simple systems with a small number of degrees of freedom, due to analytical and/or numerical intractability. However, rewriting the FP equation conditioned to the random event description, a generalized density evolution equation (GDEE) can be obtained, which can be reduced to a one dimensional pde. Two Galerkin finite element method schemes are proposed for the numerical solution of the resulting pde’s, namely a time-marching discontinuous Galerkin scheme and the StreamlineUpwind/Petrov Galerkin (SUPG) scheme. In addition, a reformulation of the classical GDEE is proposed, which implements the principle of probability preservation in space instead of time, making this approach suitable for the stochastic analysis of finite element systems. The advantages of the FE Galerkin methods and in particular the SUPG over finite difference schemes, like the modified Lax–Wendroff, which is the most frequently used method for the solution of the GDEE, are illustrated with numerical examples and explored further. | [
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1038/nrn3776 | The neurobiology of rewards and values in social decision making | How does our brain choose the best course of action? Choices between material goods are thought to be steered by neural value signals that encode the rewarding properties of the choice options. Social decisions, by contrast, are traditionally thought to rely on neural representations of the self and others. However, recent studies show that many types of social decisions may also involve neural value computations. This suggests a unified mechanism for motivational control of behaviour that may incorporate both social and non-social factors. In this Review, we outline a theoretical framework that may help to identify possible overlaps and differences between the neural processes that guide social and non-social decision making. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
10.1214/12-AIHP486 | Einstein Relation For Biased Random Walk On Galton Watson Trees | We prove the Einstein relation, relating the velocity under a small perturbation to the diffusivity in equilibrium, for certain biased random walks on Galton--Watson trees. This provides the first example where the Einstein relation is proved for motion in random media with arbitrary deep traps. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
W1981919122 | Managing foreign exchange risk with derivatives in UK non-financial firms | Abstract This study assesses the effect of derivatives use of large UK non-financial firms in their foreign exchange risk management activity and tests value relevance of FRS 13. Using a sample of FT UK 500 non-financial firms for 1999 when FRS 13 was implemented, we examine the foreign exchange risk exposure of the firm that is engaged in international business activities, and the effect of the use of foreign exchange derivatives on the firm's foreign exchange risk exposure. There is evidence that UK non-financial firms use derivatives to hedge against the risk of unfavorable exchange rate movements and the hedge is effective in reducing firms' risk exposure to varied degrees. The results support value relevance of FRS 13 that numerical disclosure of derivatives use by firms reveals important information to investors and helps firms reduce the cost of capital and increase firm value. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
Q3846345 | Support for small enterprises with a turnover of more than BGN 500 000 to overcome the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic | Support for small enterprises with a turnover of more than BGN 500 000 to overcome the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
10.1101/gad.246462.114 | LINEing germ and embryonic stem cells' silencing of retrotransposons | Almost half of our genome is occupied by transposable elements. Although most of them are inactive, one type of non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon, long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE1), is capable of retrotransposition. Two studies in this issue, Pezic and colleagues (pp. 1410-1428) and Castro-Diaz and colleagues (pp. 1397-1409), provide novel insight into the regulation of LINE1s in human embryonic stem cells and mouse germ cells and shed new light on the conservation of complex mechanisms to ensure silencing of transposable elements in mammals. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1111/2041-210X.12161 | Measuring Telomere Length And Telomere Dynamics In Evolutionary Biology And Ecology | Summary
Telomeres play a fundamental role in the protection of chromosomal DNA and in the regulation of cellular senescence. Recent work in human epidemiology and evolutionary ecology suggests adult telomere length (TL) may reflect past physiological stress and predict subsequent morbidity and mortality, independent of chronological age. Several different methods have been developed to measure TL, each offering its own technical challenges. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of each method for researchers, with a particular focus on issues that are likely to face ecologists and evolutionary biologists collecting samples in the field or in organisms that may never have been studied in this context before. We discuss the key issues to consider and wherever possible try to provide current consensus view regarding best practice with regard to sample collection and storage, DNA extraction and storage, and the five main methods currently available to measure TL. Decisions regarding which tissues to sample, how to store them, how to extract DNA, and which TL measurement method to use cannot be prescribed, and are dependent on the biological question addressed and the constraints imposed by the study system. What is essential for future studies of telomere dynamics in evolution and ecology is that researchers publish full details of their methods and the quality control thresholds they employ. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1016/j.jhep.2013.08.008 | A bidirectional crosstalk between iNKT cells and adipocytes mediated by leptin modulates susceptibility for T cell mediated hepatitis | Background & Aims Immunometabolism is an emerging field of clinical investigation due to the obesity epidemic worldwide. A reciprocal involvement of immune mediators in the body energy metabolism has been recognized for years, but is only partially understood. We hypothesized that the adipokine leptin could provide an important modulator of iNKT cells. Methods The expression of leptin receptor (LR) on resting and activated iNKT cells was measured by flow cytometry. FACS-sorted hepatic iNKT cells were stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28Ab coated beads in the absence or presence of a neutralizing anti-leptin Ab. Furthermore, we evaluated the outcome of LR blocking nanobody treatment in ConA induced hepatitis and towards metabolic parameters in WT and iNKT cell deficient mice. Results The LR is expressed on iNKT cells and leptin suppresses iNKT cell proliferation and cytokine production in vitro. LR deficient iNKT cells are hyper-responsive further enforcing the role of leptin as an important inhibitor of iNKT cell function. Consistently, in vivo blockade of LR signaling exacerbated ConA hepatitis in wild-type but not in iNKT cell deficient mice, through both Janus kinase (JAK)2 and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) dependent mechanisms. Moreover, LR inhibition altered fat pad features and was accompanied by insulin resistance, only in wild-type mice. Curiously, this interaction was strictly dependent on MAPK mediated LR signaling in iNKT cells and uncoupled from the more central effects of leptin. Conclusions Our data support a new concept of immune regulation by which leptin protects towards T cell mediated hepatitis via modulation of iNKT cells. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1161/circresaha.119.316463 | Role of the GLUT1 Glucose Transporter in Postnatal CNS Angiogenesis and Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity | Rationale: Endothelial cells (ECs) are highly glycolytic and generate the majority of their energy via the breakdown of glucose to lactate. At the same time, a main role of ECs is to allow the transport of glucose to the surrounding tissues. GLUT1 (glucose transporter isoform 1/ Slc2a1 ) is highly expressed in ECs of the central nervous system (CNS) and is often implicated in blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction, but whether and how GLUT1 controls EC metabolism and function is poorly understood. Objective: We evaluated the role of GLUT1 in endothelial metabolism and function during postnatal CNS development as well as at the adult BBB. Methods and Results: Inhibition of GLUT1 decreases EC glucose uptake and glycolysis, leading to energy depletion and the activation of the cellular energy sensor AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase), and decreases EC proliferation without affecting migration. Deletion of GLUT1 from the developing postnatal retinal endothelium reduces retinal EC proliferation and lowers vascular outgrowth, without affecting the number of tip cells. In contrast, in the brain, we observed a lower number of tip cells in addition to reduced brain EC proliferation, indicating that within the CNS, organotypic differences in EC metabolism exist. Interestingly, when ECs become quiescent, endothelial glycolysis is repressed, and GLUT1 expression increases in a Notch-dependent fashion. GLUT1 deletion from quiescent adult ECs leads to severe seizures, accompanied by neuronal loss and CNS inflammation. Strikingly, this does not coincide with BBB leakiness, altered expression of genes crucial for BBB barrier functioning nor reduced vascular function. Instead, we found a selective activation of inflammatory and extracellular matrix related gene sets. Conclusions: GLUT1 is the main glucose transporter in ECs and becomes uncoupled from glycolysis during quiescence in a Notch-dependent manner. It is crucial for developmental CNS angiogenesis and adult CNS homeostasis but does not affect BBB barrier function. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1002/evan.21455 | Rethinking the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa | Current fossil, genetic, and archeological data indicate that Homo sapiens originated in Africa in the late Middle Pleistocene. By the end of the Late Pleistocene, our species was distributed across every continent except Antarctica, setting the foundations for the subsequent demographic and cultural changes of the Holocene. The intervening processes remain intensely debated and a key theme in hominin evolutionary studies. We review archeological, fossil, environmental, and genetic data to evaluate the current state of knowledge on the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa. The emerging picture of the dispersal process suggests dynamic behavioral variability, complex interactions between populations, and an intricate genetic and cultural legacy. This evolutionary and historical complexity challenges simple narratives and suggests that hybrid models and the testing of explicit hypotheses are required to understand the expansion of Homo sapiens into Eurasia. | [
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pone.0108818 | Robust selection of cancer survival signatures from high-throughput genomic data using two-fold subsampling | Identifying relevant signatures for clinical patient outcome is a fundamental task in high-throughput studies. Signatures, composed of features such as mRNAs, miRNAs, SNPs or other molecular variables, are often non-overlapping, even though they have been identified from similar experiments considering samples with the same type of disease. The lack of a consensus is mostly due to the fact that sample sizes are far smaller than the numbers of candidate features to be considered, and therefore signature selection suffers from large variation. We propose a robust signature selection method that enhances the selection stability of penalized regression algorithms for predicting survival risk. Our method is based on an aggregation of multiple, possibly unstable, signatures obtained with the preconditioned lasso algorithm applied to random (internal) subsamples of a given cohort data, where the aggregated signature is shrunken by a simple thresholding strategy. The resulting method, RS-PL, is conceptually simple and easy to apply, relying on parameters automatically tuned by cross validation. Robust signature selection using RS-PL operates within an (external) subsampling framework to estimate the selection probabilities of features in multiple trials of RS-PL. These probabilities are used for identifying reliable features to be included in a signature. Our method was evaluated on microarray data sets from neuroblastoma, lung adenocarcinoma, and breast cancer patients, extracting robust and relevant signatures for predicting survival risk. Signatures obtained by our method achieved high prediction performance and robustness, consistently over the three data sets. Genes with high selection probability in our robust signatures have been reported as cancer-relevant. The ordering of predictor coefficients associated with signatures was well-preserved across multiple trials of RS-PL, demonstrating the capability of our method for identifying a transferable consensus signature. The software is available as an R package rsig at CRAN (http://cran. r-project. org). | [
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1007/978-3-030-13860-8_3 | Fragile Time The Redemptive Force Of The Urarina Apocalypse | The Amazonian Urarina often speak of an imminent catastrophic collapse of the fragile climate that sustains life, but also claim this can be postponed through appropriate forms of action. A sense of gradual but accelerating decline is closely linked to the experience of a fluid, unstable, and constantly transforming environment. Yet the health of the land and people also reflects the present state of the wider social and moral order; human concerns are closely tied to atmospheric, geologic, and hydrologic processes. All are addressed through Urarina shamanic ritual, which emphasizes human agency in delaying an inexorable process of decline and loss. Apocalyptic discourse thus effectively provides people with the resources for moral engagement with the world. Weather and time are conceptually indistinct in Urarina cosmology, pointing to a conception of weather–time as both an existential horizon of being and a form of the common good that is continually and collectively produced through sustained human action. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
]
|
W1985928386 | Surfactant mediated enhanced biodegradation of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers by Sphingomonas sp. NM05 | Environmental biodegradation of several chlorinated pesticides is limited by their low solubility and sorption to soil surfaces. To mitigate this problem we quantified the effect of three biosurfactant viz., rhamnolipid, sophorolipid and trehalose-containing lipid on the dissolution, bioavailability, and biodegradation of HCH-isomers in liquid culture and in contaminated soil. The effect of biosurfactants was evaluated through the critical micelle concentration (CMC) value as determined for each isomer. The surfactant increased the solubilization of HCH isomers by 3-9 folds with rhamnolipid and sophorolipid being more effective and showing maximum solubilization of HCH isomers at 40 μg/mL, compared to trehalose-containing lipid showing peak solubilization at 60 μg/mL. The degradation of HCH isomers by Sphingomonas sp. NM05 in surfactant-amended liquid mineral salts medium showed 30% enhancement in 2 days as compared to degradation in 10 days in the absence of surfactant. HCH-spiked soil slurry incubated with surfactant also showed around 30-50% enhanced degradation of HCH which was comparable to the corresponding batch culture experiments. Among the three surfactants, sophorolipid offered highest solubilization and enhanced degradation of HCH isomers both in liquid medium and soil culture. The results of this study suggest the effectiveness of surfactants in improving HCH degradation by increased bioaccessibility. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
616882 | From Made in China to Created in China - A Comparative Study of Creative Practice and Production in Contemporary China | With its emergence as a global power, China aspires to move from a “made in China” towards a “created in China” country. Creativity and culture have become a crucial source for innovation and financial growth, but are also mobilised to promote a new and open China to both the citizenry as well as the outside world. They are part of what is termed China’s “soft power.”
What does creativity mean in the context of China, and what does it do? When both the state and profoundly globalised creative industries are so deeply implicated in the promotion of creativity, what are the possibilities of criticality, if any? Whereas creativity has been extensively researched in the fields of psychology, law and neurosciences, scholarship in the humanities has by and large side-tracked the thorny issue of creativity. Yet, the worldwide resurgence of the term under the banner of creative industries makes it all the more urgent to develop a theory of creativity. This project understands creativity as a textual, a social as well as a heritage practice. It aims to analyse claims of creativity in different cultural practices, and to analyse how emerging creativities in China are part of tactics of governmentality and disable or enable possibilities of criticality.
Using a comparative, multi-disciplinary, multi-method and multi-sited research design, five subprojects analyse (1) contemporary art, (2) calligraphy, (3) independent documentary cinema, (4) television from Hunan Satellite TV and (5) “fake” (shanzhai) art. By including both popular and high arts, by including both more Westernized as well as more specifically Chinese art forms, by including both the “real” as well as the “fake,” by studying different localities, and by mobilising methods from both the social sciences and the humanities, this project is pushing the notion of comparative research to a new level. | [
"Studies of Cultures and Arts",
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
10.1557/jmr.2013.30 | Novel nanosample preparation with a helium ion microscope | Abstract | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
FR 2022050404 W | NEW REINFORCING MATERIALS BASED ON S- AND Z-TWISTED YARNS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF COMPOSITE PARTS, METHODS AND USE | The reinforcing material comprises a unidirectional reinforcing ply (2) formed of one or more carbon yarns (3) and associated on one at least of its faces, preferably on each of its faces, with a porous polymeric layer (4, 5), where the polymeric part of the reinforcing material represents from 0.5% to 10% of its total mass and preferably from 2% to 6% of its total mass, characterized in that said carbon yarns (3) are individually twisted with a twist of 3 to 15 turns/m, preferably from 6 to 12 turns/m, and comprise at least one S-twist yarn and at least one Z-twist yarn, according to a selection in accordance with claim 1. | [
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
W2762854974 | Changes consequent to maxillary molar distalization with the bone-anchored pendulum appliance | This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the dentoalveolar, skeletal, and soft tissue effects obtained with bone-anchored pendulum appliance in patients with Class II malocclusion.A total of 18 patients (4 male, 14 female) at a mean pretreatment age of 14.0 years (+1.08) were enrolled in this study. All patients were treated with the bone-anchored pendulum appliance for an average duration of 4.8 months. Only the active distalization period was evaluated with predistalization and postdistalization lateral cephalograms. Skeletal, dentoalveolar, and soft tissue variables were obtained. Based on these variables, the treatment effects were evaluated with dependent t-test.Correction of Class II molar relationship resulted from distal movement of 3.45 mm and tipping of 11.24° of the first maxillary molars. The premolars were distalized accompanying the molars.The bone-anchored pendulum appliance proved to be an effective method for distalization of maxillary molars in cases that require maximum anchorage, avoiding reciprocal mesial movement of premolars and incisors. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1016/j.molmet.2019.08.005 | mTORC1 and CB1 receptor signaling regulate excitatory glutamatergic inputs onto the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus in response to energy availability | Objective: The hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is a key target of the melanocortin system, which orchestrates behavioral and metabolic responses depending on energy availability. The mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) and the endocannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R) pathways are two key signaling systems involved in the regulation of energy balance whose activity closely depends upon energy availability. Here we tested the hypothesis that modulation of mTORC1 and CB1R signaling regulates excitatory glutamatergic inputs onto the PVN. Methods: Patch-clamp recordings in C57BL/6J mice, in mice lacking the mTORC1 component Rptor or CB1R in pro-opio-melanocortin (POMC) neurons, combined with pharmacology targeting mTORC1, the melanocortin receptor type 4 (MC4R), or the endocannabinoid system under chow or a hypercaloric diet. Results: Acute pharmacological inhibition of mTORC1 in C57BL/6J mice decreased glutamatergic inputs onto the PVN via a mechanism requiring modulation of MC4R, endocannabinoid 2-AG mobilization by PVN parvocellular neurons, and retrograde activation of presynaptic CB1R. Further electrophysiology studies using mice lacking mTORC1 activity or CB1R in POMC neurons indicated that the observed effects involved mTORC1 and CB1R-dependent regulation of glutamate release from POMC neurons. Finally, energy surfeit caused by hypercaloric high-fat diet feeding, rapidly and time-dependently altered the glutamatergic inputs onto parvocellular neurons and the ability of mTORC1 and CB1R signaling to modulate such excitatory activity. Conclusions: These findings pinpoint the relationship between mTORC1 and endocannabinoid-CB1R signaling in the regulation of the POMC-mediated glutamatergic inputs onto PVN parvocellular neurons and its rapid alteration in conditions favoring the development of obesity. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1117/12.2186940 | Oleds Light Emitting Thin Film Thermistors Revealing Advanced Self Heating Effects | Large area OLEDs show pronounced Joule self-heating at high brightness. This heating induces brightness inhomogeneities, drastically increasing beyond a certain current level. We discuss this behavior considering 'S'-shaped negative differential resistance upon self-heating, even allowing for 'switched-back' regions where the luminance finally decreases (Fischer et al. , Adv. Funct. Mater. 2014, 24, 3367). By using a multi-physics simulation the device characteristics can be modeled, resulting in a comprehensive understanding of the problem. Here, we present results for an OLED lighting panel considered for commercial application. It turns out that the strong electrothermal feedback in OLEDs prevents high luminance combined with a high degree of homogeneity unless new optimization strategies are considered. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1093/imrn/rny104 | A functional limit theorem for the sine-process | The main result of this paper is a functional limit theorem for the sine-process. In particular, we study the limit distribution, in the space of trajectories, for the number of particles in a growing interval. The sine-process has the Kolmogorov property and satisfies the central limit theorem, but our functional limit theorem is very different from the Donsker Invariance Principle. We show that the time integral of our process can be approximated by the sum of a linear Gaussian process and independent Gaussian fluctuations whose covariance matrix is computed explicitly. We interpret these results in terms of the Gaussian free field convergence for the random matrix models. The proof relies on a general form of the multidimensional central limit theorem under the sineprocess for linear statistics of two types: those having growing variance and those with bounded variance corresponding to observables of Sobolev regularity 1/2. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1146/annurev-marine-010814-015535 | Slow Microbial Life in the Seabed | Global microbial cell numbers in the seabed exceed those in the overlying water column, yet these organisms receive less than 1% of the energy fixed as organic matter in the ocean. The microorganisms of this marine deep biosphere subsist as stable and diverse communities with extremely low energy availability. Growth is exceedingly slow, possibly regulated by virus-induced mortality, and the mean generation times are tens to thousands of years. Intermediate substrates such as acetate are maintained at low micromolar concentrations, yet their turnover time may be several hundred years. Owing to slow growth, a cell community may go through only 10,000 generations from the time it is buried beneath the mixed surface layer until it reaches a depth of tens of meters several million years later. We discuss the efficiency of the energy-conserving machinery of subsurface microorganisms and how they may minimize energy consumption through necessary maintenance, repair, and growth. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
716265 | Trans-Spin NanoArchitectures: from birth to functionalities in magnetic field | Control over electrons in molecules and periodic solids can be reached via manipulation of their internal quantum degrees of freedom. The most prominent and exploited case is the electronic spin accommodated in standalone spin units composed of 1 – 10^5 of spins. A challenging alternative to the spin is the binary quantum degree of freedom, termed pseudospin existing e.g. in two-dimensional semiconductors. The aim of the proposed research is to build prototypes of trans-spin nano-architectures composed of at least two divergent spin entities, the TSuNAMIes. The spin entities of interest correspond to single atomic spin embedded in spin crossover complexes (SCO), molecular spin of molecular magnets (SMM), superspins of single-domain magnetic nanoparticles (SuperS) and pseudospins in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (PseudoS). Ultimate goal of the project is to identify a profit from trans-spin cooperation between the different spin entities coexisting in a single TSuNAMI. Influence of external static and alternating magnetic fields on the elementary spin state, unit cell magnetic structure, long-range magnetic order, mesoscopic spin order, spin relaxations and pseudospin state mirrored in essential fingerprints of the spin units and their ensembles will be explored using macroscopic and microscopic in situ and ex situ probes, including Raman and Mössbauer spectroscopies in magnetic field. Within the proposed high-risk/high-gain trans-spin strategy, we thus expect: 1. Enhancement of magnetic anisotropy in SMM-SuperS with enormous impact on cancer therapy using magnetic fluid hyperthermia, 2. Control over SCO via coupling to giant classical spin giving rise to miniature ‘on-particle’ sensors, 3. Mutual visualization of electronic states in SCO-PseudoS pushing frontiers of nowadays pseudospintronics, and 4. Control over electronic states with nanometer resolution in SuperS-PseudoS giving rise to novel functionalization strategies of graphene successor. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.054801 | Optical Control of the Topology of Laser-Plasma Accelerators | We propose a twisted plasma accelerator capable of generating relativistic electron vortex beams with helical current profiles. The angular momentum of these vortex bunches is quantized, dominates their transverse motion, and results in spiraling particle trajectories around the twisted wakefield. We focus on a laser wakefield acceleration scenario, driven by a laser beam with a helical spatiotemporal intensity profile, also known as a light spring. We find that these light springs can rotate as they excite the twisted plasma wakefield, providing a new mechanism to control the twisted wakefield phase velocity and enhance energy gain and trapping efficiency beyond planar wakefields. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
3729407 | Modelling non-stationary tree growth responses to global warming | Tree-rings are a key proxy archive for reconstructing high resolution climate variability over the past 1-2ka at regional to global scales. Skillful reconstructions require a stationary relationship between tree growth and climate (Hutton’s principle of uniformitarianism), which is commonly evaluated by statistical calibration/verification trials against instrumental measurements. This association, however, weakened during the second half of the 20th century, when tree-ring width and density chronologies from Northern Hemisphere forests were not able to track the rapidly increasing temperatures. This so-called “divergence” problem was identified in the 1990s to be a large-scale phenomenon, and not only questions the reliability of tree-ring based temperature reconstruction, but also affects our understanding of the Earth’s climate sensitivity to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. A conclusive explanation for this central problem of contemporary paleoclimate research is, however, still missing. Here, I propose to develop a process model that simulates year-to-year and long-term variations in both tree-ring width and density of different conifer species growing under different climate regimes. Evidence from this model will be combined with data from a new, hemispheric scale network of tree-ring width and density chronologies, as well as in-situ monitoring data, to train the model, validate synthetic timeseries, and analyze spatially varying influences of climatological, air chemical and ecological drivers on tree growth. Model-data fusion and inverse modelling techniques will be applied to quantify the non-linear mechanisms underlying divergence, and to deduce methodological recommendations that can be applied by any paleoclimatologist, working with different species and in different regions of the Northern Hemisphere, to mitigate late 20th century divergence and thus improve their climate reconstructions. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1145/3290607.3311750 | Queer Ing Hci Moving Forward In Theory And Practice | The increasing corpus on queer research within HCI, which started by focusing on sites such as location-based dating apps, has begun to expand to other topics such as identity formation, mental health and physical well-being. This Special Interest Group (SIG) aims to create a space for discussion, connection and camaraderie for researchers working with queer populations, queer people in research, and those using queer theory to inform their work. We aim to facilitate a broad-ranging, inclusive discussion of where queer HCI research goes next. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
W2002835466 | Additional diagnostic value of implantable loop recorder in patients with initial diagnosis of real or apparent transient loss of consciousness of uncertain origin | Non-syncopal transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) encompasses disorders that sometimes resemble syncope, and the differential diagnosis with true syncope may be challenging. The implantable loop recorder (ILR) is potentially useful, but has never been systematically assessed. The aim of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of ILR in distinguishing syncope from non-syncopal forms of T-LOC.We implanted an ILR in 58 patients (mean age 71 ± 17 years, 25 males) who had had 4.6 ± 2.3 episodes of real or apparent T-LOC, in order to distinguishing epilepsy from syncope (#28), unexplained fall from syncope (#29), or functional pseudo-syncope from syncope (#1). During 20 ± 13 months of follow-up, 33 patients (57%) had a spontaneous event documented by ILR. A diagnosis of syncope was established by ILR documentation of an arrhythmia in 15 (26%) patients: an asystole of 6 s (IQR 4-10 s) duration was documented at the time of the spontaneous event in seven patients with initial suspicion of epilepsy and in five patients with unexplained fall; atrial tachyarrhythmia was documented at the time of the spontaneous event in 1 and 1 patient, respectively, and ventricular tachycardia in 1 patient with unexplained fall. Conversely, in another 18 patients, ILR monitoring documented no significant rhythm abnormalities at the time of T-LOC recurrence, thus excluding an arrhythmic syncope. Finally, ILR was unable to document any syncopal episode in 25 (43%) patients. Among the 15 patients with an established diagnosis of arrhythmic syncope, syncope recurred during follow-up in 2 of 11 patients who were on pacemaker therapy and in 3 of 4 patients who were on other therapies.Implantable loop recorder monitoring provides additional diagnostic value in 'difficult' patients with an initial diagnosis of non-syncopal real or apparent T-LOC. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1007/JHEP07(2013)042 | Approximate Nnlo Predictions For The Stop Pair Production Cross Section At The Lhc | If the minimal supersymmetric standard model at scales of around 1 TeV is realized in nature, the total top-squark pair production cross section should be measurable at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In this work we present precise predictions for this observable, which are based upon approximate NNLO formulas obtained using soft-collinear effective theory methods. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
]
|
817855 | Pledges in democracy | Election pledges are supposedly a vital part of representative democracy. Yet we do not in fact know whether and how pledges matter for vote choice and accountability. This project thus asks: Do election pledges matter for voters’ democratic behavior and beliefs?
The role of pledges in citizens’ democratic behavior and beliefs is, surprisingly, virtually unexplored. This project’s ambition is therefore to create a new research agenda that redefines how political scientists think about the link between parties and voters. The project not only advances the research frontier by introducing a new, crucial phenomenon for political scientists to study; it also breaks new ground because it provides original theoretical and methodological tools for this new research agenda.
The key empirical contribution of this project is to collect two path-breaking datasets in the United States, France, and Norway that produce an unbiased estimate of voters’ awareness and use of pledges. The first consists of a set of innovative panel surveys with embedded conjoint experiments conducted both before and after national elections. The second dataset codes all pledges; whether or not they are broken; and how the mass media report on them.
This project is unique in its scientific ambition: It studies the core mechanism of representative democracy as it happens in real time, and does so in several countries. If successful, we will have much firmer knowledge about how voters select parties that best represent them and sanction those that betray their trust – and what this all implies for people’s trust in democracy. | [
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
10.1088/0004-637X/724/2/1524 | Stellar Populations Of Lyman Alpha Emitters At Z 6 7 Constraints On The Escape Fraction Of Ionizing Photons From Galaxy Building Blocks | We investigate the stellar populations of Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) at z=5. 7 and 6. 6 in a 0. 65 deg^2 sky of the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) Field, using deep images taken with Subaru/Suprime-Cam, UKIRT/WFCAM, and Spitzer/IRAC. We produce stacked multiband images at each redshift from 165 (z=5. 7) and 91 (z=6. 6) IRAC-undetected objects, to derive typical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of z~6-7 LAEs for the first time. The stacked LAEs have as blue UV continua as the HST/WFC3 z-dropout galaxies of similar Muv, with a spectral slope beta ~ -3, but at the same time they have red UV-to-optical colors with detection in the 3. 6um band. Using SED fitting we find that the stacked LAEs have low stellar masses of ~(3-10)*10^7 Msun, very young ages of ~1-3 Myr, negligible dust extinction, and strong nebular emission from the ionized interstellar medium, although the z=6. 6 object is fitted similarly well with high-mass models without nebular emission; inclusion of nebular emission reproduces the red UV-to-optical color while keeping the UV color sufficiently blue. We infer that typical LAEs at z~6-7 are building blocks of galaxies seen at lower redshifts. We find a tentative decrease in the Lyman alpha escape fraction from z=5. 7 to 6. 6, which may imply an increase in the intergalactic medium neutral fraction. From the minimum contribution of nebular emission required to fit the observed SEDs, we place an upper limit on the escape fraction of ionizing photons to be f_esc^ion~0. 6 at z=5. 7 and ~0. 9 at z=6. 6. We also compare the stellar populations of our LAEs with that of stacked HST/WFC3 z-dropout galaxies. | [
"Universe Sciences"
]
|
W2097198533 | Pattern Formation of Charged Particles in an Electric Field | The application of an electric field to a suspension of charged particles can lead to the formation of patterns due to electrohydrodynamic instabilities which remain poorly understood. We elucidate this behavior by visualizing the dynamics of charged carbon black particles suspended in a nonpolar solvent in response to an electric field. As the particles are transported across a microfluidic channel, an instability occurs in which the initially uniform, rapidly advancing particle front develops fingers. Furthermore, when the direction of the applied field is repeatedly switched, the particles localize into a remarkably well-defined periodic pattern which reflects an interplay between the fingering instability and particle diffusion. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
648927 | Advanced holographic optical neural stimulation for vision restoration and basic research | When natural sensory input is disrupted, as in outer-retinal degenerative diseases, artificial stimulation of surviving nerve cells offers a potential strategy for bypassing compromised neural circuits and substituting sensory perception. Current neuro-stimulation interfaces that use electrical currents from micro-electrode arrays are already being clinically applied for retinal stimulation, but their performance is ultimately limited by current spread and the requirement for physical contact with an implanted device. Future minimally-invasive systems could use light patterns to photo-induce complex yet precise spatio-temporal activity patterns among surviving retinal neurons, with the ultimate potential of restoring vision to a nearly normal level.
Here, we will advance, optimize and test in vivo a powerful new strategy for cellular-resolution controlled patterned optogenetic excitation, based on computer-generated holographic optical neural-stimulation (HONS). Regular (one-photon) HONS systems can dynamically address large populations of optogenetically-transduced retinal ganglion cells with single-cell resolution, while related multiphoton HONS systems can extend these capabilities to three-dimensional cortical tissue (relevant to many research applications). A series of in vivo experiments will resolve basic questions regarding the efficacy of these approaches by directly examining the retinal and cortical responses to structured holographic photo-stimulation, and test novel strategies for improving it. Finally, as a major step towards clinical translation of this technology, we will design and evaluate (in blind sheep and sighted individuals) a human-scale prototype.
Overall, by combining both basic and translational research, this study will advance novel optical neuro-technologies with potential impact on multiple scientific and clinical applications. Specifically, it will tackle the major engineering requirements and constraints towards the development of a | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1101/661405 | Largely Distinct Networks Mediate Perceptually Relevant Auditory And Visual Speech Representations | Visual speech is an integral part of communication, but it remains unclear whether information carried by lip movements is represented in the same brain regions that mediate acoustic speech comprehension. Our ability to understand acoustic speech seems independent from that to understand visual speech, yet neuroimaging studies suggest that the neural representations largely overlap. Addressing this discrepancy, we tested where the brain represents acoustically and visually conveyed word identities in a full-brain MEG study. Our analyses dissociate cerebral representations that merely reflect the physical stimulus from those that also predict comprehension, and suggest that these overlap only in specific temporal and frontal regions. Moreover, representations predictive of auditory and visual comprehension converge only in angular and inferior frontal regions. These results provide a neural explanation for the behavioural dissociation of acoustic and visual speech comprehension and suggest that cerebral representations encoding word identities may be more modality-specific than often upheld. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System"
]
|
10.1038/nmeth.3092 | Photo-cross-linking and high-resolution mass spectrometry for assignment of RNA-binding sites in RNA-binding proteins | RNA-protein complexes play pivotal roles in many central biological processes. Although methods based on high-throughput sequencing have advanced our ability to identify the specific RNAs bound by a particular protein, there is a need for precise and systematic ways to identify RNA interaction sites on proteins. We have developed an experimental and computational workflow combining photo-induced cross-linking, high-resolution mass spectrometry and automated analysis of the resulting mass spectra for the identification of cross-linked peptides, cross-linking sites and the cross-linked RNA oligonucleotide moieties of such RNA-binding proteins. The workflow can be applied to any RNA-protein complex of interest or to whole proteomes. We applied the approach to human and yeast mRNA-protein complexes in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating its powerful utility by identifying 257 cross-linking sites on 124 distinct RNA-binding proteins. The open-source software pipeline developed for this purpose, RNP xl, is available as part of the OpenMS project. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
221938 | Literature as a cognitive object; cognitive infrastructure and human cultural transmission | Interdisciplinary research between literary and art study and empirical disciplines such as linguistics and cognitive science lacks genuine reciprocity: scholars of literature and art have drawn extensively on linguistics and cognitive science, but literary and art-philosophical discourse has had little impact in these empirical domains. This project argues for genuine, two-way interdisciplinary practices in literary and art study and aims to show how research in empirical domains can not only influence but also be influenced by the investigation of literary and other art forms.
The first objective of the project will focus on mental causation in order to refine my suggestion that what distinguishes works of literature and art from other objects is their cognitive aetiology: drawing on Relevance Theory, I will argue that artworks and literary texts are causally related to an art-specific type of relevance-yielding creative mental state, that I term an artistic thought state. The 2nd objective will focus on intended effects: it will take as starting point the relevance-theoretic notion of a worthwhile effect in order to introduce a new, neurologically real type of effects (positive perceptual effects) that make both artworks (e.g. literary texts) and artistic thought states relevant to individual minds. The discussion will have implications for hypotheses in various empirical domains.
The IF will, among other things, result in a monograph (‘Literature as a Cognitive Object’), which will make one of the first systematic and empirically tractable proposals in the 21st century on the essence of literature and art and provide a concrete example of how genuine interdisciplinary practices in the Arts and Humanities can directly influence theory formation in scientific domains. Innovative public engagement will be a central feature of this project through a non-academic secondment at the ONCA Arts Centre and collaboration with the UK Centre for Contemporary Poetry. | [
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
10.1038/ng.3300 | The impact of low-frequency and rare variants on lipid levels | Using a genome-wide screen of 9. 6 million genetic variants achieved through 1000 Genomes Project imputation in 62,166 samples, we identify association to lipid traits in 93 loci, including 79 previously identified loci with new lead SNPs and 10 new loci, 15 loci with a low-frequency lead SNP and 10 loci with a missense lead SNP, and 2 loci with an accumulation of rare variants. In six loci, SNPs with established function in lipid genetics (CELSR2, GCKR, LIPC and APOE) or candidate missense mutations with predicted damaging function (CD300LG and TM6SF2) explained the locus associations. The low-frequency variants increased the proportion of variance explained, particularly for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol. Altogether, our results highlight the impact of low-frequency variants in complex traits and show that imputation offers a cost-effective alternative to resequencing. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.1104/pp.16.01002 | Spectacular oscillations in plant isoprene emission under transient conditions explain the enigmatic CO<inf>2</inf> response | Plant isoprene emissions respond to light and temperature similarly to photosynthesis, but CO2 dependencies of isoprene emission and photosynthesis are profoundly different, with photosynthesis increasing and isoprene emission decreasing with increasing CO2 concentration due to reasons not yet understood. We studied isoprene emission, net assimilation rate, and chlorophyll fluorescence under different CO2 and O2 concentrations in the strong isoprene emitter hybrid aspen (Populus tremula 3 Populus tremuloides), and used rapid changes in ambient CO2 or O2 concentrations or light level to induce oscillations. As isoprene-emitting species support very high steady-state chloroplastic pool sizes of the primary isoprene substrate, dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMADP), which can mask the effects of oscillatory dynamics on isoprene emission, the size of the DMADP pool was experimentally reduced by either partial inhibition of isoprenoid synthesis pathway by fosmidomycin-feeding or by changes in ambient gas concentrations leading to DMADP pool depletion in intact leaves. In feedback-limited conditions observed at low O2 and/or high CO2 concentration under which the rate of photosynthesis is governed by the limited rate of ATP and NADPH formation due to low chloroplastic phosphate levels, oscillations in photosynthesis and isoprene emission were repeatedly induced by rapid environmental modifications in both partly fosmidomycin-inhibited leaves and in intact leaves with in vivo reduced DMADP pools. The oscillations in net assimilation rate and isoprene emission in feedback-inhibited leaves were in the same phase, and relative changes in the pools of photosynthetic metabolites and DMADP estimated by in vivo kinetic methods were directly proportional through all oscillations induced by different environmental perturbations. We conclude that the oscillations in isoprene emission provide direct experimental evidence demonstrating that the response of isoprene emission to changes in ambient gas concentrations is controlled by the chloroplastic reductant supply. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
639275 | The Vitality of Disease - Quality of Life in the Making | Epidemiological reports from around the world suggest that more people than ever before are living with (especially chronic) diseases. As a consequence, sustained efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality rates have been joined by systematised efforts to improve the lives – the quality of life – of those living with disease in ways that are measurable and auditable.
VITAL will focus on the making of ‘quality of life’. While social studies of medicine have of late been marked by a ‘bio-turn’, it is apparent that within contemporary medicine, life is envisaged as much more than cellular and molecular activity; it is also a social activity and a personal experience. Not only is life sustained, it is also lived. In recent decades, morbid living – living with disease – has come to be the object of novel forms of knowledge, expertise, measurement and management while also generating new medical practices and attendant ways of relating to oneself.
VITAL suggests a shift in attention from the ways in which the social sciences have previously studied morbid living and related issues of quality of life. Rather than continue longstanding efforts to understand how people cope with disease or to refine definitions and instruments for measuring the quality of life of the sick, in VITAL we will empirically study the co-production of ‘quality of life’ within healthcare through four ethnographically-grounded studies of how ‘quality of life’ is assembled, mobilised, negotiated and practiced in concrete medical settings. The four studies will focus on how knowledge about living with disease is assembled and mobilised, on the one hand, and how morbid living is negotiated and practiced on the other.
The key outcomes of VITAL will be theoretical advancement of understandings of vitality in the 21st century beyond molecular biology and methodological innovation to facilitate empirical study of co-production processes that involve social science knowledge and practice. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116179 | Dilatancy-induced fluid pressure drop during dynamic rupture: Direct experimental evidence and consequences for earthquake dynamics | Fluid pressure and flow in the crust are key parameters controlling earthquake physics. Since earthquake slip is linked to spatio-temporal localisation of deformation, it is expected that the local fluid pressure around the fault plane could potentially impact the dynamic strength of the slipping fault zone. Coseismic fluid pressure drops have been inferred from field studies, notably in gold deposits which are thought to be formed by this process, but reliable quantitative predictions are still lacking. Here, experimental results are presented where local on- and off-fault fluid pressure variations were measured in situ during dynamic rock fracture and frictional slip under upper crustal stress conditions. During the main rupture, the on-fault fluid pressure dropped rapidly to zero, indicating partial vaporisation and/or degassing. Further deformation produced stick-slip events systematically associated with near-instantaneous drops in fluid pressure, providing direct experimental support of the concept of “seismic suction pump”. In situ fluid volume and wave speed measurements together with microstructural investigations show that dilatancy is the process driving fluid pressure drops during rupture and slip. Extrapolation of the laboratory results indicate that dilatancy-induced fluid pressure drops might be a widespread phenomenon in the crust, counteracting thermal pressurisation as a weakening mechanisms in freshly fractured rock. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1007/JHEP11(2013)034 | The Pion Vector Form Factor From Lattice Qcd And Nnlo Chiral Perturbation Theory | We present a comprehensive study of the electromagnetic form factor, the decay constant and the mass of the pion computed in lattice QCD with two degenerate O(a)-improved Wilson quarks at three different lattice spacings in the range 0. 05-0. 08fm and pion masses between 280 and 630MeV at m_pi L >~ 4. Using partially twisted boundary conditions and stochastic estimators, we obtain a dense set of precise data points for the form factor at very small momentum transfers, allowing for a model-independent extraction of the charge radius. Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT) augmented by terms which model lattice artefacts is then compared to the data. At next-to-leading order the effective theory fails to produce a consistent description of the full set of pion observables but describes the data well when only the decay constant and mass are considered. By contrast, using the next-to-next-to-leading order expressions to perform global fits result in a consistent description of all data. We obtain =0. 481(33)(13)fm^2 as our final result for the charge radius at the physical point. Our calculation also yields estimates for the pion decay constant in the chiral limit, F_pi/F=1. 080(16)(6), the quark condensate, Sigma^{1/3}_MSbar(2GeV)=261(13)(1)MeV and several low-energy constants of SU(2) ChPT. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
10.3389/fcell.2019.00089 | Advantages and challenges of cardiovascular and lymphatic studies in zebrafish research | Since its introduction, the zebrafish has provided an important reference system to model and study cardiovascular development as well as lymphangiogenesis in vertebrates. A scientific workshop, held at the 2018 European Zebrafish Principal Investigators Meeting in Trento (Italy) and chaired by Massimo Santoro, focused on the most recent methods and studies on cardiac, vascular and lymphatic development. Daniela Panáková and Natascia Tiso described new molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in cardiac differentiation and disease. Arndt Siekmann and Wiebke Herzog discussed novel roles for Wnt and VEGF signaling in brain angiogenesis. In addition, Brant Weinstein’s lab presented data concerning the discovery of endothelium-derived macrophage-like perivascular cells in the zebrafish brain, while Monica Beltrame’s studies refined the role of Sox transcription factors in vascular and lymphatic development. In this article, we will summarize the details of these recent discoveries in support of the overall value of the zebrafish model system not only to study normal development, but also associated disease states. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1515/bejte-2012-0005 | Transparent Restrictions on Beliefs and Forward-Induction Reasoning in Games with Asymmetric Information | : We analyze forward-induction reasoning in games with asymmetric information assuming some commonly understood restrictions on beliefs. Specifically, we assume that some given restrictions Δ on players’ initial or conditional first-order beliefs are transparent, that is, not only do the restrictions Δ hold but there is also common belief in Δ at every node. Most applied models of asymmetric information are covered as special cases whereby Δ pins down the probabilities initially assigned to states of nature. But the abstract analysis also allows for transparent restrictions on beliefs about behavior, e. g. independence restrictions or restrictions induced by the context behind the game. Our contribution is twofold. First, we use dynamic interactive epistemology to formalize assumptions that capture foward-induction reasoning given the transparency of Δ, and show that the behavioral implications of these assumptions are characterized by the Δ-rationalizability solution procedure of Battigalli (1999, 2003). Second, we study the differences and similarities between this solution concept and a simpler solution procedure put forward by Battigalli and Siniscalchi (2003). We show that the two procedures are equivalent if Δ is “closed under compositions” a property that holds in all the applications considered by Battigalli and Siniscalchi (2003). We also show that when Δ is not closed under compositions, the simpler solution procedure of Battigalli and Siniscalchi (2003) may fail to characterize the behavioral implications of forward-induction reasoning. | [
"Mathematics",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
313749 | Neural control of human freeze-fight-flight | This study investigates the mechanistic bases of human freeze-fight-flight reactions.
The ability to control our social behavior is essential for almost every social interaction. It frequently fails in challenging situations when people fall back on basic defensive „freeze-fight-flight‟ (FFF) reactions. It chronically fails in social motivational disorders, with social anxiety as one extreme, and aggression as another. Such disorders are notoriously resistant to therapy. Accordingly, it is essential that we obtain mechanistic insight into the psychological and neurobiological control of human FFF behavior.
Upon a social challenge, an automatic attentive immobility, the freeze reaction, serves fast risk-assessment, needed to optimize subsequent fight-or-flight responses. Precise temporal tuning of FFF responses is critical to adequate coping with social challenges. It is orchestrated by complex neuroendocrine systems, utilizing the steroid hormone testosterone. Imbalances in the temporal dynamics and associated neuroendocrine control of FFF behaviors are highly predictive of animal fear and aggression. Testing these mechanisms in humans is critical to advance mechanistic insight in human FFF control, but has as of yet been foreclosed in the absence of the requisite tools to objectively measure human FFF. Recent innovations have enabled us to demonstrate that human freeze reactions to social threat mimic animal freeze responses (bodily immobility and fear bradycardia). These findings open up paths toward investigating the role of FFF reactions in social motivational disorders.
The major aim of the proposed research program is to reveal the mechanistic basis of human FFF regulation through the use of three cutting-edge methods: First I intend to integrate body-postural and electroencephalographic measures to detect, for the first time, the temporal dynamics and neuroendocrine control of the full FFF sequence in healthy individuals and patients with social anxiety and aggressive disorders. Second, I will apply hormonal and neural interventions to directly manipulate human FFF control using testosterone administration and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Third, and most crucially, I will validate the predictive value of basic FFF tendencies prospectively in a large longitudinal study. I will test adolescents in a critical transition phase (age 14-17) when they are most vulnerable to social and hormonal influences and when most symptoms develop.
The projected findings will advance core theoretical knowledge of the mechanistic basis of human emotion regulation. Moreover they are of critical importance for clinical treatment and society, breaking the grounds for early symptom detection and (preventive) intervention into social anxiety and aggressive disorders that form an ever-growing burden for society. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
10.1038/s41586-018-0497-0 | Population dynamics of normal human blood inferred from somatic mutations | Haematopoietic stem cells drive blood production, but their population size and lifetime dynamics have not been quantified directly in humans. Here we identified 129,582 spontaneous, genome-wide somatic mutations in 140 single-cell-derived haematopoietic stem and progenitor colonies from a healthy 59-year-old man and applied population-genetics approaches to reconstruct clonal dynamics. Cell divisions from early embryogenesis were evident in the phylogenetic tree; all blood cells were derived from a common ancestor that preceded gastrulation. The size of the stem cell population grew steadily in early life, reaching a stable plateau by adolescence. We estimate the numbers of haematopoietic stem cells that are actively making white blood cells at any one time to be in the range of 50,000–200,000. We observed adult haematopoietic stem cell clones that generate multilineage outputs, including granulocytes and B lymphocytes. Harnessing naturally occurring mutations to report the clonal architecture of an organ enables the high-resolution reconstruction of somatic cell dynamics in humans. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
Q4937426 | (14508.17092020.172002121) TECNOCLIMA 2021 | COMPRA DE CAMIÓN RENAULT PARA EL TRABAJO; ADQUISICIÓN DE EQUIPO ESPECÍFICO PARA EL TRABAJO; OBRAS DE ADAPTACIÓN SEDE CUADRADA EXTERNA | [
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
889788 | Energy-Efficient membranes for carbon capture by crystal engineering of two-dimensional nanoporous materials | The EU integrated strategic energy technology plan, SET-plan, in its 2016 progress report, has called for urgent measures on the carbon capture, however, the high energy-penalty and environmental issues related to the conventional capture process (amine-based scrubbing) has been a major bottleneck. High-performance membranes can reduce the energy penalty for the capture, are environment-friendly (no chemical is used, no waste is generated), can intensify chemical processes, and can be employed for the capture in a decentralized fashion. However, a technological breakthrough is needed to realize such chemically and thermally stable, high-performance membranes. This project seeks to develop the ultimate high-performance membranes for H2/CO2 (pre-combustion capture), CO2/N2 (post-combustion capture), and CO2/CH4 separations (natural gas sweetening). Based on calculations, these membranes will yield a gigantic gas permeance (1 and 0.1 million GPU for the H2 and the CO2 selective membranes, respectively), 1000 and 10-fold higher than that of the state-of-the-art polymeric and nanoporous membranes, respectively, reducing capital expenditure per unit performance and the needed membrane area. For this, we introduce three novel concepts, combining the top-down and the bottom-up crystal engineering approaches to develop size-selective, chemically and thermally stable, nanoporous two-dimensional membranes. First, exfoliated nanoporous 2d nanosheets will be stitched in-plane to synthesize the truly-2d membranes. Second, metal-organic frameworks will be confined across a nanoporous 2d matrix to prepare a composite 2d membrane. Third, atom-thick graphene films with tunable, uniform and size-selective nanopores will be crystallized using a novel thermodynamic equilibrium between the lattice growth and etching. Overall, the innovative concepts developed here will open up several frontiers on the synthesis of high-performance membranes for a wide-range of separation processes. | [
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
10.1007/10_2018_69 | Engineering Of Yeast Glycoprotein Expression | Yeasts are valuable hosts for recombinant protein production, as these unicellular eukaryotes are easy to handle, grow rapidly to a high cell density on cost-effective defined media, often offer a high space-time yield, and are able to perform posttranslational modifications. However, a key difference between yeasts and mammalian cells involves the type of glycosylation structures, which hampers the use of yeasts for the production of many biopharmaceuticals. Glycosylation is not only important for the folding process of most recombinant proteins; it has a large impact on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the therapeutic proteins as well. Yeasts' hypermannosylated glycosyl structures in some cases can evoke immune responses and lead to rapid clearance of the therapeutic protein from the blood. This chapter highlights the efforts made so far regarding the glyco-engineering of N- and O-type glycosylation, removing or reducing yeast-specific glycans. In some cases, this is combined with the introduction of humanized glycosylation pathways. After many years of patient development to overcome remaining challenges, these efforts have now culminated in effective solutions that should allow yeasts to reclaim the primary position in biopharmaceutical manufacturing that they enjoyed in the early days of biotechnology. Graphical Abstract. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
]
|
249830 | Converging Criteria for Consciousness: Using neuroimaging methods to characterize subliminal and conscious processing | We aim to find the limits of subliminal information processing and clarify the function and brain architecture underlying conscious processing in adults, infants, patients and non-human primates. (1) We will design experimental tests applicable to non-verbal organisms that can reveal behavioral and cerebral signatures of conscious processing. Those tests, respectively called rule extraction and central collision , each comprise an automatic sensory component and a central component thought to require conscious access. (2) Using these tests, we will identify brain signatures of non-conscious and conscious processing using neuroimaging techniques (ERPs, MEG, fMRI, intracranial recordings) in normal human adults. To validate our approach, we will manipulate stimulus perceptibility (masking), attention (distraction by another task) and vigilance (sleep and anesthesia). (3) We will then extend the approach to brain-damaged adults with coma, persistent vegetative state or minimal consciousness, in order to detect residual processing and to obtain predictors of recovery. We will design computer systems to extract signatures of conscious processing in real time. (4) We will also examine when these signatures first appear in human infancy. (5) Finally, we will measure fMRI activation in monkeys during the same tests, thus allowing for a direct comparison of monkey and human signatures of conscious processing. We will study the effects of anesthesia on the loss of these signatures, and the potential beneficial impact of thalamic stimulation on their restoration. This research will clarify the brain mechanisms of conscious processing, illuminate their ontogeny and phylogeny, and pave the way to clinical intervention studies in patients with impaired consciousness. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
W1503831512 | Body dissatisfaction and common mental disorders in adolescents | Objective: To verify the prevalence of body dissatisfaction in adolescents and its association with socioeconomic, behavioral, anthropometric, and psychosocial factors, especially with the presence of common mental disorders. Methods: Adolescents from a school in Itajai, Southern Brazil, had anthropometric measurements for body mass index analysis, and completed a questionnaire on personal data and common mental disorders. The primary outcome was the presence of body dissatisfaction and the adjusted analysis of associated factors was performed by Poisson regression. Prevalence ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated. Results: A total of 214 adolescents (77.5%) with a mean age of 12.4, years predominantly females (65.4%), were enrolled. Most of the adolescents were classified as eutrophic (79.4%), and 28.0% had indicative scores for common mental disorders. The prevalence of body dissatisfaction was 74.3% (95%CI 67.9–80.0). Factors identified as associated with body dissatisfaction were: lower maternal schooling, abdominal obesity, perception of the nutritional state as above or below the weight, interference of physical shape in daily activities, and relationships. The presence of common mental disorders was associated with body dissatisfaction after adjusted analysis at the level of 6.6%. Conclusions: Most adolescents presented body mass index and waist circumference within the normal range; however, high prevalence of body dissatisfaction was noted in both genders. Maternal variables and behaviors related to body weight were associated with the outcome. In relation to the common mental disorders, the association was close to the adopted significance threshold. | [
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
Q2033680 | BARCODE: IMPLEMENTATION OF A LETTER SYSTEM TO BAR CODES IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESS | WITH A VIEW TO MAKING THE PROCESS Â TOWARDS LEANÂ ¿, IDEAL BATH, IT INTENDS TO INVEST IN AN INNOVATION PROJECT CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A SYSTEM FOR READING BARCODES VIA BARTAILS, INVOLVING BOTH THE PRODUCTION PROCESS AND THE RELEVANT UNITS, AND THE WAREHOUSE PRODUCTS MARKETED (SPCCCHIERE/LAMPS/COMPONENTS...), BOTH PRECISELY PACKAGING AND THE SHIPMENT. THE PROJECT ALSO PROVIDES FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF COLLABORATIVE SERVICES PLATFORMS TO THE CUSTOMER THAT MAY BE ACCESS TO | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
W2613994990 | New results on the Stackelberg–Nash exact control of linear parabolic equations | Abstract This paper is concerned with Stackelberg–Nashstrategies to control parabolic equations. We have one control, the leader, that is responsible for a null controllability property; additionally, we have a couple of controls, called the followers, that provides a Nash equilibrium for two cost functionals. This is a classical situation in many fields of science and, in mathematics, leads to a lot of interesting questions and open problems and possesses many applications. In the main result, we prove the existence of a leader such that the corresponding controlled system is driven to zero. This way, we improve some questions that were left open in previous works. | [
"Mathematics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
W2144806945 | Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and sea surface temperature in the Bay of Biscay and adjacent regions | The sea surface temperature (SST) variability of the Bay of Biscay and adjacent regions (1854–2010) has been examined in relation to the evolution of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), a major climate mode. The AMO index explains ~25% of the interannual variability of the annual SST during the last 150 years, while different indices of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) explain ≤1% of the long-term record. NAO is a high frequency climate mode while AMO can modulate low frequency changes. Sixty per cent of the AMO variability is contained in periods longer than a decade. The basin-scale influence of NAO on SST over specific years (1995 to 1998) is presented and the SST anomalies explained. The period analysed represents an abrupt change in NAO and the North Atlantic circulation state as shown with altimetry and SST data. Additional atmospheric climate data over a shorter ~60 year period (1950–2008) show the influence on the Bay of Biscay SST of the East Atlantic (EA) pattern and the Scandinavia (SCA) pattern. These atmospheric teleconnections explain respectively ~25% and ~20% of the SST variability. The winter SST in the shelf-break/slope or poleward current region is analysed in relation to AMO. The poleward current shows a trend towards increasing SSTs during the last three decades as a result of the combined positive phase of AMO and global warming. The seasonality of this winter warm flow in the Iberian region is related to the autumn/winter seasonality of south-westerly (SW) winds. The SW winds are strengthened along the European shelf-break by the development of low pressure conditions in the region to the north of the Azores and therefore a negative NAO. AMO overall modulates multidecadal changes (~60% of the AMO variance). The long-term time-series of SST and SST anomalies in the Bay of Biscay show AMO-like cycles with maxima near 1870 and 1950 and minima near 1900 and 1980 indicating a period of 60–80 years during the last century and a half. Similar AMO-like variability is found in the Russell cycle of the Western English Channel (1924–1972). AMO relates at least to four mesozooplankton components of the Russell cycle: the abundance of the chaetognaths Parasagitta elegans and Parasagitta setosa (AMO −), the amount of the species Calanus helgolandicus (AMO −), the amount of the larvae of decapod crustaceans (AMO −) and the number of pilchard eggs ( Sardine pilchardus ; AMO +). In addition to AMO, the decadal to multidecadal (D2M) variability in the number of sunspots is analysed for the last 300 years. Several periodicities and a multi-secular linear increase are presented. There are secular minima near 1710, 1810, 1910 and 2010. The long term variability (>11 years) of the solar sunspot activity explains ~50% of the variance of the SST of the Bay of Biscay with periods longer than 11 years. AMO is finally compared with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the leading principal component of North Pacific SST anomalies. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
W2090601678 | Scaling the ISAM Land Surface Model through Parallelization of Inter-component Data Transfer | We present the progression of developments necessary to scale the ISAM landsurface model from single nodes and small clusters with unusually largeper-node memory to much larger systems with more common configurations. These efforts include load balancing, conventional library-based output parallelization to reduce memory load, and parallel-in-time data input. On Hopper, a Cray XE6 machine, the result was strong scaling from 256 cores to 16k coreswith an efficiency of 32.9%. On Edison, a Cray XC30 machine, the code strong scales from 256 cores to 16k cores with an efficiency of 51.4%. These large-scale gains, and the associated performance increases at smaller scale, enable greater scientific productivity for the users of ISAM and open the possibilities of increased resolution in time and space and greater physical fidelity for the simulated processes while remaining computationally feasible. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
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