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W3102202750 | Value-Free Analysis of Values: A Culture-Based Development Approach | Recent literature in the fields of Political Economy, New Institutional Economics and New Cultural Economics has converged in the use of empirical methods, offering a series of consistent quantitative analysis of values. However, an overarching positive methodology for the value-free study of values has not yet precipitated. Building on a mixed systematic-integrative literature review of a pluralistic variety of perspectives from Adam Smith’s ‘Impartial’ Spectator to modern moral philosophy, the current study suggests the Culture-Based Development (CBD) approach for analyzing the economic impact of values on socio-economic development. The CBD approach suggests that the value-free analysis needs: (i) to use positive methods to classify a value as local or universal; (ii) to examine the existence of what is termed the Aristotelian Kuznets curve of values (i.e., to test for the presence of an inflection point in the economic impact from the particular value) and (iii) to account for Platonian cultural relativity (i.e., the cultural embeddedness expressed in the geographic nestedness of the empirical data about values). The paper details the theoretical and methodological cornerstones underpinning the proposed CBD approach for value-free analysis of values. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Texts and Concepts"
]
|
10.1016/j.drudis.2015.10.012 | Immunocytokines: A novel class of products for the treatment of chronic inflammation and autoimmune conditions | Antibody-cytokine fusion proteins, often referred to as immunocytokines, represent a novel class of biopharmaceutical agents that combine the disease-homing activity of certain antibodies with the immunomodulatory properties of cytokine payloads. Originally, immunocytokines were mainly developed for cancer therapy applications. More recently, however, the use of anti-inflammatory cytokines for the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions and to treat autoimmune diseases has been considered. This review analyzes basic principles in the design of immunocytokines and describes the most advanced products in preclinical and clinical development. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
W1991214087 | The influence of the relative phase between the driving voltages on electron heating in asymmetric dual frequency capacitive discharges | The influence of the relative phase between the driving voltages on electron heating in asymmetric phase-locked dual frequency capacitively coupled radio frequency plasmas operated at 2 and 14 MHz is investigated. The basis of the analysis is a nonlinear global model with the option to implement a relative phase between the two driving voltages. In recent publications it has been reported that nonlinear electron resonance heating can drastically enhance the power dissipation to electrons at moments of sheath collapse due to the self-excitation of nonlinear plasma series resonance (PSR) oscillations of the radio frequency current. This work shows that depending on the relative phase of the driving voltages, the total number and exact moments of sheath collapse can be influenced. In the case of two consecutive sheath collapses a substantial increase in dissipated power compared with the known increase due to a single PSR excitation event per period is observed. Phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy (PROES) provides access to the excitation dynamics in front of the driven electrode. Via PROES the propagation of beam-like energetic electrons immediately after the sheath collapse is observed. In this work we demonstrate that there is a close relation between moments of sheath collapse, and thus excitation of the PSR, and beam-like electron propagation. A comparison of simulation results to experiments in a single and dual frequency discharge shows good agreement. In particular the observed influence of the relative phase on the dynamics of a dual frequency discharge is described by means of the presented model. Additionally, the analysis demonstrates that the observed gain in dissipation is not accompanied by an increase in the electrode's dc-bias voltage which directly addresses the issue of separate control of ion flux and ion energy in dual frequency capacitively coupled radio frequency plasmas. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
10.1038/s41419-019-1414-7 | Fhit–Fdxr interaction in the mitochondria: modulation of reactive oxygen species generation and apoptosis in cancer cells | Fhit protein is lost in cancers of most, perhaps all, cancer types; when restored, it can induce apoptosis and suppress tumorigenicity, as shown in vitro and in mouse tumor models in vivo. Following protein cross-linking and proteomics analyses, we characterized a Fhit protein complex involved in triggering Fhit-mediated apoptosis. The complex includes the heat-shock chaperonin pair, HSP60/10, which is likely involved in importing Fhit into the mitochondria, where it interacts with ferredoxin reductase, responsible for transferring electrons from NADPH to cytochrome P450 via ferredoxin, in electron transport chain complex III. Overexpression of Fhit protein in Fhit-deficient cancer cells modulates the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species, causing increased ROS, following peroxide treatment, with subsequent increased apoptosis of lung cancer cells under oxidative stress conditions; conversely, Fhit-negative cells escape ROS overproduction and ROS-induced apoptosis, likely carrying oxidative damage. Thus, characterization of Fhit-interacting proteins has identified direct effectors of a Fhit-mediated apoptotic signal pathway that is lost in many cancers. This is of translational interest considering the very recent emphasis in a number of high-profile publications, concerning the role of oxidative phosphorylation in the treatment of human cancers, and especially cancer stem cells that rely upon oxidative phosphorylation for survival. Additionally, we have shown that cells from a Fhit-deficient lung cancer cell line, are sensitive to killing by exposure to atovaquone, thought to act as a selective oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor by targeting the CoQ10 dependence of the mitochondrial complex III, while the Fhit-expressing sister clone is resistant to this treatment. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.7554/eLife.25197 | Uncoupling of dynamin polymerization and GTPase activity revealed by the conformation-specific nanobody dynab | Dynamin is a large GTPase that forms a helical collar at the neck of endocytic pits, and catalyzes membrane fission (Schmid and Frolov, 2011; Ferguson and De Camilli, 2012). Dynamin fission reaction is strictly dependent on GTP hydrolysis, but how fission is mediated is still debated (Antonny et al. , 2016): GTP energy could be spent in membrane constriction required for fission, or in disassembly of the dynamin polymer to trigger fission. To follow dynamin GTP hydrolysis at endocytic pits, we generated a conformation-specific nanobody called dynab, that binds preferentially to the GTP hydrolytic state of dynamin-1. Dynab allowed us to follow the GTPase activity of dynamin-1 in real-time. We show that in fibroblasts, dynamin GTP hydrolysis occurs as stochastic bursts, which are randomly distributed relatively to the peak of dynamin assembly. Thus, dynamin disassembly is not coupled to GTPase activity, supporting that the GTP energy is primarily spent in constriction. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1002/mma.4013 | On the Maxwell–Stefan diffusion limit for a mixture of monatomic gases | Multi-species Boltzmann equations for gaseous mixtures, with analytic cross sections and under Grad's angular cutoff assumption, are considered under diffusive scaling. In the limit, we formally obtain an explicit expression for the binary diffusion coefficients in the Maxwell–Stefan equations. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1145/1536414.1536492 | Mixing Time For The Solid On Solid Model | We analyze the mixing time of a natural local Markov chain (the Glauber dynamics) on configurations of the solid-on-solid model of statistical physics. This model has been proposed, among other things, as an idealization of the behavior of contours in the Ising model at low temperatures. Our main result is an upper bound on the mixing time of O~(n3. 5), which is tight within a factor of O~(√n). The proof, which in addition gives insight into the actual evolution of the contours, requires the introduction of several novel analytical techniques that we conjecture will have other applications. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1073/pnas.2002429117 | Atomic-scale electronic structure of the cuprate pair density wave state coexisting with superconductivity | The defining characteristic of hole-doped cuprates isd-wave high temperature superconductivity. However, intense theoretical interest is now focused on whether a pair density wave state (PDW) could coexist with cuprate superconductivity [D. F. Agterberg et al. ,Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 11, 231 (2020)]. Here, we use a strong-coupling mean-field theory of cuprates, to model the atomic-scale electronic structure of an eight-unit-cell periodic,d-symmetry form factor, pair density wave (PDW) state coexisting withd-wave superconductivity (DSC). From this PDW + DSC model, the atomically resolved density of Bogoliubov quasiparticle statesNr,Eis predicted at the terminal BiO surface of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8and compared with high-precision electronic visualization experiments using spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The PDW + DSC model predictions include the intraunit-cell structure and periodic modulations ofNr,E, the modulations of the coherence peak energyΔpr,and the characteristics of Bogoliubov quasiparticle interference in scattering-wavevector spaceq-space. Consistency between all these predictions and the corresponding experiments indicates that lightly hole-doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8does contain a PDW + DSC state. Moreover, in the model the PDW + DSC state becomes unstable to a pure DSC state at a critical hole densityp*, with empirically equivalent phenomena occurring in the experiments. All these results are consistent with a picture in which the cuprate translational symmetry-breaking state is a PDW, the observed charge modulations are its consequence, the antinodal pseudogap is that of the PDW state, and the cuprate critical point atp* ≈ 19% occurs due to disappearance of this PDW. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
W1220805232 | Αυτόματη αναγνώριση CAPTCHAs με χρήση τεχνικών ΨΕΕ | It is fact that in the modern world the Internet offers a global communication while creating a global economy. The provision of free services from several websites has led to this systematic abuse solely for the purpose of making a profit. In order to stem the tide of this malicious new source of income for some, “CAPTCHAs” are employed. Their goal is to determine whether a request to a service is made by a user or by an automated program. Every website that enables the user to create their own content or use its services must now deploy CAPTCHAs.
This current special scientific work aims at the study and interpretation of all different kinds of CAPTCHAs created so that they are resistant to malicious efforts of solutions and examines whether this is possible. An attempt is made initially to understand exactly what the “CAPTCHAs” are and why their use is necessary. What will also be explored through specific publications made, is what principles should govern the design of a CAPTCHA. In order to do this we will go back to different approaches and after presenting them, a critical analysis of the methods of each research group will be conducted. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1098/rspa.2017.0144 | Bitwise efficiency in chaotic models | Motivated by the increasing energy consumption of supercomputing for weather and climate simulations, we introduce a framework for investigating the bit-level information efficiency of chaotic models. In comparison with previous explorations of inexactness in climate modelling, the proposed and tested information metric has three specific advantages: (i) it requires only a single high-precision time series; (ii) information does not grow indefinitely for decreasing time step; and (iii) information is more sensitive to the dynamics and uncertainties of the model rather than to the implementation details. We demonstrate the notion of bit-level information efficiency in two of Edward Lorenz’s prototypical chaotic models: Lorenz 1963 (L63) and Lorenz 1996 (L96). Although L63 is typically integrated in 64-bit ‘double’ floating point precision, we show that only 16 bits have significant information content, given an initial condition uncertainty of approximately 1% of the size of the attractor. This result is sensitive to the size of the uncertainty but not to the time step of the model. We then apply the metric to the L96 model and find that a 16-bit scaled integer model would suffice given the uncertainty of the unresolved sub-grid-scale dynamics. We then show that, by dedicating computational resources to spatial resolution rather than numeric precision in a field programmable gate array (FPGA), we see up to 28. 6% improvement in forecast accuracy, an approximately fivefold reduction in the number of logical computing elements required and an approximately 10-fold reduction in energy consumed by the FPGA, for the L96 model. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1109/RADAR.2016.7485160 | Sub Nyquist Collocated Mimo Radar In Time And Space | Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar exhibits several advantages with respect to traditional monostatic radar by exploiting transmit waveform diversity. Achieving high resolution requires a large number of transmit and receive antennas. In addition, the digital processing is performed on samples of the received signal at its Nyquist rate, which can be high. Overcoming the rate bottleneck, sub-Nyquist sampling methods have been proposed that break the link between monostatic radar signal bandwidth and sampling rate. In this work, we extend theses methods to MIMO radar and apply the Xampling framework both in the time and spatial domains, achieving reduction in the number of deployed antennas and the number of samples per receiver, without degrading the time and spatial resolutions. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
310098 | The mechanisms that underlie the development of a tendon-bone attachment unit | We walk, run and jump using the complex and ingenious musculoskeletal system. It is therefore puzzling that although each of its components has been extensively studied, research of the musculoskeleton as an integrated system and, in particular, of its assembly has been scarce. In recent years, studies conducted in my lab have demonstrated the centrality of cross regulation between musculoskeletal tissues in skeletogenesis. These works have provided me with the inspiration for a revolutionary hypothesis on the way tendons connect to bones, along with sufficient preliminary data on which to base it.
The critical component in the assembly of the musculoskeleton is the formation of an attachment unit, where a tendon is inserted into a bone. Instead of two tissues that attach to each other, my novel hypothesis suggests that the entire attachment unit originates from a single pool of progenitor cells, which following differentiation diverges to form a tendon attached to cartilage.
With the support of the ERC scheme, I will uncover the previously uncharacterized cellular origin of the attachment unit and the genetic program underlying its development. The attachment unit is a compound tissue, as it is composed of chondrocytes at one end and of tenocytes at the other end. We will investigate the mechanisms that facilitate in situ differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells into two distinct cell fates, under one defined niche. In addition, I will identify the contribution of both mechanical stimuli and molecular signals to the development of the attachment unit.
The ultimate goal of this program is to provide a complete picture of attachment unit development, in order to promote understanding of musculoskeletal assembly. The acquired knowledge may provide the basis for new therapies for enthesopathies, through tissue engineering or repair. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
W1972156633 | Role of Ti3+ in CS2 conversion over TiO2 Claus catalyst | Abstract The objective of the study reported here was to unravel the reaction mechanism of TiO 2 catalysts used for CS 2 conversion in Claus process gas mixtures. Previously, it was demonstrated that the activity of titania exceeds that of alumina when used in the presence of H 2 S/SO 2 mixtures. In this study, it has been demonstrated that the presence and formation of Ti 3+ cation substantially improves CS 2 conversion activity for hydrolysis of CS 2 and for the Claus reaction process. This improvement is explained by a dual-centre adsorption model for CS 2 over titania which consists of chemisorption at adjacent Ti 3+ –Ti 4+ O groups. Understanding the role of Ti 3+ has allowed development of a more active Claus catalyst by introducing a pseudo “permanent Ti 3+ ” cation, Sc 3+ , into the framework structure of titania. Commercial implications based on above observation are also suggested for both catalyst designers and plant operation. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1038/NPHOTON.2011.283 | Generating Manipulating And Measuring Entanglement And Mixture With A Reconfigurable Photonic Circuit | Researchers demonstrate a reconfigurable integrated quantum photonic circuit. The device comprises a two-qubit entangling gate, several Hadamard-like gates and eight variable phase shifters. The set-up is used to generate entangled states, violate a Bell-type inequality with a continuum of partially entangled states and demonstrate the generation of arbitrary one-qubit mixed states. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
853413 | Elucidating the Basal Ganglia Circuits for Reward Expectation | Predicting future outcomes is fundamental for adaptive behaviour. Reward-predicting stimuli evoke a state of expectation, which informs motivation, guides attention, and drives preparatory motor behaviour. Reward expectations are crucial for learning since they serve as a comparison to actual outcomes. This comparison allows animals to determine if there is a prediction error (i.e. if an outcome was better or worse than expected). Even though reward expectation signals are observed in many areas of the brain how they are computed remains unknown. The main reason for lack of progress is the absence of a clear understanding of where expectation is generated and which circuits are involved in its computation. Consequently, we are missing the prerequisite knowledge for determining where reward expectation arises, how it is computed, and how expectations are learnt. We hypothesize, based on preliminary data and prior literature, that specific circuits within the basal ganglia are crucial for computing reward expectation. We will utilize cutting edge viral methods, combined with electrophysiological recordings and calcium imaging techniques, to identify the specific circuits and cell-types within the basal ganglia nuclei that compute reward expectation. The causal role these identified circuits play in learning will be determined using cell-type specific manipulations in mice performing reinforcement learning tasks. Finally, we will pioneer approaches to manipulate elements of the basal ganglia circuit, while simultaneously recording from specific cell types in the ventral tegmental area, that are involved in computing reward prediction error. Together, this work will uncover how specific basal ganglia cell types causally contribute to the computation of reward expectation and the calculation of reward prediction error. This will provide a foundation for understating how reward expectation influences adaptive behaviour and is perturbed in psychiatric disease. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
W1516179959 | ‘Danone v Wahaha: Who Laughs Last?’ | Multinational Companies may result in culture clashes, incompatibility of Western corporate governance and legal resolution strategies. As one of the most successful joint venture models, the high-profile Danone/Wahaha dispute has been accelerated into a two-year legal feud against the infringement of the famous brand of WAHAHA across jurisdictions. The case represents a significant watershed which reflects the status quo of controversies over cooperation and competition in China. Under the current legal framework, Danone’s withdrawal would serve as a wake-up call for both foreign investors and Chinese companies in the dramatically increasing cross-border merger & acquisitions. The seminal case perfectly illustrates unwritten issues about public opinion, nationalism and the rule of law. Danone v. Wahaha has also been commonly conceived as a landmark case through which Chinese side may verify the fairness of the Western judicial system, while the European party may regard it as a touchstone for China’s investment environment as well as the specific sphere of contract spirit. It also offers myriad lessons, including the need for watertight contracts, IP rights, and international arbitrations. | [
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.05.021 | Methodological advances to study the diversity of soil protists and their functioning in soil food webs | Soils host the most complex communities of organisms, which are still largely considered as an unknown ‘black box’. A key role in soil food webs is held by the highly abundant and diverse group of protists. Traditionally, soil protists are considered as the main consumers of bacteria in soils. However, recent insights obtained using new methodologies, provide clear evidence for the trophic diversity of microbial eukaryotes, showing that non-bacterivorous soil protists (fungivores, omnivores, predators of other protists and nematodes), photosynthetic taxa and plant-as well as animal parasites might be equally important. Here we provide an overview of methodologies to study these important soil organisms. Major gaps of knowledge are highlighted, which can be addressed using a combination of now available methods These studies will undeniably reveal an even higher functional diversity of protists and likely raise awareness of their ecological importance in soils. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1039/c7cy01477e | Synthesis of cocrystallized USY/ZSM-5 zeolites from kaolin and its use as fluid catalytic cracking catalysts | The effect of ZSM-5 as propylene booster is enhanced when USY/ZSM5 are cocrystallized instead of conforming physical mixtures. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
W1592918206 | A method for under-sampled ecological network data analysis: plant-pollination as case study | In this paper, we develop a method, termed the Interaction Distribution (ID) method, for analysis of quantitative ecological network data. In many cases, quantitative network data sets are under-sampled, i.e. many interactions are poorly sampled or remain unobserved. Hence, the output of statistical analyses may fail to differentiate between patterns that are statistical artefacts and those which are real characteristics of ecological networks. The ID method can support assessment and inference of under-sampled ecological network data. In the current paper, we illustrate and discuss the ID method based on the properties of plant-animal pollination data sets of flower visitation frequencies. However, the ID method may be applied to other types of ecological networks. The method can supplement existing network analyses based on two definitions of the underlying probabilities for each combination of pollinator and plant species: (1), pi,j: the probability for a visit made by the i’th pollinator species to take place on the j’th plant species; (2), qi,j: the probability for a visit received by the j’th plant species to be made by the i’th pollinator. The method applies the Dirichlet distribution to estimate these two probabilities, based on a given empirical data set. The estimated mean values for pi,j and qi,j reflect the relative differences between recorded numbers of visits for different pollinator and plant species, and the estimated uncertainty of pi,j and qi,j decreases with higher numbers of recorded visits. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1038/s41467-019-09140-x | H3K27M induces defective chromatin spread of PRC2-mediated repressive H3K27me2/me3 and is essential for glioma tumorigenesis | Lys-27-Met mutations in histone 3 genes (H3K27M) characterize a subgroup of deadly gliomas and decrease genome-wide H3K27 trimethylation. Here we use primary H3K27M tumor lines and isogenic CRISPR-edited controls to assess H3K27M effects in vitro and in vivo. We find that whereas H3K27me3 and H3K27me2 are normally deposited by PRC2 across broad regions, their deposition is severely reduced in H3. 3K27M cells. H3K27me3 is unable to spread from large unmethylated CpG islands, while H3K27me2 can be deposited outside these PRC2 high-affinity sites but to levels corresponding to H3K27me3 deposition in wild-type cells. Our findings indicate that PRC2 recruitment and propagation on chromatin are seemingly unaffected by K27M, which mostly impairs spread of the repressive marks it catalyzes, especially H3K27me3. Genome-wide loss of H3K27me3 and me2 deposition has limited transcriptomic consequences, preferentially affecting lowly-expressed genes regulating neurogenesis. Removal of H3K27M restores H3K27me2/me3 spread, impairs cell proliferation, and completely abolishes their capacity to form tumors in mice. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
W2326103575 | Characterization of optically stimulated luminescence for assessment of breast doses in mammography screening | Landauer optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) technology nanoDot dosimeters (OSLDs) are characterized for use in mammography screening at various tube voltages, mAs values and target/filter combinations. The average glandular dose (AGD) for a 50-mm breast, based on the representative compressed breast thickness of a 45-mm polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) phantom, is assessed using OSLDs with different beam conditions. Further, the linearity of the OSLD response is measured and angular dependence tests are performed for various tube potentials, mAs and target/filter combinations. The breast-absorbed doses are measured at various depths for a 32-kVp X-ray beam at 100 mAs, with a Mo/Rh target/filter combination. The measured incident air kerma values at different lateral positions exhibit a maximum deviation of 6%, and the average relative response of the OSLDs at the reference point (center) with respect to various lateral positions is found to be 1.001 ± 0.09%. The calculated AGD values are in the 1.3 ± 0.1−3.5 ± 0.2 mGy range, depending on the tube potential, tube loading and target/filter combinations. An exposure setup featuring the auto-exposure control (AEC) mode, 28 kVp, 73.8 mAs, and a Mo/Rh target/filter combination may be preferred for mammography screening for a compressed breast thickness of 45 mm. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1016/j.tree.2009.08.003 | Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans? | Female and male mate choice preferences in humans both vary according to the menstrual cycle. Women prefer more masculine, symmetrical and genetically unrelated men during ovulation compared with other phases of their cycle, and recent evidence suggests that men prefer ovulating women to others. Such monthly shifts in mate preference have been suggested to bring evolutionary benefits in terms of reproductive success. New evidence is now emerging that taking the oral contraceptive pill might significantly alter both female and male mate choice by removing the mid-cycle change in preferences. Here, we review support for such conclusions and speculate on the consequences of pill-induced choice of otherwise less-preferred partners for relationship satisfaction, durability and, ultimately, reproductive outcomes. | [
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1088/1367-2630/ab1311 | Attosecond x-ray transient absorption in condensed-matter: A core-state-resolved Bloch model | Attosecond transient absorption is an ultrafast technique that has opened the possibility to study electron dynamics in condensed matter systems at its natural timescale. The extension to the x-ray regime permits one to use this powerful technique in combination with the characteristic element specificity of x-ray spectroscopy. At these timescales, the coherent effects of the electron transport are essential and have a relevant signature on the absorption spectrum. Typically, the complex light-driven dynamics requires a theoretical modeling for shedding light on the time-dependent changes in the spectrum. Here we construct a semiconductor Bloch equation model for resolving the light-induced and core-electron dynamics simultaneously, which enables to easily disentangle the interband and intraband contributions. By using the Bloch model, we demonstrate a universal feature on attosecond x-ray transient absorption spectra that emerges from the light-induced coherent intraband dynamics. This feature is linked to previous studies of light-induced Fano resonances in atomic systems. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
716344 | Novel Therapeutic Avenues for dynein-related Ciliopathies | Background: Cilia are hair-like, microtubule-based organelles protruding from most quiescent mammalian cells. They play essential roles in cell signalling (primary cilia) as well as movement of fluid (motile cilia). Although individually rare, cilia dysfunction affects up to 1 in 500 people in Europe, significantly reducing quality of life and lifespan due to dysfunction of multiple organs, including the kidneys, liver, heart, brain, retina, airways and the skeleton. To date, treatment is purely symptomatic.
Aim and Approach: TREATCilia aims to decipher novel treatment avenues and improve clinical management for dynein-related ciliopathies. Next-generation sequencing based gene identification for dynein-related ciliopathies (ciliary chondrodysplasias and Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia, PCD) is employed to dissect the molecular basis and identify new therapeutic targets. Revealing genotype-phenotype mechanisms and their underlying cell signalling defects provides further insight into potential treatment options. Novel innovative curative approaches include high-throughput substance screening in model organisms such as the green algae Chlamydomonas and mammalian cells specially adapted for this purpose.
Impact: Identification of novel ciliopathy genes will not only improve the biological understanding, but also reveal new treatment candidates. Furthermore, scrutinizing the molecular mechanisms of disease yields pharmacological entry points. TREATCilia develops a pre-clinical pipeline towards gene and mutation-specific treatments for hereditary conditions resulting from dynein-related ciliary dysfunction. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1109/ACCESS.2015.2505676 | Compressed Impairment Sensing Assisted And Interleaved Double Fft Aided Modulation Improves Broadband Power Line Communications Subjected To Asynchronous Impulsive Noise | In power line communications (PLCs), the multipath-induced dispersion and the impulsive noise are the two fundamental impediments in the way of high-integrity communications. The conventional orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system is capable of mitigating the multipath effects in PLCs, but it fails to suppress the impulsive noise effects. Therefore, in order to mitigate both the multipath effects and the impulsive effects in PLCs, in this paper, a compressed impairment sensing (CIS)-assisted and interleaved-double-FFT (IDFFT)-aided system is proposed for indoor broadband PLC. Similar to classic OFDM, data symbols are transmitted in the time-domain, while the equalization process is employed in the frequency domain in order to achieve the maximum attainable multipath diversity gain. In addition, a specifically designed interleaver is employed in the frequency domain in order to mitigate the impulsive noise effects, which relies on the principles of compressed sensing (CS). Specifically, by taking advantage of the interleaving process, the impairment impulsive samples can be estimated by exploiting the principle of CS and then cancelled. In order to improve the estimation performance of CS, we propose a beneficial pilot design complemented by a pilot insertion scheme. Finally, a CIS-assisted detector is proposed for the IDFFT system advocated. Our simulation results show that the proposed CIS-assisted IDFFT system is capable of achieving a significantly improved performance compared with the conventional OFDM. Furthermore, the tradeoffs to be struck in the design of the CIS-assisted IDFFT system are also studied. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1111/1758-2229.12219 | Technological Challenges To Understanding The Microbial Ecology Of Deep Subsurface Ecosystems | Terrestrial subsurface geomicrobiology is a new frontier in environmental microbiology. It seeks to determine whether life can be sustained in the absence of solar radiation. Subsurface ecosystems are also intriguing astrobiological models useful in the re-creation of life in early Earth scenarios or ascertaining its possible exist- ence on other planetary bodies. Although Darwin pre- Scanning electron microscopy allows the presence of diverse mineral substrates to be correlated with identified biological structures through elemental analysis (EDAX) and morphology, but the metabolic status and the type of functional metabolism of these biological structures cannot be determined using these techniques. The adap- tation of rRN-targeted FISH (rRNA-FISH) to the study the microorganisms associated to semisolid substrates (cata- lysed reporter deposition-FISH (CARD-FISH)) was an important breakthrough in the microbial ecology study of sediments. Even though this technique has not been used intensively in the identification and quantification of micro- organisms in continental drilling projects, it is obvious that in the near future, it will play a significant role in clarifying the ambiguous results generated by more conventional techniques such as comparative sequence analysis, which, as mentioned earlier, require sample sizes and preparation methodologies that average or destroy compartmentalization. Fluorescent oligonucleotide probes were originally designed to target rRNA for identification of microorgan- isms in environmental studies. Recently, a wide range of FISH procedures have been developed targeting not only rRNA, but also mRNA or single genes (Moraru et al. , 2010). It is easy to foresee that these procedures will be | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
242958 | Mechanisms of Wnt Signaling Initiation | Wnt proteins dictate critical cell growth and lineage decisions during development and in adult tissue homeostasis. Inappropriate activation of Wnt signalling is a frequent cause of cancer. The earliest events that occur after Wnts bind their receptors at the cell surface, such as receptor endocytosis and recruitment of cytoplasmic effectors, are decisive for downstream gene activation but the underlying mechanisms by which these events process and tune the Wnt signal remain poorly understood. The key objective of this proposal is to resolve critical molecular events that drive initiation of the Wnt cascade by focusing on two central questions: How does protein trafficking control Wnt signalling initiation? What molecular mechanisms underlie Wnt-induced formation and activation of multiprotein complexes? I will take a unique approach combining advanced live cell imaging and high resolution immuno-electron microscopy with sophisticated peptide chemistry, gene silencing and biochemistry to dissect early Wnt signalling events at the level of isolated molecules, in cultured cells and in complex tissues of living animals. With the proposed interdisciplinary work I expect to uncover where key Wnt signalling steps occur, which proteins are involved, how they direct protein complex assembly, trafficking and turnover and how these events control transmission of the Wnt signal. Mechanistic insight in how Wnt signals are transmitted is vital to understand how pathway specificity and sensitivity is controlled. Basic insight in these processes will be of utmost importance for the design of strategies to interfere with Wnt signalling in cancer. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1098/rspb.2012.1190 | Food and fitness: associations between crop yields and life-history traits in a longitudinally monitored pre-industrial human population | Severe food shortage is associated with increased mortality and reduced reproductive success in contemporary and historical human populations. Studies of wild animal populations have shown that subtle variation in environmental conditions can influence patterns of mortality, fecundity and natural selection, but the fitness implications of such subtle variation on human populations are unclear. Here, we use longitudinal data on local grain production, births, marriages and mortality so as to assess the impact of crop yield variation on individual age-specific mortality and fecundity in two pre-industrial Finnish populations. Although crop yields and fitness traits showed profound year-to-year variation across the 70-year study period, associations between crop yields and mortality or fecundity were generally weak. However, post-reproductive individuals of both sexes, and individuals of lower socio-economic status experienced higher mortality when crop yields were low. This is the first longitudinal, individual-based study of the associations between environmental variation and fitness traits in pre-industrial humans, which emphasizes the importance of a portfolio of mechanisms for coping with low food availability in such populations. The results are consistent with evolutionary ecological predictions that natural selection for resilience to food shortage is likely to weaken with age and be most severe on those with the fewest resources. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1088/0004-637X/768/1/9 | The Q U Imaging Experiment Instrument | The Q/U Imaging ExperimenT (QUIET) is designed to measure polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background, targeting the imprint of inflationary gravitational waves at large angular scales ( approx 1 deg. ) . Between 2008 October and 2010 December, two independent receiver arrays were deployed sequentially on a 1. 4 m side-fed Dragonian telescope. The polarimeters which form the focal planes use a highly compact design based on High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) that provides simultaneous measurements of the Stokes parameters Q, U, and I in a single module. The 17-element Q-band polarimeter array, with a central frequency of 43. 1 GHz, has the best sensitivity (69 micro Ks(exp 1/2)) and the lowest instrumental systematic errors ever achieved in this band, contributing to the tensor-to-scalar ratio at r < 0. 1. The 84-element W-band polarimeter array has a sensitivity of 87 micro Ks(exp 1/2) at a central frequency of 94. 5 GHz. It has the lowest systematic errors to date, contributing at r < 0. 01 (QUIET Collaboration 2012) The two arrays together cover multipoles in the range l approximately equals 25-975 . These are the largest HEMT-ba. sed arrays deployed to date. This article describes the design, calibration, performance of, and sources of systematic error for the instrument, | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Universe Sciences"
]
|
10.1093/pq/pqz016 | Weak Assertion | We present an inferentialist account of the epistemic modal operator might. Our starting point is the bilateralist programme. A bilateralist explains the operator not in terms of the speech act of rejection; we explain the operator might in terms of weak assertion, a speech act whose existence we argue for on the basis of linguistic evidence. We show that our account of might provides a solution to certain well-known puzzles about the semantics of modal vocabulary whilst retaining classical logic. This demonstrates that an inferentialist approach to meaning can be successfully extended beyond the core logical constants. | [
"Mathematics",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Texts and Concepts"
]
|
819353 | Slave Testimonies in the Abolition Era. European Captives, African Slaves and Ottoman servants in 19th century North Africa | SLAVEVOICES has two main groundbreaking scientific goals. First, it aims at fully renewing our approach of the end of slavery, a crucial social transformation in North Africa as a part of the Muslim world. So far historians have explained the abolition and slow vanishing of slavery in this region either as the outcome of European imperialistic interventions or to a lesser extent as resulting from debates among Muslim scholars and leaders who were owning slaves. SLAVEVOICES will instead interpret the end of slavery through the testimonies of the ones who experienced and acted for the end of slavery: namely the testimonies of the slaves and their descendants written in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish and European languages.
Second, by studying together –and not apart as is often the case– the various groups of slaves in North Africa hailing from Africa, Europe and Asia, SLAVEVOICES will propose a new way of conceiving and writing the history of North Africa. Instead of studying each historical phenomenon according to each national part of this region (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt) as it is has often been the case, SLAVEVOICES will be a concrete attempt at writing a globalized and connected history of modern North Africa. It will explore the reshaping of the connections that groups of slaves built up within North African societies and between this part of the Muslim world and other adjoining societies in Africa, Asia and Europe in the abolition era. SLAVEVOICES will innovate in resituating slave testimonies within a broader history of literacy in North Africa throughout a long nineteenth century, a period in which literacy and written sources underwent major changes in Ottoman and colonial North Africa.
Finally through a website, a book, a play, and videos SLAVEVOICES will bring back the voices, the speeches and emotions of nineteenth century slaves to a present audience as new forms of enslavement and social dependency are resurfacing across the Mediterranean. | [
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Texts and Concepts",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
]
|
644301 | Research and innovation agenda with and for society: leveraging digital innovation for a greener and healthier europe | ENLIGHT is a European university Network to promote equitable quality of Life, sustainability and global engagement through Higher education Transformation. It brings together 9 comprehensive, research-intensive, new flagship universities with a strong reputation. ENLIGHT strives to transform the way in which we address global societal challenges by developing new models and methodologies for education and research adapted to the complex sustainability issues facing cities and communities today.; ENLIGHT focuses on five flagship challenges: Health & Well-being, Climate change, Energy & Circular Economy, Digital Revolution and Equity. With ENLIGHT RISE (Research and Innovation agenda with and for SociEty) we will support ENLIGHT in its R&I dimension, to deploy a comprehensive joint transformation agenda, in synergy with the educational component, in partnership with surrounding ecosystems, and with the overarching goal of serving our societal missions. The objective is to become more competitive and innovative together, leveraging and synergizing our respective strengths and capitalizing on our innovation potential and partnerships with our surrounding ecosystems to jointly promote a greener, healthier, more equitable and sustainable Europe. To reach these goals, ENLIGHT RISE will 1- establish a longer term business model for joint R&I actions, 2- identify strong research synergies with high innovation potential 3- enable the sharing of and optimize capacity or digital research infrastructures, while benchmarking and optimizing the societal impact of digital innovation/artificial intelligence, 4- reinforce cooperation and co-creation with the business sector and civil-society, 5- mainstream and incentivize open science practices and public engagement, 6- improve the attractiveness of researchers’ careers, and 7- develop and formalize methods towards an impact-driven R&I agenda. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1167/9.1.9 | Shifts In Spatial Attention Affect The Perceived Duration Of Events | We investigated the relationship between attention and perceived duration of visual events with a double-task paradigm. The primary task was to discriminate the size change of a 2- circle presented 10- left, right, above, or below fixation; the secondary task was to judge the temporal separation (from 133 ms to 633 ms) of two equiluminant horizontal bars (10 deg 2 deg) briefly flashed 12- above or below fixation. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between primary and secondary task ranged from j1300 ms to +1000 ms. Temporal intervals in proximity of the onset of the primary task stimuli were perceived strongly compressed by up to 40%. The effect was proportional to the size of the interval with a maximum effect at 100 ms SOA. Control experiments show that neither primary-task difficulty, nor the type of primary task discrimination (form or motion, or equiluminant or luminance contrast) nor spatial congruence between primary and secondary task alter the effect. Interestingly, the compression occurred only when the intervals are marked by bars presented in separated spatial locations: when the interval is marked by two bars flashed in the same spatial position no temporal distortion was found. These data indicate that attention can alter perceived duration when the brain has to compare the passage of time at two different spatial positions, corroborating earlier findings that mechanisms of time perception may monitor separately the various spatial locations possibly at high level of analysis. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
10.1111/acel.13072 | Deficiency in the DNA repair protein ERCC1 triggers a link between senescence and apoptosis in human fibroblasts and mouse skin | ERCC1 (excision repair cross complementing-group 1) is a mammalian endonuclease that incises the damaged strand of DNA during nucleotide excision repair and interstrand cross-link repair. Ercc1−/Δ mice, carrying one null and one hypomorphic Ercc1 allele, have been widely used to study aging due to accelerated aging phenotypes in numerous organs and their shortened lifespan. Ercc1−/Δ mice display combined features of human progeroid and cancer-prone syndromes. Although several studies report cellular senescence and apoptosis associated with the premature aging of Ercc1−/Δ mice, the link between these two processes and their physiological relevance in the phenotypes of Ercc1−/Δ mice are incompletely understood. Here, we show that ERCC1 depletion, both in cultured human fibroblasts and the skin of Ercc1−/Δ mice, initially induces cellular senescence and, importantly, increased expression of several SASP (senescence-associated secretory phenotype) factors. Cellular senescence induced by ERCC1 deficiency was dependent on activity of the p53 tumor-suppressor protein. In turn, TNFα secreted by senescent cells induced apoptosis, not only in neighboring ERCC1-deficient nonsenescent cells, but also cell autonomously in the senescent cells themselves. In addition, expression of the stem cell markers p63 and Lgr6 was significantly decreased in Ercc1−/Δ mouse skin, where the apoptotic cells are localized, compared to age-matched wild-type skin, possibly due to the apoptosis of stem cells. These data suggest that ERCC1-depleted cells become susceptible to apoptosis via TNFα secreted from neighboring senescent cells. We speculate that parts of the premature aging phenotypes and shortened health- or lifespan may be due to stem cell depletion through apoptosis promoted by senescent cells. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1016/j.solmat.2011.09.043 | Thin-film ZnO/Cu<inf>2</inf>O solar cells incorporating an organic buffer layer | This work presents a novel approach to overcoming the limitations of low long-wavelength absorption and short charge transport lengths in electrodeposited bilayer ZnO/Cu2O solar cells. Here we reduce the Cu2O thickness to approximately the minority carrier transport length and coat a film of a semiconducting polymer between the Cu2O and a top electrode. We demonstrate efficient hole-injection from Cu2O into the semiconducting polymer as well as blocking of electrons by the polymer. We also show optical confinement of long-wavelength light inside of the collection area in the Cu2O resulting from refractive index mismatch between the polymer and Cu2O. This leads to improved extraction of charge carriers and higher Jsc values from much thinner Cu2O layers than are normally used. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
311723 | Genetic and Epigenetic Determinants of Paget's Disease of bone | Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) is a common disease characterised by focal areas of increased bone turnover leading to symptoms of bone pain, deformity, osteoarthritis and other complications. Genetic factors play an important role in PDB and mutations in SQSTM1 gene are responsible for ~10% of PDB cases with high penetrance. We have recently identified seven additional susceptibility loci for PDB using genome-wide association studies (Albagha et al, 2011; Nat Genet). These recently identified loci have a combined effect that explained about 13% of familial risk suggesting that other genetic factors remain to be identified. The aims of this project are three fold: 1) to define the functional variants in the recently identified susceptibility loci using targeted DNA sequencing, 2) To identify novel genetic variants for disease susceptibility using exome sequencing in PDB patients without SQSTM1 mutations, 3) To investigate the role of epigenetic factors and their interaction with genetic factors in the pathogenesis of PDB. We will study genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in PDB patients and controls to identify differentially methylated sites associated with PDB. The contribution of epigenetic factors to the focal nature of PDB will be studied using an animal model of PDB to assess if epigenetic changes are specific to bone lesions and to determine if these changes contribute to disease development or occur as a consequence of the disease. Identification of genetic and epigenetic factors that predispose to PDB will increase our understanding of disease mechanisms and could also identify novel molecular pathways that could form targets for new therapeutic treatment not only for Paget’s disease, but also other diseases associated with increased bone turnover. These factors could be used as markers for disease susceptibility to assess people at risk of developing PDB later in life and target those with the highest risk for early treatment. | [
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
US 2019/0018941 W | POLYCARBONATE COPOLYMER BLENDS, ARTICLES FORMED THEREFROM, AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE | A polymer blend including 5 to 95 weight percent of a poly(ester-carbonate-carbonate) comprising 40 to 95 mole percent of ester units comprising low heat bisphenol groups and high heat bisphenol groups, wherein the ester units comprise 20 to 80 mole percent of the low heat bisphenol groups and 20 to 80 mole percent of the high heat bisphenol groups, based on the total moles of ester units in the poly(ester-carbonate-carbonate), and 5 to 60 mole percent of carbonate units comprising the low heat bisphenol groups and the high heat bisphenol groups, wherein the carbonate units comprise 20 to 80 mole percent of the low heat bisphenol groups and 20 to 80 mole percent of the high heat bisphenol groups, based on the total moles of carbonate units in the poly(ester-carbonate-carbonate); and 5 to 95 weight percent of a poly(etherimide), wherein the weight percent of each polymer is based on the total weight of the polymers in the blend, and a molded 0.125-inch thick ASTM tensile bar comprising the polymer blend has a haze value of less than 25% as determined according to ASTM D1003 using the color space CIE1931 with Illuminant C and a 2° observer. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1002/mrm.26341 | Water and fat separation in real-time MRI of joint movement with phase-sensitive bSSFP | Purpose: To introduce a method for obtaining fat-suppressed images in real-time MRI of moving joints at 3 Tesla (T) using a bSSFP sequence with phase detection to enhance visualization of soft tissue structures during motion. Methods: The wrist and knee of nine volunteers were imaged with a real-time bSSFP sequence while performing dynamic tasks. For appropriate choice of sequence timing parameters, water and fat pixels showed an out-of-phase behavior, which was exploited to reconstruct water and fat images. Additionally, a 2-point Dixon sequence was used for dynamic imaging of the joints, and resulting water and fat images were compared with our proposed method. Results: The joints could be visualized with good water–fat separation and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), while maintaining a relatively high temporal resolution (5 fps in knee imaging and 10 fps in wrist imaging). The proposed method produced images of moving joints with higher SNR and higher image quality when compared with the Dixon method. Conclusions: Water–fat separation is feasible in real-time MRI of moving knee and wrist at 3 T. PS-bSSFP offers movies with higher SNR and higher diagnostic quality when compared with Dixon scans. Magn Reson Med 78:58–68, 2017. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
10.1128/JVI.00647-13 | Simultaneous Neutralization And Innate Immune Detection Of A Replicating Virus By Trim21 | Tripartite motif-containing 21 (TRIM21) is a cytosolic immunoglobulin receptor that mediates antibody-dependent intracellular neutralization (ADIN). Here we show that TRIM21 potently inhibits the spreading infection of a replicating cytopathic virus and activates innate immunity. We used a quantitative PCR (qPCR)-based assay to measure in vitro replication of mouse adenovirus type 1 (MAV-1), a virus that causes dose-dependent hemorrhagic encephalitis in mice. Using this assay, we show that genetic ablation of TRIM21 or chemical inhibition of either the AAA ATPase p97/valosin-containing protein (VCP) or the proteasome results in a >1,000-fold increase in the relative level of infection in the presence of immune serum. Moreover, the TRIM21-mediated ability of antisera to block replication was a consistent feature of the humoral immune response in immunized mice. In the presence of immune sera and upon infection, TRIM21 also activates a proinflammatory response, resulting in secretion of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). These results demonstrate that TRIM21 provides a potent block to spreading infection and induces an antiviral state. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
NZ 9400128 W | A SHUTTER BLOCK USED IN A METHOD OF CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION | A shutter block, the shutter block including two regularly spaced shutter walls (1, 2), each shutter wall has a continuous ridge (9) on its top and a continuous recess (10) in its bottom, webs (3) are used to connect the shutter walls, and the webs are adapted to hold reinforcing rods relative to either the top and/or the bottom of the web. One or more dividers (13) can be used to close the, or any, open ends of the shutter blocks or can be used to create sections within the shutter block. The placement of one or more individual shutter blocks together will form larger shutter walls, joined by one or more webs adapted to hold reinforcing rods relative to the top and bottom of a web. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
W266442319 | [Hesperetin attenuates angiotensin II-induced collagen expression in cardiac fibroblasts in vitro]. | To explore the effect of hesperetin (HES) on collagen expression in cardiac fibroblasts in vitro induced by angiotensin II (AngII).Cell growth was determined by trypan blue staining, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by microplate reader, the expressions of collagen I,III and matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cell proliferation by cell counting kit-8.HES and AngII+HES had no effect on cellular activity. AngII significantly increased ROS generation (1.70 ± 0.12 vs 1, P < 0.01), gene expression of collagen I,III both increased (1.31 ± 0.08 vs 1, 1.40 ± 0.09 vs 1, both P < 0.01) while MMP-1 decreased (0.68 ± 0.03 vs 1, P < 0.01). Ang II also induced the proliferation of fibroblasts (1.91 ± 0.18 vs 1, P < 0.01). While HES (25, 50, 100 µmol/L) or NAC (1 mmol/L) reversed these effects during co-treating with AngII, ROS decreased versus the Ang II group(1.37 ± 0.05, 1.16 ± 0.08, 1.07 ± 0.07, 1.12 ± 0.07 vs 1.70 ± 0.12, all P < 0.01) , gene expression of collagenI,III also decreased (1.22 ± 0.08 and 1.27 ± 0.07, 1.14 ± 0.07 and 1.00 ± 0.06, 1.02 ± 0.06 and 0.99 ± 0.05, 1.08 ± 0.07 and 1.09 ± 0.06 vs 1.31 ± 0.08 and 1.40 ± 0.09, all P < 0.01), MMP-1 increased (0.76 ± 0.05, 0.88 ± 0.07, 1.01 ± 0.08, 0.96 ± 0.07 vs 0.68 ± 0.03, P < 0.01) versus the Ang II group. Cell proliferation was also inhibited (1.42 ± 0.07, 1.38 ± 0.03, 1.07 ± 0.15, 1.16 ± 0.11 vs 1.91 ± 0.18, all P < 0.01). NAC had the same effect with HES.HES inhibits the synthesis of collagen and the Ang II-induced proliferation of fibroblast through suppressing the ROS generation. | [
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.5194/acp-2019-345 | Small Ice Particles at Slightly Supercooled Temperatures in Tropical Maritime Convection | . In this paper we show that the origin of the ice phase in tropical cumulus clouds over the sea may occur by primary ice nucleation of small crystals at temperatures just between 0 and −5 °C. This was made possible through use of a holographic instrument able to image cloud particles at very high resolution and small size (6 µm). The environment in which the observations were conducted was notable for the presence of desert dust advected over the ocean from the Sahara. However, there is no laboratory evidence to suggest that these dust particles can act as ice nuclei at temperatures warmer than about −10 °C, the zone in which the first ice was observed in these clouds. The small ice particles were observed to grow rapidly by vapour diffusion, riming, and possibly through collisions with supercooled raindrops, causing these to freeze and potentially shatter. This in turn leads to the further production of secondary ice in these clouds. Hence, although the numbers of primary ice particles are small, they are very effective in initiating the rapid glaciation of the cloud, altering the dynamics and precipitation production processes. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
224813 | Language, families, and society | Building on my previous research on Family Language Policy (FLP), LaFS (‘Language, Families, and Society’) will focus on three types of linguistic minority families—autochthonous, immigrant, and refugee—as a means to elucidating more about how social inequality is perpetuated (or arrested) along linguistic lines, and how policy at the local, national, and international levels can better support linguistic minority families. The project will therefore provide a key means to understanding more about Europe’s three main sociolinguistic challenges: the decline of its many autochthonous minority languages; increased linguistic diversity due to increased mobility among European member states; and the refugee crisis. LaFS will centre on families who speak Irish as a home language (autochthonous); Polish (immigrant); and Arabic (refugee) as a means to understanding the challenges these linguistic minority families face and how these challenges affect their sense of identity, belonging, and overall well-being. This understanding will be broadened by a secondment with the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum, and Migration Network (GRAMNet). LaFS will be hosted by the National University of Ireland, Galway, complementing NUIG’s Centre for Population and Migration Research and UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre. The project will be supervised by Prof. Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin, a leading expert in minority language issues. The secondment will be supervised by Professor Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts. My professional development over the course of the project in terms of innovative research practice; high-impact dissemination and communication skills; and effective project management skills will be invaluable to my long-term goal of embedding sociolinguistics into social justice research. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
]
|
10.3389/fncel.2014.00064 | Human neuroimaging studies on the hippocampal CA3 region - Integrating evidence for pattern separation and completion | Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have long investigated the hippocampus without differentiating between its subfields, even though theoretical models and rodent studies suggest that subfields support different and potentially even opposite functions. The CA3 region of the hippocampus has been ascribed a pivotal role both in initially forming associations during encoding and in reconstructing a memory representation based on partial cues during retrieval. These functions have been related to pattern separation and pattern completion, respectively. In recent years, studies using high-resolution fMRI in humans have begun to separate different hippocampal subregions and identify the role of the CA3 subregion relative to the other subregions. However, some of these findings have been inconsistent with theoretical models and findings from electrophysiology. In this review, we describe selected recent studies and highlight how their results might help to define different processes and functions that are presumably carried out by the CA3 region, in particular regarding the seemingly opposing functions of pattern separation and pattern completion. We also describe how these subfield-specific processes are related to behavioral, functional and structural alterations in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. We conclude with discussing limitations of functional imaging and briefly outline possible future developments of the field. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
W2112782633 | Gait measures in patients with and without AFO for equinus varus/drop foot | Even if significant differences were obtained only for limited parameters when measuring gait in the two different AFO- no AFO conditions, this doesn't prevent to consider the preliminary results in the use of the inertial device encouraging for assisting outcome measure in rehabilitation. The limit of this study is in fact the small number of subjects. In the field of neurological rehabilitation it is well known that research has to manage the problem of the wide variability among patients and usually a large number of subjects have to be included in comparative studies. Such measurements could be differently achieved only by means of traditional gait analysis, which however is expensive, is based on a few steps under conditions of walk constrained by the laboratory which does not reflect the environment in which the patient usually moves. The new device is in conclusion sensitive to measure time distance parameters in a clinical setting. Further research must be developed in wider sample of patients and with different treatment options to validate the device as a useful tool in monitoring the rehabilitation outcome. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.1111/cmi.12816 | The entry of Salmonella in a distinct tight compartment revealed at high temporal and ultrastructural resolution | Salmonella enterica induces membrane ruffling and genesis of macropinosomes during its interactions with epithelial cells. This is achieved through the type three secretion system-1, which first mediates bacterial attachment to host cells and then injects bacterial effector proteins to alter host behaviour. Next, Salmonella enters into the targeted cell within an early membrane-bound compartment that matures into a slow growing, replicative niche called the Salmonella Containing Vacuole (SCV). Alternatively, the pathogen disrupts the membrane of the early compartment and replicate at high rate in the cytosol. Here, we show that the in situ formed macropinosomes, which have been previously postulated to be relevant for the step of Salmonella entry, are key contributors for the formation of the mature intracellular niche of Salmonella. We first clarify the primary mode of type three secretion system-1 induced Salmonella entry into epithelial cells by combining classical fluorescent microscopy with cutting edge large volume electron microscopy. We observed that Salmonella, similarly to Shigella, enters epithelial cells inside tight vacuoles rather than in large macropinosomes. We next apply this technology to visualise rupturing Salmonella containing compartments, and we use extended time-lapse microscopy to establish early markers that define which Salmonella will eventually hyper replicate. We show that at later infection stages, SCVs harbouring replicating Salmonella have previously fused with the in situ formed macropinosomes. In contrast, such fusion events could not be observed for hyper-replicating Salmonella, suggesting that fusion of the Salmonella entry compartment with macropinosomes is the first committed step of SCV formation. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
]
|
10.3390/ijms20061283 | Killing mechanisms of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells | Effective adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) comprises the killing of cancer cells through the therapeutic use of transferred T cells. One of the main ACT approaches is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. CAR T cells mediate MHC-unrestricted tumor cell killing by enabling T cells to bind target cell surface antigens through a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) recognition domain. Upon engagement, CAR T cells form a non-classical immune synapse (IS), required for their effector function. These cells then mediate their anti-tumoral effects through the perforin and granzyme axis, the Fas and Fas ligand axis, as well as the release of cytokines to sensitize the tumor stroma. Their persistence in the host and functional outputs are tightly dependent on the receptor’s individual components—scFv, spacer domain, and costimulatory domains—and how said component functions converge to augment CAR T cell performance. In this review, we bring forth the successes and limitations of CAR T cell therapy. We delve further into the current understanding of how CAR T cells are designed to function, survive, and ultimately mediate their anti-tumoral effects. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1144/0016-76492011-056 | Geology Of The Snap Lake Kimberlite Intrusion Northwest Territories Canada Field Observations And Their Interpretation | The Cambrian (523 Ma) Snap Lake hypabyssal kimberlite intrusion, Northwest Territories, Canada, is a complex segmented diamond-bearing ore-body. Detailed geological investigations suggest that the kimberlite is a multi-phase intrusion with at least four magmatic lithofacies. In particular, olivine-rich (ORK) and olivine-poor (OPK) varieties of hypabyssal kimberlite have been identified. Key observations are that the olivine-rich lithofacies has a strong tendency to be located where the intrusion is thickest and that there is a good correlation between intrusion thickness, olivine crystal size and crystal content. Heterogeneities in the lithofacies are attributed to variations in intrusion thickness and structural complexities. The geometry and distribution of lithofacies points to magmatic co-intrusion, and flow segregation driven by fundamental rheological differences between the two phases. We envisage that the low-viscosity OPK magma acted as a lubricant for the highly viscous ORK magma. The presence of such low-viscosity, crystal-poor magmas may explain how crystal-laden kimberlite magmas (>60 vol. %) are able to reach the surface during kimberlite eruptions. We also document the absence of crystal settling and the development of an unusual subvertical fabric of elongate olivine crystals, which are explained by rapid degassing-induced quench crystallization of the magmas during and after intrusion. Supplementary material: Additional figures are available at http://www. geolsoc. org. uk/SUP18503. | [
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1121/1.5037615 | Evaluating Automatic Speech Recognition Systems As Quantitative Models Of Cross Lingual Phonetic Category Perception | Theories of cross-linguistic phonetic category perception posit that listeners perceive foreign sounds by mapping them onto their native phonetic categories, but, until now, no way to effectively implement this mapping has been proposed. In this paper, Automatic Speech Recognition systems trained on continuous speech corpora are used to provide a fully specified mapping between foreign sounds and native categories. The authors show how the machine ABX evaluation method can be used to compare predictions from the resulting quantitative models with empirically attested effects in human cross-linguistic phonetic category perception. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
]
|
10.1109/MCOM.2014.6979964 | Ieee 802 11Ad Directional 60 Ghz Communication For Multi Gigabit Per Second Wi Fi Invited Paper | With the ratification of the IEEE 802. 11ad amendment to the 802. 11 standard in December 2012, a major step has been taken to bring consumer wireless communication to the millimeter wave band. However, multi-gigabit-per-second throughput and small interference footprint come at the price of adverse signal propagation characteristics, and require a fundamental rethinking of Wi-Fi communication principles. This article describes the design assumptions taken into consideration for the IEEE 802. 11ad standard and the novel techniques defined to overcome the challenges of mm-Wave communication. In particular, we study the transition from omnidirectional to highly directional communication and its impact on the design of IEEE 802. 11ad. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1364/PS.2017.PW1D.1 | Fiber Distributed Signal Processing Where The Space Dimension Comes Into Play | This research was supported by the ERC Consolidator Grant 724663, the Spanish Projects TEC2014-60378-C2-1-R, TEC2015-62520-ERC and TEC2016-80150-R, the Spanish scholarships MECD FPU13/04675 for J. Hervas and MINECO BES-2015-073359 for S. Garcia, and Spanish MINECO Ramon y Cajal RYC-2014-16247 for I. Gasulla | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1111/nph.14705 | High-resolution synchrotron imaging shows that root hairs influence rhizosphere soil structure formation | In this paper, we provide direct evidence of the importance of root hairs on pore structure development at the root–soil interface during the early stage of crop establishment. This was achieved by use of high-resolution (c. 5 lm) synchrotron radiation computed tomography (SRCT) to visualise both the structure of root hairs and the soil pore structure in plant–soil microcosms. Two contrasting genotypes of barley (Hordeum vulgare), with and without root hairs, were grown for 8 d in microcosms packed with sandy loam soil at 1. 2 g cm3 dry bulk density. Root hairs were visualised within air-filled pore spaces, but not in the fine-textured soil regions. We found that the genotype with root hairs significantly altered the porosity and connectivity of the detectable pore space (> 5 lm) in the rhizosphere, as compared with the no-hair mutants. Both genotypes showed decreasing pore space between 0. 8 and 0. 1 mm from the root surface. Interestingly the root-hair-bearing genotype had a significantly greater soil pore volume-fraction at the root–soil interface. Effects of pore structure on diffusion and permeability were estimated to be functionally insignificant under saturated conditions when simulated using image-based modelling. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1039/c2cc31367g | Chemical synthesis of oriented ferromagnetic LaSr-2 × 4 manganese oxide molecular sieve nanowires | We report a chemical solution based method using nanoporous track-etched polymer templates for producing long and oriented LaSr-2 × 4 manganese oxide molecular sieve nanowires. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy analyses show that the nanowires are ferromagnetic at room temperature, single crystalline, epitaxially grown and self-aligned. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1063/1.4729159 | A theoretical and simulation study of the self-assembly of a binary blend of diblock copolymers | Pure diblock copolymer melts exhibit a narrow range of conditions at which bicontinuous and cocontinuous phases are stable; such conditions and the morphology of such phases can be tuned by the use of additives. In this work, we have studied a bidisperse system of diblock copolymers using theory and simulation. In particular, we elucidated how a short, lamellar-forming diblock copolymer modifies the phase behavior of a longer, cylinder-forming diblock copolymer. In a narrow range of intermediate compositions, self-consistent field theory predicts the formation of a gyroid phase although particle-based simulations show that three phases compete: the gyroid phase, a disordered cocontinuous phase, and the cylinder phase, all having free energies within error bars of each other. Former experimental studies of a similar system have yielded an unidentified, partially irregular bicontinuous phase, and our simulations suggest that at such conditions the formation of a partially transformed network phase is indeed plausible. Close examination of the spatial distribution of chains reveals that packing frustration (manifested by chain stretching and low density spots) occurs in the majority-block domains of the three competing phases simulated. In all cases, a double interface around the minority-block domains is also detected with the outer one formed by the short chains, and the inner one formed by the longer chains. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.3390/ijerph17020569 | Contextualizing Evidence for Action on Diabetes in Low-Resource Settings—Project CEAD Part I: A Mixed-Methods Study Protocol | Challenges remain for policy adoption and implementation to tackle the unprecedented and relentless increase in obesity, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this mixed-methods study is to analyse the contextual relevance and applicability to low-resource settings of a sample of evidence-based healthy public policies, using local knowledge, perceptions and pertinent epidemiological data. Firstly, we will identify and prioritise policies that have the potential to reduce the burden of diabetes in low-resource settings with a scoping review and modified Delphi method. In parallel, we will undertake two cross-sectional population surveys on diabetes risk and morbidity in two low-resource settings in Ecuador. Patients, community members, health workers and policy makers will analyse the contextual relevance and applicability of the policy actions and discuss their potential for the reduction in inequities in diabetes risk and morbidity in their population. This study tackles one of the greatest challenges in global health today: how to drive the implementation of population-wide preventative measures to fight NCDs in low resource settings. The findings will demonstrate how local knowledge, perceptions and pertinent epidemiological data can be used to analyse the contextual relevance and applicability of potential policy actions. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
10.1002/aic.15008 | First-principles based group additivity values for thermochemical properties of substituted aromatic compounds | A set of 7 Benson group additive values (GAV) together with 15 correction terms for non-nearest neighbor interactions (NNI) is developed to calculate the gas phase standard enthalpies of formation, entropies and heat capacities of monocyclic aromatic compounds containing methyl, ethyl, vinyl, formyl, hydroxyl, and methoxy substituents. These GAVs are obtained through least squares regression of a database of thermodynamic properties of 143 molecules, calculated at the post-Hartree-Fock G4 composite method. Out of the 15 NNIs, which account for several well-known substituent effects in aromatic molecules, 13 have been determined for the first time. All but two group additively calculated standard enthalpies of formation agree within 4 kJ mol-1. The entropies and the heat capacities generally deviate less than 4 J mol-1 K-1 from the ab initio results. Natural bond orbital analysis is utilized to identify the underlying causes of the observed NNIs. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1038/ncomms1968 | Patterning symmetry in the rational design of colloidal crystals | Colloidal particles have the right size to form ordered structures with periodicities comparable to the wavelength of visible light. The tantalizing colours of precious opals and the colour of some species of birds are examples of polycrystalline colloidal structures found in nature. Driven by the demands of several emergent technologies, efforts have been made to develop efficient, self-assembly-based methodologies for generating colloidal single crystals with well-defined morphologies. Somewhat unfortunately, these efforts are often frustrated by the formation of structures lacking long-range order. Here we show that the rational design of patch shape and symmetry can drive patchy colloids to crystallize in a single, selected morphology by structurally eliminating undesired polymorphs. We provide a proof of this concept through the numerical investigation of triblock Janus colloids. One particular choice of patch symmetry yields, via spontaneous crystallization, a pure tetrastack lattice, a structure with attractive photonic properties, whereas another one results in a colloidal clathrate-like structure, in both cases without any interfering polymorphs. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1109/ICCV.2013.283 | Finding Actors And Actions In Movies | We address the problem of learning a joint model of actors and actions in movies using weak supervision provided by scripts. Specifically, we extract actor/action pairs from the script and use them as constraints in a discriminative clustering framework. The corresponding optimization problem is formulated as a quadratic program under linear constraints. People in video are represented by automatically extracted and tracked faces together with corresponding motion features. First, we apply the proposed framework to the task of learning names of characters in the movie and demonstrate significant improvements over previous methods used for this task. Second, we explore the joint actor/action constraint and show its advantage for weakly supervised action learning. We validate our method in the challenging setting of localizing and recognizing characters and their actions in feature length movies Casablanca and American Beauty. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1063/1.4930982 | An Off The Shelf Integrated Microfluidic Device Comprising Self Assembled Monolayers For Protein Array Experiments | Microfluidic-based protein arrays are promising tools for life sciences, with increased sensitivity and specificity. One of the drawbacks of this technology is the need to create fresh surface chemistry for protein immobilization at the beginning of each experiment. In this work, we attempted to include the process of surface functionalization as part of the fabrication of the device, which would substitute the time consuming step of surface functionalization at the beginning of each protein array experiment. To this end, we employed a novel surface modification using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) to immobilize biomolecules within the channels of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) integrated microfluidic device. As a model, we present a general method for depositing siloxane-anchored SAMs, with 1-undecyl-thioacetate-trichlorosilane (C11TA) on the silica surfaces. The process involved developing PDMS-compatible conditions for both SAM deposition and functional group activation. We successfully demonstrated the ability to produce, within an integrated microfluidic channel, a C11TA monolayer with a covalently conjugated antibody. The antibody could then bind its antigen with a high signal to background ratio. We further demonstrated that the antibody was still active after storage of the device for a week. Integration of the surface chemistry into the device as part of its fabrication process has potential to significantly simplify and shorten many experimental procedures involving microfluidic–based protein arrays. In turn, this will allow for broader dissemination of this important technology. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1039/c5tc00672d | Tailoring melanins for bioelectronics: polycysteinyldopamine as an ion conducting redox-responsive polydopamine variant for pro-oxidant thin films | Polycysteinyldopamine (pCDA), a polydopamine-like polymer with ionic conductor behaviour, can be used for dip-coating various surfaces with pro-oxidant thin films. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1007/s00023-014-0318-4 | Quantum Ergodicity for a Point Scatterer on the Three-Dimensional Torus | Consider a point scatterer (the Laplacian perturbed by a delta-potential) on the standard three-dimensional flat torus. Together with the eigenfunctions of the Laplacian which vanish at the point, this operator has a set of new, perturbed eigenfunctions. In a recent paper, the author was able to show that all of the perturbed eigenfunctions are uniformly distributed in configuration space. In this paper we prove that almost all of these eigenfunctions are uniformly distributed in phase space, i. e. we prove quantum ergodicity for the subspace of the perturbed eigenfunctions. An analogue result for a point scatterer on the two-dimensional torus was recently proved by Kurlberg and Ueberschär. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1002/jbm.a.35602 | The effect of alendronate on biomineralization at the bone/implant interface | A recent approach to improve the osseointegration of implants is to utilize local drug administration. The presence of an osteoporosis drug may influence both bone quantity and quality at the bone/implant interface. Despite this, the performance of bone-anchoring implants is traditionally evaluated only by quantitative measurements. In the present study, the osteoporosis drug alendronate (ALN) was administrated from mesoporous titania thin films that were coated onto titanium implants. The effect that the drug had on biomineralization was explored both in vitro using simulated body fluid (SBF) and in vivo in a rat tibia model. The SBF study showed that the apatite formation was completely hindered at a high concentration of ALN (0. 1 mg/mL). However, when ALN was administrated from the mesoporous coating the surface became completely covered with apatite. Ex vivo characterization of the bone/implant interface using Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the presence of ALN enhanced the bone mineralization, and that the chemical signature of newly formed bone in the presence of ALN had a higher resemblance to the pre-existing mature bone than to the bone formed without drug. Taken together, this study demonstrates the importance of evaluating the quality of the formed bone to better understand the performance of implants. | [
"Materials Engineering",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00949 | Metal-insulator-semiconductor nanowire network solar cells | Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) junctions provide the charge separating properties of Schottky junctions while circumventing the direct and detrimental contact of the metal with the semiconductor. A passivating and tunnel dielectric is used as a separation layer to reduce carrier recombination and remove Fermi level pinning. When applied to solar cells, these junctions result in two main advantages over traditional p-n-junction solar cells: a highly simplified fabrication process and excellent passivation properties and hence high open-circuit voltages. However, one major drawback of metal-insulator-semiconductor solar cells is that a continuous metal layer is needed to form a junction at the surface of the silicon, which decreases the optical transmittance and hence short-circuit current density. The decrease of transmittance with increasing metal coverage, however, can be overcome by nanoscale structures. Nanowire networks exhibit precisely the properties that are required for MIS solar cells: closely spaced and conductive metal wires to induce an inversion layer for homogeneous charge carrier extraction and simultaneously a high optical transparency. We experimentally demonstrate the nanowire MIS concept by using it to make silicon solar cells with a measured energy conversion efficiency of 7% (∼11% after correction), an effective open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 560 mV and estimated short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 33 mA/cm2. Furthermore, we show that the metal nanowire network can serve additionally as an etch mask to pattern inverted nanopyramids, decreasing the reflectivity substantially from 36% to ∼4%. Our extensive analysis points out a path toward nanowire based MIS solar cells that exhibit both high Voc and Jsc values. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1038/ncomms5344 | Tipping elements in the human intestinal ecosystem | The microbial communities living in the human intestine can have profound impact on our well-being and health. However, we have limited understanding of the mechanisms that control this complex ecosystem. Here, based on a deep phylogenetic analysis of the intestinal microbiota in a thousand western adults, we identify groups of bacteria that exhibit robust bistable abundance distributions. These bacteria are either abundant or nearly absent in most individuals, and exhibit decreased temporal stability at the intermediate abundance range. The abundances of these bimodally distributed bacteria vary independently, and their abundance distributions are not affected by short-term dietary interventions. However, their contrasting alternative states are associated with host factors such as ageing and overweight. We propose that the bistable groups reflect tipping elements of the intestinal microbiota, whose critical transitions may have profound health implications and diagnostic potential. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.3847/0004-6256/152/6/213 | Orbits Distance And Stellar Masses Of The Massive Triple Star Σ Orionis | We thank Deane Peterson for initially proposing to observe σ Orionis with NPOI, and acknowledge his and Tom Bolton's support of the project during the initial phase. We appreciate P. J. Goldfinger, Nic Scott, and Norm Vargas for providing operational support during the CHARA observations. We are grateful to Ming Zhao for collecting an early set of CHARA data on σ Orionis before the photometric channels were installed in MIRC. We thank Jim Benson and the NPOI observational support staff whose efforts made the observations possible. We appreciate Floor van Leeuwen for a helpful discussion on the parallaxes of multiple stars observed by the Hipparcos mission. We thank the referee for providing feedback to improve the manuscript. This work is based on observations obtained with the Georgia State University Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy Array at Mount Wilson Observatory. The CHARA Array is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant No. AST-1211929. G. H. S. and D. R. G. acknowledge support from NSF Grant AST-1411654. Institutional support has been provided from the GSU College of Arts and Sciences and the GSU Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. The Navy Precision Optical Interferometer is a joint project of the Naval Research Laboratory and the US Naval Observatory, in cooperation with Lowell Observatory and is funded by the Office of Naval Research and the Oceanographer of the Navy. F. M. W. thanks Dennis Assanis, Provost of Stony Brook University, for enabling access to Chiron spectrograph, operated by the SMARTS consortium, through a Research Support grant. F. B. acknowledges funding from NSF-AST grants 1445935 and 1616483. S. K. acknowledges support from a European Research Council Starting Grant (Grant Agreement No. 639889). This research has made use of the SIMBAD astronomical literature database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France and the Washington Double Star Catalog maintained at the U. S. Naval Observatory. | [
"Universe Sciences"
]
|
10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.186601 | Fractional Quantum Hall Effect at ν=2+6 /13: The Parton Paradigm for the Second Landau Level | The unexpected appearance of a fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) plateau at ν=2+6/13 [A. Kumar et al. , Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 246808 (2010)PRLTAO0031-900710. 1103/PhysRevLett. 105. 246808] offers a clue into the physical mechanism of the FQHE in the second Landau level (SLL). Here we propose a "3̄2̄111" parton wave function, which is topologically distinct from the 6/13 state in the lowest Landau level. We demonstrate the 3̄2̄111 state to be a good candidate for the ν=2+6/13 FQHE, and make predictions for experimentally measurable properties that can reveal the nature of this state. Furthermore, we propose that the "n̄2̄111" family of parton states naturally describes many observed SLL FQHE plateaus. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1002/adfm.201503134 | A Shape Memory Acrylamide/DNA Hydrogel Exhibiting Switchable Dual pH-Responsiveness | Shape memory acrylamide/DNA hydrogels include two different crosslinkers as stabilizing elements. The triggered dissociation of one of the crosslinking elements transforms the shaped hydrogel into an arbitrarily shaped (or shapeless) quasi-liquid state. The remaining crosslinking element, present in the quasi-liquid, provides an internal memory that restores the original shaped hydrogel upon the stimulus-triggered regeneration of the second crosslinking element. Two pH-sensitive shape memory hydrogels, forming Hoogsten-type triplex DNA structures, are described. In one system, the shaped hydrogel is stabilized at pH = 7. 0 by two different duplex crosslinkers, and the transition of the hydrogel into the shapeless quasi-liquid proceeds at pH = 5. 0 by separating one of the crosslinking units into a protonated cytosine-guanine-cytosine (C-G·C+) triplex. The second shaped hydrogel is stabilized at pH = 7. 0, by cooperative duplex and thymine-adenine-thymine triplex (T-A·T) bridges. At pH = 10. 0, the triplex units separate, leading to the dissociation of the hydrogel into the quasi-liquid state. The cyclic, pH-stimulated transitions of the two systems between shaped hydrogels and shapeless states are demonstrated. Integrating the two hydrogels into a shaped "two-arrowhead" hybrid structure allows the pH-stimulated cyclic transitions of addressable domains of the hybrid between shaped and quasi-liquid states. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
818353 | Navigating the evolutionary routes of influenza viruses | Seasonal influenza viruses re-infect us repeatedly, escaping antibody recognition, due to the evolution of the virus itself. Being able to predict when and how the virus will evolve would be transformative for influenza virus control. Problematically, we have only observed one of the likely many possible routes of virus evolution. We do not know how many viable routes may have existed or about the repeatability of the observed evolution. These knowledge gaps limit the predictability of influenza virus evolution. NaviFlu will fill these gaps by rigorously assessing the repeatability of influenza virus evolution and the diversity of routes the virus can explore.
Recent work has shown that prolonged influenza virus infections can result in substantial virus evolution and occasionally portend virus mutational patterns on a global scale. However, observing large numbers of such infections is challenging. We will use an innovative ex-vivo human airway epithelium culture system to artificially create and study prolonged human infections. Together with cutting-edge next generation sequencing and new analysis tools, we will quantify the evolutionary landscape of seasonal influenza viruses.
The project has three objectives, each building in complexity:
1–Quantify the evolutionary dynamics of seasonal influenza viruses in the absence of antibody-mediated selection.
2–Determine how the antibody complexity of immune sera shape the evolutionary trajectories of virus antigenic evolution.
3–Quantify the impact of differences in selection pressures by site of infection and underlying host variation on virus evolution.
Through these objectives we will “play evolution forwards”, revealing the relative roles of different factors governing the mode and tempo of influenza virus evolution and quantify the predictability of virus evolution. This will improve the design of influenza vaccines, enhance prospects for influenza control, and lay new groundwork for exploring virus evolution. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1109/TPAMI.2014.2385708 | Multi Region Active Contours With A Single Level Set Function | Segmenting an image into an arbitrary number of coherent regions is at the core of image understanding. Many formulations of the segmentation problem have been suggested over the past years. These formulations include, among others, axiomatic functionals, which are hard to implement and analyze, and graph-based alternatives, which impose a non-geometric metric on the problem. We propose a novel method for segmenting an image into an arbitrary number of regions using an axiomatic variational approach. The proposed method allows to incorporate various generic region appearance models, while avoiding metrication errors. In the suggested framework, the segmentation is performed by level set evolution. Yet, contrarily to most existing methods, here, multiple regions are represented by a single non-negative level set function. The level set function evolution is efficiently executed through the Voronoi Implicit Interface Method for multi-phase interface evolution. The proposed approach is shown to obtain accurate segmentation results for various natural 2D and 3D images, comparable to state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithms. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Mathematics"
]
|
W2800123937 | The Obstacles and Financial Risks Facing Investment in Islamic Banks and Ways of Addressing them | There is no doubt that the banking operations are ingredients of human societies life, and a basic element for it , as well as the banking operations consider an effective economic given , Nowadays the bank is necessary for the modern life, it is not only a luxury cultural or scientific achievement, but has become an effective factor to the civilian life, and the life do not go on without the existence of banks, So the Islamic banks have come in response to requisite the economic, social and contractual life of Muslims, and the main aim of these banks is to apply the law of God in the banking and financial transactions in the Islamic societies, and already these banks have face obstacles and financial risks which especially facing by the investment in these banks.Our modest research which entitles (obstacles and financial risks that facing the investment in the Islamic banks - and ways of treating them – )has come to study the most important obstacles and risks, and seek to find solutions to the obstacles and risks in order to success the banking operations in the Islamic banks .The scientific material of the research distributed into three demands , first: - dedicated to study the concept of risk linguistically and doctrinal and economically, and we are studying in the second demand :- the most important obstacles and financial risks which face the investment in the Islamic bank, and the third demand comes to introduce the proposed solutions for the risks and financial obstacles which facing the investment in the Islamic banks , with stating the most important results and recommendations of the research. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
638639 | Create future | MONTENIGHT 2021 ""CREATE FUTURE"" has an aim to upgrade the image of researchers, novel technologies, and innovations, addressing their important role in the perspective of our society in the modern Era. Following the European Green Deal definition ""improving the well-being of people"" the MonteNight2021 will also focus on raising awareness of the green future. The MonteNight 2021 is a continuation of a decade-long tradition of implementation of Researchers' Nights in Montenegro, since 2009. The project will demonstrate the ""human face"" of research and innovations by clarifying practical benefits in everyday life. The project will promote a knowledge-based society by emphasizing research and innovations in competitive sectors having in mind not only benefits for growth and development but also challenges that we face with social, political, and ethical implications of technologies. The events will be staged in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica (universities, museums, galleries, shopping malls, main squares) and 10 more cities, while 10 pre-events smaller scale science Festivals would be held in all three regions. RN activities involve Open Science Show, 300 hands-on experiments, Virtual and Augmented Reality and Hologram technologies, robot performances, Science and Art installations, Science Cafe, Quiz, Concert, Interdisciplinary workshops, panel debates, Science kindergarten ... Our target audiences are high school & university students, preschool and elementary school children, parents, school administrators, teachers, researchers, the general public, and media. At least 5000 of them would be directly involved, expecting 50000 online visitors, and up to 50% of the population would be reached via media advertising. The pan-European values will be disseminated through EU Corner. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1214/18-AIHP947 | Discretisation Of Regularity Structures | Nous introduisons un cadre general permettant d’appliquer la theorie des structures de regularite a des discretisations d’EDP stochastiques. L’approche suivie dans cet article est que, au lieu de nous focaliser sur un type d’approximation specifique, nous supposons donnee une echelle $\varepsilon>0$ et une “boite noire” decrivant le comportement des objets discretises aux echelles plus petites. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
W4283645099 | De La Femme assise (1964) à Libérett’ (1979) : Copi ou la déconstruction du jeu des apparences à travers le corps | Copi commence à dessiner La Femme assise dans Le Nouvel Observateur en 1964 et libère sa Libérett’ dans Libération en 1979. Le génie d’un artiste polyvalent, parce que Copi était également écrivain, dramaturge et acteur, se libère dans les rues parisiennes quand il décide de vendre ses dessins dans Le Pont des Arts en 1963. Les traits qui dessinent et caractérisent la silhouette d’une « femme assise » n’ont rien à voir avec ceux qui dévoilent le contour d’un corps trans, « monstrueux », possédant des seins de femme et un pénis et des testicules d’homme, qui réagit à sa volonté hors les normes sexuelles et sociales traditionnelles. Dans ce travail, on tâchera de démontrer comment Copi, à travers ses caricatures particulières, introduit le lecteur dans un jeu des apparences de l’identité et de la sexualité à partir du corps pour défier les modèles établis du genre et du sexe, pour démarquer l’identité et la sexualité fluides des contraintes hétéronormatives et pour promouvoir, finalement, la liberté d’expression dans tous les sens du terme. | [
"Texts and Concepts",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
]
|
989308 | High-Efficient digitalized portable hydraulic equipment | Hydraulic power drives a variety of devices in a multitude of industries, and due to its versatility and power, the market is expected to grow up to $11.93 billion by 2022. Construction, agriculture, material handling, oil and gas, aerospace, defense, and mining are some of the industries where hydraulic power use is so widespread. Nonetheless, in spite of its usage, yet the monitoring of the hydraulic tool is not accurate neither obtained at real-time. Consequently, these industries still face equipment downtime & replacement which trigger billion euros production losses, environmental damages, and human safety threats.
In response, we have developed the first Internet-of-things (IoT) hydraulic system in the high-pressure hydraulic tools market that monitors the hydraulic tool performance, analyses and certifies the validity and quality of the operation performed by the device at the time of its completion. Our high-efficient digitalized portable hydraulic system consist on embedded sensors that record the performance of the tool (i.e. time, pressure, energy use, n° of cycles), and a connectivity system that transfers the data to our App and our platform for data analysis. Our IoT system is commercialized within our tools, a pipeline of more than 40 models, and is also available for other tools providers (including some old tools where our solution can be integrated)
Our IoT system will enable a reduction of the productivity losses of our customers & human safety and environmental risks. We can estimate revenue gains of €2.4M/year (11.7% of gain) for a single industrial company. Furthermore, after 4-year sales, it will give net revenues of ~€50.65M, net profits of ~€22.36M and considering the investment of €1.05M, a ROI of ~5.14 euro per € invested. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1130/G3914.1 | The Viscous Brittle Transition Of Crystal Bearing Silicic Melt Direct Observation Of Magma Rupture And Healing | Magmas may fl ow or break depending on their deformation rate. The transition between such viscous and brittle behavior controls the style of volcanic eruptions. While the brittle failure of silicate melts is reasonably well characterized, the effect of crystals on the viscous-brittle transition has not yet been constrained. Here we examine the effect of suspended crystals on the mechanical failure of magmas using torsion experiments performed at temperatures (600‐ 900 °C), strain rates (10 ‐4 ‐10 ‐1 s ‐1 ), and confi ning pressures (200‐300 MPa) relevant for volcanic systems. We present a relationship that predicts the critical stress and associated strain rate at which magmas fail as a function of crystal fraction. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the viscous to brittle transition occurs at lower stresses and strain rates when crystals are present. The fractures formed during brittle failure of crystal-bearing magma originate in the melt phase, which enables gas to escape, and hence to reduce gas overpressure. These degassing pathways heal on relatively short time scales owing to the high confi ning pressure at depth, highlighting the possibility that coherent lavas may actually be the healed remains of partially degassed magma parcels that have undergone many cycles of fracturing and healing. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
725974 | Understanding Deep Face Recognition | Face recognition is a fascinating domain: no other domain seems to present as much value when analysing casual photos; it is one of the few domains in machine learning in which millions of classes are routinely learned; and the trade-off between subtle inter-identity variations and pronounced intra-identity variations forms a unique challenge.
The advent of deep learning has brought machines to what is considered a human level of performance. However, there are many research questions that are left open. At the top most level, we ask two questions: what is unique about faces in comparison to other recognition tasks that also employ deep networks and how can we make the next leap in performance of automatic face recognition?
We consider three domains of research. The first is the study of methods that promote effective transfer learning. This is crucial since all state of the art face recognition methods rely on transfer learning. The second domain is the study of the tradeoffs that govern the optimal utilization of the training data and how the properties of the training data affect the optimal network design. The third domain is the post transfer utilization of the learned deep networks, where given the representations of a pair of face images, we seek to compare them in the most accurate way.
Throughout this proposal, we put an emphasis on theoretical reasoning. I aim to support the developed methods by a theoretical framework that would both justify their usage as well as provide concrete guidelines for using them. My goal of achieving a leap forward in performance through a level of theoretical analysis that is unparalleled in object recognition, makes our research agenda truly high-risk/ high-gains. I have been in the forefront of face recognition for the last 8 years and my lab's recent achievements in deep learning suggest that we will be able to carry out this research. To further support its feasibility, we present very promising initial results. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1016/j.pneurobio.2012.05.013 | Whisker sensory system - From receptor to decision | One of the great challenges of systems neuroscience is to understand how the neocortex transforms neuronal representations of the physical characteristics of sensory stimuli into the percepts which can guide the animal's decisions. Here we present progress made in understanding behavioral and neurophysiological aspects of a highly efficient sensory apparatus, the rat whisker system. Beginning with the 1970s discovery of " barrels" in the rat and mouse brain, one line of research has focused on unraveling the circuits that transmit information from the whiskers to the sensory cortex, together with the cellular mechanisms that underlie sensory responses. A second, more recent line of research has focused on tactile psychophysics, that is, quantification of the behavioral capacities supported by whisker sensation. The opportunity to join these two lines of investigation makes whisker-mediated sensation an exciting platform for the study of the neuronal bases of perception and decision-making. Even more appealing is the beginning-to-end prospective offered by this system: the inquiry can start at the level of the sensory receptor and conclude with the animal's choice. We argue that rats can switch between two modes of operation of the whisker sensory system: (1) generative mode and (2) receptive mode. In the generative mode, the rat moves its whiskers forward and backward to actively seek contact with objects and to palpate the object after initial contact. In the receptive mode, the rat immobilizes its whiskers to optimize the collection of signals from an object that is moving by its own power. We describe behavioral tasks that rats perform in these different modes. Next, we explore which neuronal codes in sensory cortex account for the rats' discrimination capacities. Finally, we present hypotheses for mechanisms through which " downstream" brain regions may read out the activity of sensory cortex in order to extract the significance of sensory stimuli and, ultimately, to select the appropriate action. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System"
]
|
10.1016/j.cosust.2013.08.001 | Land System Science: Between global challenges and local realities | This issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability provides an overview of recent advances in Land System Science while at the same time setting the research agenda for the Land System Science community. Land System Science is not just representing land system changes as either a driver or a consequence of global environmental change. Land systems also offer solutions to global change through adaptation and mitigation and can play a key role in achieving a sustainable future earth. The special issue assembles 14 articles that entail different perspectives on land systems and their dynamics, synthesizing current knowledge, highlighting currently under-researched topics, exploring scientific frontiers and suggesting ways ahead, integrating a plethora of scientific disciplines. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1063/1.4900945 | Exciton Dynamics In Wse2 Bilayers | We investigate exciton dynamics in 2H-WSe2 bilayers in time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Fast PL emission times are recorded for both the direct exciton with $\tau_{D}$ ~ 3 ps and the indirect optical transition with $\tau_{i}$ ~ 25 ps. For temperatures between 4 to 150 K $\tau_{i}$ remains constant. Following polarized laser excitation, we observe for the direct exciton transition at the K point of the Brillouin zone efficient optical orientation and alignment during the short emission time $\tau_{D}$. The evolution of the direct exciton polarization and intensity as a function of excitation laser energy is monitored in PL excitation (PLE) experiments. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
10.1016/j.ccr.2018.12.001 | Transition metal-mediated metathesis between P–C and M–C bonds: Beyond a side reaction | Phosphine ligands often play an important role in controlling reactivity and selectivity in transition metal catalyzed reactions. However, one common drawback of the phosphine ligands is the undesired occurrence of an interchange between P bound aryl and M bound aryl or alkyl groups in the catalytic cycle. This results in the formation of undesirable coupling products as well as changes in catalyst structure through the replacement of the phosphine ligand. This review discusses approaches to understand this metathesis reaction between P–C and M–C and its productive application in catalytic reactions. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1007/978-3-662-48995-6_8 | Ad Exchange Envy Free Auctions With Mediators | Ad exchanges are an emerging platform for trading advertisement slots on the web with billions of dollars revenue per year. Every time a user visits a web page, the publisher of that web page can ask an ad exchange to auction off the ad slots on this page to determine which advertisements are shown at which price. Due to the high volume of traffic, ad networks typically act as mediators for individual advertisers at ad exchanges. If multiple advertisers in an ad network are interested in the ad slots of the same auction, the ad network might use a "local" auction to resell the obtained ad slots among its advertisers. In this work we want to deepen the theoretical understanding of these new markets by analyzing them from the viewpoint of combinatorial auctions. Prior work studied mostly single-item auctions, while we allow the advertisers to express richer preferences over multiple items. We develop a game-theoretic model for the entanglement of the central auction at the ad exchange with the local auctions at the ad networks. We consider the incentives of all three involved parties and suggest a three-party competitive equilibrium, an extension of the Walrasian equilibrium that ensures envy-freeness for all participants. We show the existence of a three-party competitive equilibrium and a polynomial-time algorithm to find one for gross-substitute bidder valuations. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
174808 | Revealing allele-level regulation and dynamics using single-cell gene expression analyses | As diploid organisms inherit one gene copy from each parent, a gene can be expressed from both alleles (biallelic) or from only one allele (monoallelic). Although transcription from both alleles is detected for most genes in cell population experiments, little is known about allele-specific expression in single cells and its phenotypic consequences. To answer fundamental questions about allelic transcription heterogeneity in single cells, this research program will focus on single-cell transcriptome analyses with allelic-origin resolution. To this end, we will investigate both clonally stable and dynamic random monoallelic expression across a large number of cell types, including cells from embryonic and adult stages. This research program will be accomplished with the novel single-cell RNA-seq method developed within my lab to obtain quantitative, genome-wide gene expression measurement. To distinguish between mitotically stable and dynamic patterns of allelic expression, we will analyze large numbers a clonally related cells per cell type, from both primary cultures (in vitro) and using transgenic models to obtain clonally related cells in vivo.
The biological significance of the research program is first an understanding of allelic transcription, including the nature and extent of random monoallelic expression across in vivo tissues and cell types. These novel insights into allelic transcription will be important for an improved understanding of how variable phenotypes (e.g. incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity) can arise in genetically identical individuals. Additionally, the single-cell transcriptome analyses of clonally related cells in vivo will provide unique insights into the clonality of gene expression per se. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
W1964746249 | A novel scalable hybrid architecture for MMOG | We present a novel MMOG Hybrid P2P architecture and detail its key components, topology and protocols. We highlight the main components which lie at the heart of the proposed solution, and their roles, and describe the methods of tackling the key scenarios which are faced by the architecture during gameplay. For each role, we discuss the interactions that exist between them and describe the protocols that will be used for inter-role communication to perform the atomic actions necessary for maintaining the consistency and responsiveness of an MMOG such as peer addition, peer removal, group transfer, object change persistency and many more. We conclude the chapter with a comparison of the architecture against several existing P2P MMOG frameworks, discussing the differences which exist between them and how the novel Hybrid-P2P architecture we propose aims to address their flaws. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
227754 | Self-Organized Nanostructuring in Functional Thin Film Materials | I aim to achieve a fundamental understanding of the atomistic kinetic pathways responsible for nanostructure formation and to explore the concept of self-organization by thermodynamic segregation in functional ceramics. Model systems are advanced ceramic thin films, which will be studied under two defining cases: 1) deposition of supersaturated solid solutions or nanocomposites by magnetron sputtering (epitaxy) and arc evaporation. 2) post-deposition annealing (ageing) of as-synthesized material. Thin film ceramics are terra incognita for compositions in the miscibility gap. The field is exciting since both surface and in-depth decomposition can take place in the alloys. The methodology is based on combined growth experiments, characterization, and ab initio calculations to identify and describe systems with a large miscibility gap. A hot topic is to elucidate the bonding nature of the cubic-SiNx interfacial phase, discovered by us in TiN/Si3N4 with impact for superhard nanocomposites. I have also pioneered studies of self-organization by spinodal decomposition in TiAlN alloy films (age hardening). Here, the details of metastable c-AlN nm domain formation are unknown and the systems HfAlN and ZrAlN are predicted to be even more promising. Other model systems are III-nitrides (band gap engineering), semiconductor/insulator oxides (interface conductivity) and carbides (tribology). The proposed research is exploratory and has the potential of explaining outstanding phenomena (Gibbs-Thomson effect, strain, and spinodal decomposition) as well as discovering new phases, for which my group has a track-record, backed-up by state-of-the-art in situ techniques. One can envision a new class of super-hard all-crystalline ceramic nanocomposites with relevance for a large number of research areas where elevated temperature is of concern, significant in impact for areas as diverse as microelectronics and cutting tools as well as mechanical and optical components. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
202596 | Political Economies of Democratisation | Democracy promotion has been a key political project in the post-Cold War era and many studies have documented the successes and failures of democratisation. Yet, the current practice of, and academic literature on, democratisation have been characterised by two key limitations. First, engagement with the essentially contested meaning of the concept of democracy has been weak. Second, the contextualisation of models of democracy promoted within wider social, cultural, political and economic discourses has received relatively little attention. It is the general objective of this research to address these limitations. The research seeks to meet this objective by specifically focusing on conducting an innovative analysis of the complex conjunction between the conceptions of democracy advanced by current democracy promoters and the economic discourses and theories adhered to by them. The specific objectives of this project relate to the study of ‘political economy models of democracy’, in theory and in practice. The research is guided by three sets of questions: 1. What is the nature of the link between models of democracy and economic discourses/theories? How do economic discourses condition conceptions of democracy? Do particular economic theories entail particular models of democracy and, if so, what kind of politico-economic models of democracy can we delineate? 2. What assumptions do democracy promoters make about political economies of democracy? What are the consequences, and the strengths and weaknesses, of the politico-economic models of democracy adhered to? 3. What policy-making implications can be drawn from the theoretical and empirical analysis of politico-economic models of democracy? This unique research highlights the complex but often-ignored link between economic theories/discourses and models of democracy, and encourages democracy promoters and academics in the field to remain open to multiple politico-economic models of democracy. | [
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
10.1074/jbc.M112.426080 | Stimulation of bone formation in cortical bone of mice treated with a receptor activator of nuclear Factor-B Ligand (RANKL)-binding peptide that possesses osteoclastogenesis inhibitory activity | Background: A RANKL-binding peptide WP9QY (W9) is known to inhibit osteoclastogenesis. Results: W9 showed an anabolic effect on cortical bone in mice. W9 bound RANKL and differentiated osteoblasts with production of autocrine factors like BMP-4. Conclusion: Signaling through RANKL is involved in part in the W9-induced osteoblast differentiation. Significance: The RANKL pathway could be a novel mechanism in osteoblast differentiation. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1111/evo.12550 | Evolution of female multiple mating: A quantitative model of the "sexually selected sperm" hypothesis | Explaining the evolution and maintenance of polyandry remains a key challenge in evolutionary ecology. One appealing explanation is the sexually selected sperm (SSS) hypothesis, which proposes that polyandry evolves due to indirect selection stemming from positive genetic covariance with male fertilization efficiency, and hence with a male's success in postcopulatory competition for paternity. However, the SSS hypothesis relies on verbal analogy with "sexy-son" models explaining coevolution of female preferences for male displays, and explicit models that validate the basic SSS principle are surprisingly lacking. We developed analogous genetically explicit individual-based models describing the SSS and "sexy-son" processes. We show that the analogy between the two is only partly valid, such that the genetic correlation arising between polyandry and fertilization efficiency is generally smaller than that arising between preference and display, resulting in less reliable coevolution. Importantly, indirect selection was too weak to cause polyandry to evolve in the presence of negative direct selection. Negatively biased mutations on fertilization efficiency did not generally rescue runaway evolution of polyandry unless realized fertilization was highly skewed toward a single male, and coevolution was even weaker given random mating order effects on fertilization. Our models suggest that the SSS process is, on its own, unlikely to generally explain the evolution of polyandry. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.1016/j.cophys.2019.12.016 | Talkin’ ‘bout regeneration: new advances in cardiac regeneration using the zebrafish | The adult human heart has a very poor capacity to repair itself following injury. During heart attack, an enormous amount of cardiac tissue is lost from ischaemia. Whilst a low level of proliferation exists within the heart, the rate is insufficient to restore what is lost following ischaemic injury. In contrast to mammals, the zebrafish can completely grow back its heart following injury. This discovery, almost two decades ago, has resulted in something of a renaissance in the study of cardiac regeneration. Using the zebrafish, study has moved from observation of the phenomenon, to the application of different injury methods, tracing the origin of regenerated tissue, analysis of the different cellular contributions to regeneration and ongoing investigations onto the genetic cues that instruct the repair process (Figure 1). Progress has been considerable and provides us with important insights into a process we hope to one day apply to the injured human heart. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1111/nph.13579 | Using modern plant trait relationships between observed and theoretical maximum stomatal conductance and vein density to examine patterns of plant macroevolution | Understanding the drivers of geological-scale patterns in plant macroevolution is limited by a hesitancy to use measurable traits of fossils to infer palaeoecophysiological function. Here, scaling relationships between morphological traits including maximum theoretical stomatal conductance (gmax) and leaf vein density (Dv) and physiological measurements including operational stomatal conductance (gop), saturated (Asat) and maximum (Amax) assimilation rates were investigated for 18 extant taxa in order to improve understanding of angiosperm diversification in the Cretaceous. Our study demonstrated significant relationships between gop, gmax and Dv that together can be used to estimate gas exchange and the photosynthetic capacities of fossils. We showed that acquisition of high gmax in angiosperms conferred a competitive advantage over gymnosperms by increasing the dynamic range (plasticity) of their gas exchange and expanding their ecophysiological niche space. We suggest that species with a high gmax (> 1400 mmol m-2 s-1) would have been capable of maintaining a high Amax as the atmospheric CO2 declined through the Cretaceous, whereas gymnosperms with a low gmax would experience severe photosynthetic penalty. Expansion of the ecophysiological niche space in angiosperms, afforded by coordinated evolution of high gmax, Dv and increased plasticity in gop, adds further functional insights into the mechanisms driving angiosperm speciation. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
184971 | Improving parent and child interaction to enhance oral language development | Across Europe, up to 5.8 million children and youths are affected by language problems. Language difficulties result in poorer academic outcomes, worse job opportunities, and poorer economic and health well-being. A major societal challenge and Europe 2020 priority is reducing social inequalities, which could be addressed by investing in the early years and addressing the inequities in early language development. Impoverished home language environments are shown to contribute to existing and increasing inequalities across Europe. One approach to improving child oral language skills and reducing inequalities is to identify parent-child interaction interventions for promoting the home language environment, with the potential to be incorporated into universal services across Europe. Thus, the objectives of this fellowship are to:
1) Understand expectations and experiences of parents in disadvantaged areas who take part in parent-child interaction programmes aimed at promoting child oral language skills;
2) Determine the feasibility and reliability of an observational rating scale of parent-child interaction for use by health visitors/community health nurses to identify children most likely to benefit from parent-focused interventions for improving child oral language;
3) Review practices across Europe for promoting parent-child interaction, and provide recommendations to the EU for identifying children most likely to benefit from parent-focused intervention set within a framework of progressive universalism (where all parents and children are provided with a universal service, with additional services targeted to those with additional needs).
At a time when action is needed, the research fellow under the expert supervision and advanced training provided at Newcastle University, will make a significant contribution to advancing the science of the field and also to addressing the major societal challenge in the UK and across Europe of reducing inequalities. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
Q2891232 | Cobermaster Concept 2020 - 2022 | The project aims to strengthen the positioning of international markets through the promotion of its premium furniture products for hotel, office and home, based on the revolutionary 3D grade, development and design 100 % national. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
3743779 | Intelligent pollination for sustainable increases in crop yields and global food security | iPollinate will bring to market a unique IoT sensor that provides real time monitoring of the foraging rate of honeybee
colonies used for pollination services. This data will be correlated with hive strength and health data using Machine Learning (ML) techniques to provide a precision pollination service enabling farmers to optimise pollination efficiency and crop yields. Our aim is to
enable sustainable increases in crop yields of 30%. Our commercial objectives are to build a global business providing
pollination intelligence services generating annual sales of over €10million and create 17 high-level jobs in IoT and data
analytics within 5 years. Actions include:
• Advanced design and testing of optoelectronic sensor to collect bee foraging data
• Using ML techniques to generate new metrics for pollination effectiveness
• Creating a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) to support pollination management
• Conducting field trials to demonstrate performance
• Implementing structured dissemination and exploitation plan to accelerate market adoption.
We have an industrial consortium of 3 SMEs with complementary expertise:
• IRIDEON (Spain): IoT applications, electronics and software development, prototyping and manufacture
• CANETIS (Italy): Development of tools and systems for analysing bee health and behaviour
• BEEHERO (Israel): Precision pollination services for farmers
The project will accelerate development and adoption of a disruptive innovation and business model for pollination services
enabled by unique IoT sensor technology and advanced data analytics. It also addresses priority Societal Challenges,
specifically relating to Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture. iPollinate will enable increases in crop yield, quality and
nutritional value through more effective pollination, without the input of additional agricultural resources. It also supports the
competitiveness of the European Precision Agriculture sector in a rapidly growing global market. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198746928.013.23 | Humanitarian Actors and International Political Theory | This chapter examines how contemporary humanitarian institutions interpret and implement their normative responsibilities in international society. It analyses a specific subset of actors—the United Nations and humanitarian NGOs—and the impact of their attempts to privilege a more “individualist,” or cosmopolitan, approach to the mitigation and regulation of armed conflict. The chapter sets out the core values of humanitarian action, including humanity and impartiality, and then illustrates how the process of “individualization”—which challenges the primacy of collective entities such as warring parties or sovereign states —has created both normative and operational dilemmas for humanitarian actors. In the case of the UN, the imperative to protect individual human rights has transformed the practice of peacekeeping, through a robust interpretation of impartiality, while for humanitarian NGOs it has spawned efforts to address not only the immediate suffering produced by armed conflict but also the underlying causes of vulnerability. | [
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
10.1038/ncomms12390 | Resilience of the Asian atmospheric circulation shown by Paleogene dust provenance | The onset of modern central Asian atmospheric circulation is traditionally linked to the interplay of surface uplift of the Mongolian and Tibetan-Himalayan orogens, retreat of the Paratethys sea from central Asia and Cenozoic global cooling. Although the role of these players has not yet been unravelled, the vast dust deposits of central China support the presence of arid conditions and modern atmospheric pathways for the last 25 million years (Myr). Here, we present provenance data from older (42-33 Myr) dust deposits, at a time when the Tibetan Plateau was less developed, the Paratethys sea still present in central Asia and atmospheric pCO2 much higher. Our results show that dust sources and near-surface atmospheric circulation have changed little since at least 42 Myr. Our findings indicate that the locus of central Asian high pressures and concurrent aridity is a resilient feature only modulated by mountain building, global cooling and sea retreat. | [
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1109/TIT.2016.2516006 | Smooth Entropy Bounds On One Shot Quantum State Redistribution | In quantum state redistribution as introduced in [Luo and Devetak (2009)] and [Devetak and Yard (2008)], there are four systems of interest: the $A$ system held by Alice, the $B$ system held by Bob, the $C$ system that is to be transmitted from Alice to Bob, and the $R$ system that holds a purification of the state in the $ABC$ registers. We give upper and lower bounds on the amount of quantum communication and entanglement required to perform the task of quantum state redistribution in a one-shot setting. Our bounds are in terms of the smooth conditional min- and max-entropy, and the smooth max-information. The protocol for the upper bound has a clear structure, building on the work [Oppenheim (2008)]: it decomposes the quantum state redistribution task into two simpler quantum state merging tasks by introducing a coherent relay. In the independent and identical (iid) asymptotic limit our bounds for the quantum communication cost converge to the quantum conditional mutual information $I(C:R|B)$, and our bounds for the total cost converge to the conditional entropy $H(C|B)$. This yields an alternative proof of optimality of these rates for quantum state redistribution in the iid asymptotic limit. In particular, we obtain a strong converse for quantum state redistribution, which even holds when allowing for feedback. | [
"Mathematics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1007/JHEP09(2019)099 | Black Hole Collisions Instabilities And Cosmic Censorship Violation At Large D | We study the evolution of black hole collisions and ultraspinning black hole instabilities in higher dimensions. These processes can be efficiently solved numerically in an effective theory in the limit of large number of dimensions D. We present evidence that they lead to violations of cosmic censorship. The post-merger evolution of the collision of two black holes with total angular momentum above a certain value is governed by the properties of a resonance-like intermediate state: a long-lived, rotating black bar, which pinches off towards a naked singularity due to an instability akin to that of black strings. We compute the radiative loss of spin for a rotating bar using the quadrupole formula at finite D, and argue that at large enough D — very likely for D ≳ 8, but possibly down to D = 6 — the spin-down is too inefficient to quench this instability. We also study the instabilities of ultraspinning black holes by solving numerically the time evolution of axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric perturbations. We demonstrate the development of transient black rings in the former case, and of multi-pronged horizons in the latter, which then proceed to pinch and, arguably, fragment into smaller black holes. | [
"Universe Sciences",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
W1988039744 | Wireless sensor networks enabled-nanotechnology: From a device perspective | The advancement of wireless communications andintegrated circuit technology has enabled the development of lowcost sensor networks. The sensor networks can be used for various application areas like disaster recovery, health, military, homeland security, environment, home, etc‥ For each application area, there are different technical issues that researchers are currently resolving. However, many of them are trying to tackle the limitations of this field from a network perspective. Sometimes, the effectiveness of some proposed approaches must be complemented by the supports of hardware design. This article points out the possibilities of overcoming the same problem set from a device perspective by taking advantage of the merits of nanotechnologies. At the same time, open research issues and challenges are identified to spark new interests and developments in this field. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1002/chem.201201858 | Multiscale charge injection and transport properties in self-assembled monolayers of biphenyl thiols with varying torsion angles | This article describes the molecular structure-function relationship for a series of biphenylthiol derivatives with varying torsional degree of freedom in their molecular backbone when self-assembled on gold electrodes. These biphenylthiol molecules chemisorbed on Au exhibit different tilt angles with respect to the surface normal and different packing densities. The charge transport through the biphenylthiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) showed a characteristic decay trend with the effective monolayer thickness. Based on parallel pathways model the tunneling decay factor β was estimated to be 0. 27 Å -1. The hole mobility of poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based thin-film transistors incorporating a biphenylthiol SAM coating the Au source and drain electrodes revealed a dependence on the injection barrier with the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of the semiconductor. The possible role of the resistivity of the SAMs on transistor electrodes on the threshold voltage shift is discussed. The control over the chemical structure, electronic properties, and packing order of the SAMs provides a versatile platform to regulate the charge injection in organic electronic devices. Controlled charge injection! Biphenylthiols with different substituents between phenyl groups in the bridge position, once chemisorbed onto gold source-drain electrodes, can be used to vary the charge injection and electrical performances of organic thin-film transistors. By varying the torsion angle between the phenyl rings, one can introduce changes in packing densities and tilt angles of the molecules self-assembled on the electrode that play a direct role in influencing the charge transport through the molecular monolayer (see figure). | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
interreg_3934 | Contemporary Europe to meet Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Franco-Italian Cultural Festival | Starting from the identification of the needs of the reference context, the partners structured the proposal of this project in identifying the general objective of supporting the revival of cross-border tourism and cultural sectors following the health crisis.
It is necessary today to renew the possibilities of use in presence, modality that assumes a central role in the dynamics of citizenship and sociality of the resident and tourist populations, and at the same time experience new forms of the use of digital technology, widely used last year and destined to last in time. | [
"Studies of Cultures and Arts",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
Q4936120 | (14508.17092020.172000028) IPOOL INOVAÇÃO TECNOLÓGICA | A EMPRESA? A IPOOL SRL EXERCE A ATIVIDADE? INVESTIGAÇÃO NO DOMÍNIO ACÚSTICO E QUÍMICO POR CONTA PRÓPRIA E PARA TERCEIROS DESDE 2012. A SOCIEDADE, A FIM DE PÔR EM PRÁTICA UMA AÇÃO EFICAZ PARA CONTER E COMBATER A EMERGÊNCIA EPIDEMIOLÓGICA DA COVID-19 EM PERFEITA HARMONIA COM OS OBJETIVOS? DA CHAMADA, FEZ E PRETENDE CONCLUIR UMA SÉRIE DE INVESTIMENTOS EM EQUIPAMENTOS DE LABORATÓRIO E MOBILIÁRIO QUE, POR UM LADO, PERMITIRÃO A EMPRESA? PARA IMPLEMENTAR A SUA PRÓPRIA CAPACIDADE? PRODUTIVO E, POR OUTRO LADO, PERMITIR-LHE-Á OPERAR MAIS? EFICAZ NA APLICAÇÃO DO PROTOCOLS COVID-19.NESTA PERSPETIVA, PERFEITAMENTE COMPATÍVEL COM OS OBJETIVOS? E OS OBJETIVOS DESTA CHAMADA, A EMPRESA? JÁ O FIZESTE? REALIZADO DE 01/02/2020 ATÉ À DATA OS SEGUINTES INVESTIMENTOS: CHEGADA-COMPRA DE BALCÕES COMPLETOS N.3 PARA PERMITIR QUE OS FUNCIONÁRIOS TRABALHEM COM MAIOR SEGURANÇA EM PLENA CONFORMIDADE COM OS PROTOCOLOS CONTRA A COVID-19 E O GABINETE N.1. (? 1.300)ATTREZZATURE- COMPUTADORES E MÁQUINAS ELÉTRICAS | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
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