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173606 | Elucidating how bifidobacteria shapes the microbiota in response to infant diet. | After birth we are colonized by a consortium of bacteria that are critical for health. Bifidobacteria represent pioneer members, and reach high levels within the gut microbiota of breast-fed infants. These bacteria are proposed to be critical for establishing ‘healthy’ microbiota development and immune defense; however the mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesize that breast-milk metabolism by Bifidobacteria provides microbial-derived metabolic products key to promoting stable colonisation of other members in the microbiota, suggesting a mechanism as to why formula-fed infants have an altered microbiota and associated increased risk to a variety of diseases. This MCSA seeks to elucidate the function of Bifidobacteria with host diet, by developing a model colon ecosystem colonised with defined infant bacterial isolates to identify key bifidobacterial-derived metabolic byproducts that differ between breast milk and formula metabolism using cutting-edge metabolic tracer experiments and [13C]-Bifidobacteria pseudocatenulatum. Aim 2 will determine the genomic and regulatory elements in B. pseudocatenulatum required for adaption/metabolism of breast-milk or infant formula in the model colon via construction of a genome-wide mutant library generated by high through-put transposon mutagenesis. Metabolites identified in aim 1 will be linked to specific bifidobacterial gene function, based on the identity of essential mutants unable to grow in the presence of breast-milk (aim 2). We will also determine how host diet impacts microbiota composition in the model ecosystem, by monitoring microbial diversity by 16S rRNA analysis. Finally, to promote a ‘healthy’ microbiota, identified breast-milk metabolites will be used to supplement the formula fed model. This research will provide critical insight into the function and mechanism of how infant diet impacts bifidobacteria colonisation, with the potential to identify key bifidobacterial-metabolites that promote life-long health. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
interreg_1357 | Flood and landslide assistance and training | Flood and landslide assistance and training (FLAT) is a project that will improve the protection from damage and mitigation of flood-prone and landslide areas. _x000D_
_x000D_
Through this project experts from Italy, as the most developed country, will conduct trainings for Rescue service representatives from Montenegro and Albania, for acting in case of floods or landslides. _x000D_
_x000D_
Lead partner on this project is Municipality of Danilovgrad, and the project partners are PP 1 Municipality of Brindisi, Italy, PP 2 Association of Albanian Municipalities, PP 3 Municipality of Niksic, Montenegro and PP 4 NGO Mountain rescue service Montenegro. _x000D_
_x000D_
Main objective of this project is “Improvement of institutional capacity and creating conditions to establish an efficient flood and landslide management system”. _x000D_
_x000D_
Specific objectives are improvement of cross-border structures for responding in case of floods and landslides in the programme area, strengthening capacities of Rescue Services and creating integrated initiatives for floods and landslides preparedness and rescue in the programme area and creating multilevel plans and tools for improvement of protection and risk management in flood-prone and landslide areas in the programme area. _x000D_
_x000D_
Project aim is to improve cross-border communication and cooperation between the three of the project countries. As a result of the project activities, Regional Resource center will be formed, where, trainings for representatives of rescue services for all of the three countries will be held, during and after the implementation of the project, which will have further impact on communication and cooperation between three partner countries on this field._x000D_
_x000D_
Information added on 2020-05-14, regarding the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19 (the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2019) (English language only): This project, aimed at improving protection and risk management in case of floods and landslides, hosted crisis coordination meetings in the Regional Resource Center, while Rescue services from Danilovgrad worked on cleaning and disinfecting streets in order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus and help in protection of citizens. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1186/s12977-016-0279-4 | HIV-1 escapes from N332-directed antibody neutralization in an elite neutralizer by envelope glycoprotein elongation and introduction of unusual disulfide bonds | Background: Current HIV-1 immunogens are unable to induce antibodies that can neutralize a broad range of HIV-1 (broadly neutralizing antibodies; bNAbs). However, such antibodies are elicited in 10-30 % of HIV-1 infected individuals, and the co-evolution of the virus and the humoral immune responses in these individuals has attracted attention, because they can provide clues for vaccine design. Results: Here we characterized the NAb responses and envelope glycoprotein evolution in an HIV-1 infected "elite neutralizer" of the Amsterdam Cohort Studies on HIV-1 infection and AIDS who developed an unusually potent bNAb response rapidly after infection. The NAb response was dependent on the N332-glycan and viral resistance against the N332-glycan dependent bNAb PGT135 developed over time but viral escape did not occur at or near this glycan. In contrast, the virus likely escaped by increasing V1 length, with up to 21 amino acids, accompanied by the introduction of 1-3 additional glycans, as well as 2-4 additional cysteine residues within V1. Conclusions: In the individual studied here, HIV-1 escaped from N332-glycan directed NAb responses without changing the epitope itself, but by elongating a variable loop that shields this epitope. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1063/1.3291213 | The Role Of Cluster Energy Nonaccommodation In Atmospheric Sulfuric Acid Nucleation | We discuss the possible role of energy nonaccommodation (monomer-cluster collisions that do not result in stable product formation due to liberated excess energy) in atmospheric nucleation processes involving sulfuric acid. Qualitative estimates of the role of nonaccommodation are computed using quantum Rice-Ramsberger-Kassel theory together with quantum chemically calculated vibrational frequencies and anharmonic coupling constants for small sulfuric acid-containing clusters. We find that energy nonaccommodation effects may, at most, decrease the net formation rate of sulfuric acid dimers by up to a factor of 10 with respect to the hard-sphere collision rate. A decrease in energy nonaccommodation due to an increasing number of internal degrees of freedom may kinetically slightly favor the participation of amines rather than ammonia as stabilizing agents in sulfuric acid nucleation, though the kinetic enhancement factor is likely to be less than three. However, hydration of the clusters (which always occurs in ambient conditions) is likely to increase the energy accommodation factor, reducing the role that energy nonaccommodation plays in atmospheric nucleation. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1016/j.micron.2015.12.002 | Hardness and microstructural variation of Al-Mg-Mn-Sc-Zr alloy | Variations of Vickers hardness were observed in Al-Mg-Mn alloy and Al-Mg-Mn-Sc-Zr alloy at different ageing times, ranging from a peak value of 81. 2 HV at 54ks down to 67. 4 HV at 360ks, below the initial hardness value, 71. 8 HV at 0ks for the case of Al-Mg-Mn-Sc-Zr alloy. Microstructures of samples at each ageing stage were examined carefully by transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) both in two-dimensions and three-dimensions. The presence of different types, densities, and sizes of particles were observed dispersed spherical Al3Sc1-xZrx and also block-shaped Al3Sc precipitates growing along <100>Al with facets {100} and {110} of the precipitates. TEM analysis both in two-dimensions and three-dimensions, performed on various samples, confirmed the direct correlation between the hardness and the density of Al3Sc. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1002/hlca.201700199 | Copper Promoted Oxidative Coupling of SnAP Hydrazines and Aldehydes to Form Chiral 1,4,5-Oxadiazepanes and 1,2,5-Triazepanes | SnAP (Sn (tin) amine protocol) hydrazine reagents and aldehydes undergo oxidative, copper mediated coupling to form substituted 1,4,5-oxadiazepanes and 1,2,5-triazepanes. Unlike all prior reactions involving SnAP reagents, the SnAP hydrazine reagents undergo a molecular oxygen-assisted oxidative cyclization. The air- and moisture tolerant transformation accommodates a broad range of groups including electron-rich, electron-poor aromatic, heteroaromatic, and aliphatic aldehydes and is amenable to gram scale synthesis. These unusual, chiral heterocycles have unexpectedly large optical rotations, which may find use in optical materials. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
10.1038/s41467-020-16527-8 | Four-dimensional metal-organic frameworks | Recognising timescale as an adjustable dimension in porous solids provides a new perspective to develop novel four-dimensional framework materials. The deliberate design of three-dimensional porous framework architectures is a developed field; however, the understanding of dynamics in open frameworks leaves a number of key questions unanswered: What factors determine the spatiotemporal evolution of deformable networks? Can we deliberately engineer the response of dynamic materials along a time-axis? How can we engineer energy barriers for the selective recognition of molecules? Answering these questions will require significant methodological development to understand structural dynamics across a range of time and length scales. | [
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
278616 | NEXT generation of microwave PHotonic systems for AeroSpace Engineering | Aerospace and communication engineering technologies are in constant need of microwaves with extremely high spectral purity and stability. Unfortunately, the generation of such ultra-pure microwaves with compact, versatile and transportable sources is still a very complex challenge. In aerospace engineering, ultra-stable quartz oscillators are overwhelmingly dominant as key components for both navigation and detection systems. However, it is unanimously recognized today that their frequency stability performance is reaching its floor, and will not improve significantly anymore. In the search for an alternative standard for the next generation of ultra-pure microwave sources in aerospace technology, we propose the exploration of an elegant and promising solution relying on optical resonators with ultra-high Q factors (Q ~ 1E10). In these quasi-perfectly shaped cavities, nonlinear effects are significantly enhanced and microwave generation is performed through the extraction of the intermodal frequency. This approach has several advantages over existing or other prospective methods: conceptual simplicity, higher robustness, smaller power consumption, longer lifetime, immunity to interferences, very compact volume, frequency versatility, easy chip integration, as well as a strong potential for integrating the mainstream of standard photonic components for both microwave and lightwave technologies. Our ambition in the NextPhase project is to significantly outperform quartz oscillators and demonstrate performances comparable to cryogenic sapphire oscillators, with a compact (< 100 cm3), versatile (up to at least 200 GHz) and ultra-stable (Allan variance ~ 1E-15 at 1 s; phase noise floor < -160 dBc/Hz) microwave photonic generator. We also expect our work to open new opportunities of research in optical communications (photonic components for full-optical processing, carrier synthesis), as well as in fundamental aspects of condensed matter and quantum physics. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1038/s41467-019-12330-2 | Restoration of visual function by transplantation of optogenetically engineered photoreceptors | A major challenge in the treatment of retinal degenerative diseases, with the transplantation of replacement photoreceptors, is the difficulty in inducing the grafted cells to grow and maintain light sensitive outer segments in the host retina, which depends on proper interaction with the underlying retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Here, for an RPE-independent treatment approach, we introduce a hyperpolarizing microbial opsin into photoreceptor precursors from newborn mice, and transplant them into blind mice lacking the photoreceptor layer. These optogenetically-transformed photoreceptors are light responsive and their transplantation leads to the recovery of visual function, as shown by ganglion cell recordings and behavioral tests. Subsequently, we generate cone photoreceptors from human induced pluripotent stem cells, expressing the chloride pump Jaws. After transplantation into blind mice, we observe light-driven responses at the photoreceptor and ganglion cell levels. These results demonstrate that structural and functional retinal repair is possible by combining stem cell therapy and optogenetics. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
interreg_1405 | Making Central Europe more competitive by unlocking the innovation capacity of Fab Labs within an enhanced innovation ecosystem | The new phenomenon of Fabrication Laboratories (FabLabs) marks the advent of the 3rd industrial revolution where collaboration, sharing, community & innovation shapes our economy. FabLabs are technical prototyping platforms for innovation and invention inviting the society at large to become innovators. They already demonstrated their benefits in concrete cases around the world, such as the leg-prosthesis 3D printed from $50 instead of the current price of $4,000.As such they can help the EU “regain competitiveness, boost productivity and put the EU on an upward path of prosperity” (EU2020). Easily deployable to remote areas, FLs can also contribute to smart & inclusive growth by decreasing regional disparities in innovation. FabLabNet (FLN), joins CE FabLabs into a Central European network, follows trends set by the European movement that puts emphasis on new forms of businesses, as opposed to trends in the US. FLN provides a significant stimulus for local entrepreneurship and innovation and integrates FabLabs into the local innovation ecosystems, bringing direct benefits to innovation actors and to the society as a whole. FLN will push FLs towards better linkages with other CE FabLabs and local innovation actors and towards specialization in line with regional innovation strategies, to better position them in the policy context. Also, it enables actors within the innovation ecosystems to better understand FLs as a means of grass root innovation, and mobilises them to best use the innovation potentials of FLs, especially in business creation. Finally, FLN uses FLs to reach out to remote areas through innovation & education. The CE network created leads to intensive business exchanges and new product prototypes born in FLs that, mentored by ecosystem actors, can become viable products with access to a larger CE market. This cooperation puts CE FLs on the European, but also on the global map, making CE FLs and Central Europe in general more competitive. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
W2109737367 | Trends in SSBs and snack consumption among children by age, body weight, and race/ethnicity | To describe national trends in discretionary calories from sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) and snacks by age-specific body weight categories and by age- and weight-specific race/ethnicity groups. Examining these subpopulations is important as population averages may mask important differences.24-hour dietary recall data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2010 among children aged 2 to 19 (N = 14,092) were used. Logistic and linear regression methods were used to adjust for multiple covariates and survey design.The number of calories from SSBs declined significantly for nearly all age-specific body weight groups. Among overweight or obese children, significant declines in the number of calories from SSBs were observed among Hispanic children aged 2 to 5 (117 vs. 174 kcal) and white adolescents aged 12 to 19 (299 vs. 365 kcal). Significant declines in the number of calories from salty snacks were observed among white children aged 2 to 5 (192 to 134 kcal) and 6 to 11 (273 vs. 200 kcal).The decrease in SSB consumption and increase in snack consumption observed in prior research are not uniform when children are examined within subgroups accounting for age, weight, and race/ethnicity. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.21468/scipostphys.6.3.034 | Complexity and entanglement for thermofield double states | Motivated by holographic complexity proposals as novel probes of black hole spacetimes, we explore circuit complexity for thermofield double (TFD) states in free scalar quantum field theories using the Nielsen approach. For TFD states at t = 0t=0, we show that the complexity of formation is proportional to the thermodynamic entropy, in qualitative agreement with holographic complexity proposals. For TFD states at t>0t>0, we demonstrate that the complexity evolves in time and saturates after a time of the order of the inverse temperature. The latter feature, which is in contrast with the results of holographic proposals, is due to the Gaussian nature of the TFD state of the free bosonic QFT. A novel technical aspect of our work is framing complexity calculations in the language of covariance matrices and the associated symplectic transformations, which provide a natural language for dealing with Gaussian states. Furthermore, for free QFTs in 1+1 dimension, we compare the dynamics of circuit complexity with the time dependence of the entanglement entropy for simple bipartitions of TFDs. We relate our results for the entanglement entropy to previous studies on non-equilibrium entanglement evolution following quenches. We also present a new analytic derivation of a logarithmic contribution due to the zero momentum mode in the limit of vanishing mass for a subsystem containing a single degree of freedom on each side of the TFD and argue why a similar logarithmic growth should be present for larger subsystems. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
]
|
788144 | The Complexity Revolution: Exploiting Unconventional Order in Next-Generation Materials Design | The fundamental objective of the research described in this proposal is to lay the foundations for understanding how structural complexity can give rise to materials properties inaccessible to structurally-simple states. The long-term vision is a paradigm shift in the way we as chemists design materials—the “Complexity Revolution”—where we move to thinking beyond the unit cell and harness unconventional order to generate emergent states with entirely novel behaviour. The key methodologies of the project are (i) exploitation of the rich structural information accessible using 3D-PDF / diffuse scattering techniques, (ii) exploration of the phase behaviour of unconventional ordered states using computational methods, and (iii) experimental/computational studies of a broad range of materials in which complexity arises from a large variety of different phenemona. In this way, the project will establish how we might controllably introduce complexity into materials by varying chemical composition and synthesis, how we might then characterise these complex states, and how we might exploit this complexity when designing next-generation materials with unprecedented electronic, catalytic, photonic, information storage, dielectric, topological, and magnetic properties. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1073/pnas.1715112115 | Colorectal cancer specific conditions promote Streptococcus gallolyticus gut colonization | Colonization by Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. gallolyticus (SGG) is strongly associated with the occurrence of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the factors leading to its successful colonization are unknown, and whether SGG influences the oncogenic process or benefits from the tumor-prone environment to prevail remains an open question. Here, we elucidate crucial steps that explain how CRC favors SGG colonization. By using mice genetically prone to CRC, we show that SGG colonization is 1,000-fold higher in tumor-bearing mice than in normal mice. This selective advantage occurs at the expense of resident intestinal enterococci. An SGG-specific locus encoding a bacteriocin (“gallocin”) is shown to kill enterococci in vitro. Importantly, bile acids strongly enhance this bacteriocin activity in vivo, leading to greater SGG colonization. Constitutive activation of the Wnt pathway, one of the earliest signaling alterations in CRC, and the decreased expression of the bile acid apical transporter gene Slc10A2, as an effect of the Apc founding mutation, may thereby sustain intestinal colonization by SGG. We conclude that CRC-specific conditions promote SGG colonization of the gut by replacing commensal enterococci in their niche. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
W2484615221 | SWOT Analysis and Development Strategies on Government-Oriented Regional E-business Platform -- Based on the Comparison with the Commercial Third-Party B2B Platform | The commercial third-party B2B platform is so far the main E-Business mode for most small and medium enterprises. Commercial third-party B2B platform has massive information about the buyers and vendors, it is the network platform of communication for travelling traders and small medium enterprises, but it can't fulfill the requirements of small and medium enterprises E-Business, which is now becoming more and more personalized, due to the non-difference in service mode. Regional E-Business platform is a new platform, which is leaded by the government and has regional features. By applying SWOT analysis to commercial third-party B2B platform and government-oriented regional E-Business platform, this paper provides references for the government participation in EBusiness development and also for the small-medium enterprises in selecting best E-Business mode. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
10.1103/PhysRevA.95.012501 | Mapping and controlling ultrafast dynamics of highly excited H2 molecules by VUV-IR pump-probe schemes | We used ultrashort femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and infrared (IR) pulses in a pump-probe scheme to map the dynamics and nonequilibrium dissociation channels of excited neutral H2 molecules. A nuclear wave packet is created in the BΣu+1 state of the neutral H2 molecule by absorption of the ninth harmonic of the driving infrared laser field. Due to the large stretching amplitude of the molecule excited in the BΣu+1 electronic state, the effective H2+ ionization potential changes significantly as the nuclear wave packet vibrates in the bound, highly electronically and vibrationally excited B potential-energy curve. We probed such dynamics by ionizing the excited neutral molecule using time-delayed VUV-or-IR radiation. We identified the nonequilibrium dissociation channels by utilizing three-dimensional momentum imaging of the ion fragments. We found that different dissociation channels can be controlled, to some extent, by changing the IR laser intensity and by choosing the wavelength of the probe laser light. Furthermore, we concluded that even in a benchmark molecular system such as H2∗, the interpretation of the nonequilibrium multiphoton and multicolor ionization processes is still a challenging task, requiring intricate theoretical analysis. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005582 | Sensory noise predicts divisive reshaping of receptive fields | In order to respond reliably to specific features of their environment, sensory neurons need to integrate multiple incoming noisy signals. Crucially, they also need to compete for the interpretation of those signals with other neurons representing similar features. The form that this competition should take depends critically on the noise corrupting these signals. In this study we show that for the type of noise commonly observed in sensory systems, whose variance scales with the mean signal, sensory neurons should selectively divide their input signals by their predictions, suppressing ambiguous cues while amplifying others. Any change in the stimulus context alters which inputs are suppressed, leading to a deep dynamic reshaping of neural receptive fields going far beyond simple surround suppression. Paradoxically, these highly variable receptive fields go alongside and are in fact required for an invariant representation of external sensory features. In addition to offering a normative account of context-dependent changes in sensory responses, perceptual inference in the presence of signal-dependent noise accounts for ubiquitous features of sensory neurons such as divisive normalization, gain control and contrast dependent temporal dynamics. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System"
]
|
interreg_1001 | Human Resources qualification, vocational updating and new actions on social promotion and labour market. | Dijeuts project aims at becoming, for the two bordering areas involved an innovative pilot, thus reproducible, experience addressed to the growth and the strengthening of the relevant local economic systems, in line with the objectives of economic and social cohesion included in the Adriatic Trans-border Interreg IIIA Programme. In fact, the project aims the creation of an articulated action plan aiming at making desirable and competitive the tourist systems of Molise and Croatia coasts (and their inland areas) by specializing them on a special segment of the tourist market represented by “families with children”. | [
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
10.1038/s41467-020-17856-4 | Behavioral and neuronal underpinnings of safety in numbers in fruit flies | AbstractLiving in a group allows individuals to decrease their defenses, enabling other beneficial behaviors such as foraging. The detection of a threat through social cues is widely reported, however, the safety cues that guide animals to break away from a defensive behavior and resume alternate activities remain elusive. Here we show that fruit flies display a graded decrease in freezing behavior, triggered by an inescapable threat, with increasing group sizes. Furthermore, flies use the cessation of movement of other flies as a cue of threat and its resumption as a cue of safety. Finally, we find that lobula columnar neurons, LC11, mediate the propensity for freezing flies to resume moving in response to the movement of others. By identifying visual motion cues, and the neurons involved in their processing, as the basis of a social safety cue this study brings new insights into the neuronal basis of safety in numbers. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.11646/phytotaxa.297.2.8 | Cinchona anderssonii (Rubiaceae), a new overlooked species from Bolivia | Cinchona anderssonii, a new species from the Yungas forests of the Andes in Bolivia, is described and illustrated. It is unique in Cinchona by having the combination of elliptic leaf blades glossy above, distinct circular pit domatia at secondary vein axils, basipetally dehiscent capsules, and relatively large seeds (8–11 mm long). A taxonomic key for the identification of the Cinchona species occurring in Bolivia is presented. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1002/cbic.201700393 | Enzymatic Incorporation of Modified Purine Nucleotides in DNA | A series of nucleotide analogues, with a hypoxanthine base moiety (8-aminohypoxanthine, 1-methyl-8-aminohypoxanthine, and 8-oxohypoxanthine), together with 5-methylisocytosine were tested as potential pairing partners of N8-glycosylated nucleotides with an 8-azaguanine or 8-aza-9-deazaguanine base moiety by using DNA polymerases (incorporation studies). The best results were obtained with the 5-methylisocytosine nucleotide followed by the 1-methyl-8-aminohypoxanthine nucleotide. The experiments demonstrated that small differences in the structure (8-azaguanine versus 8-aza-9-deazaguanine) might lead to significant differences in recognition efficiency and selectivity, base pairing by Hoogsteen recognition at the polymerase level is possible, 8-aza-9-deazaguanine represents a self-complementary base pair, and a correlation exists between in vitro incorporation studies and in vivo recognition by natural bases in Escherichia coli, but this recognition is not absolute (exceptions were observed). | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
232635 | Epigenome and Cancer Susceptibility | Early detection is crucial for the outcome of most cancers. Prevention of cancer development is even more desirable. To facilitate these ultimate goals we aim to construct a comprehensive view of the stepwise process through which common human cancers, such as colorectal cancer, arise. In particular, we aim to identify novel mechanisms of cancer susceptibility by focusing on the epigenome, whose alterations may underlie several phenomena related to chronic adult-onset disease that are not explained by genetics alone. The stepwise process of carcinogenesis can be accelerated or halted for various reasons, including inherited susceptibility and diet. The human multi-organ cancer syndromes hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) as well as their murine counterparts, the Mlh1+/- mouse and the ApcMin/+ mouse, will be used as shortcuts to study the interplay between the epigenome and genome in tumorigenesis and to identify biomarkers of cancer susceptibility, malignant transformation, and tumor progression. This will be achieved by molecular profiling of normal and tumor tissues, cell line studies, in vitro functional assays, and in silico approaches. Additionally, the role that the epigenome plays to mediate the effects of the Western type diet on colorectal tumorigenesis will be examined in the mouse. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic alterations are potentially reversible, which makes them promising targets for preventive and therapeutic interventions. | [
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1016/j.pt.2018.04.008 | Preventive Chemotherapy in the Fight against Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis: Achievements and Limitations | Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are endemic in more than half of the world's countries. The World Health Organization has advocated targeted preventive chemotherapy (PC) to control STH infections by distributing albendazole or mebendazole to at-risk populations. While the overall impact and sustainability of this strategy is disputed, a decrease in moderate and heavy STH infections can be largely attributed to a scale-up of drug distribution. Two factors might jeopardise the success of PC programs. First, the benzimidazoles possess unsatisfactory efficacy against Trichuris trichiura infections. Second, increased drug distributions might trigger anthelmintic resistance. This review presents an overview of the burden of STH infections, the evolution of PC along with its success and challenges, recent estimates of the efficacy of recommended drugs, and alternative treatment options. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
10.1021/acschembio.7b01039 | Hsp70 Inhibits the Nucleation and Elongation of Tau and Sequesters Tau Aggregates with High Affinity | As a key player of the protein quality control network of the cell, the molecular chaperone Hsp70 inhibits the aggregation of the amyloid protein tau. To date, the mechanism of this inhibition and the tau species targeted by Hsp70 remain unknown. This is partly due to the inherent difficulty of studying amyloid aggregates because of their heterogeneous and transient nature. Here, we used ensemble and single-molecule fluorescence measurements to dissect how Hsp70 counteracts the self-assembly process of the K18 ΔK280 tau variant. We found that Hsp70 blocks the early stages of tau aggregation by suppressing the formation of tau nuclei. Additionally, Hsp70 sequesters oligomers and mature tau fibrils with nanomolar affinity into a protective complex, efficiently neutralizing their ability to damage membranes and seed further tau aggregation. Our results provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms by which the chaperone Hsp70 counteracts the formation, propagation, and toxicity of tau aggregates. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1021/acsnano.5b02813 | Stacking Structures of Few-Layer Graphene Revealed by Phase-Sensitive Infrared Nanoscopy | The stacking orders in few-layer graphene (FLG) strongly influences the electronic properties of the material. To explore the stacking-specific properties of FLG in detail, one needs powerful microscopy techniques that visualize stacking domains with sufficient spatial resolution. We demonstrate that infrared (IR) scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (sSNOM) directly maps out the stacking domains of FLG with a nanometric resolution, based on the stacking-specific IR conductivities of FLG. The intensity and phase contrasts of sSNOM are compared with the sSNOM contrast model, which is based on the dipolar tip-sample coupling and the theoretical conductivity spectra of FLG, allowing a clear assignment of each FLG domain as Bernal, rhombohedral, or intermediate stacks for tri-, tetra-, and pentalayer graphene. The method offers 10-100 times better spatial resolution than the far-field Raman and infrared spectroscopic methods, yet it allows far more experimental flexibility than the scanning tunneling microscopy and electron microscopy. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
W2022611771 | Influence of nitrogen form, growing season and sulfur fertilization on yield and the content of nitrate and vitamin C of broccoli | Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the effects of nitrogen (N) sources, sulfur (S) and growing seasons on yield and the content of nitrate and vitamin C of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. spp. Italica). Three N fertilizers (ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and urea) were side-dressed while two levels of sulfur (0.0 and 0.5%) were sprayed on broccoli plants grown in both spring and fall-winter seasons. Here, we report on the interaction between N-source and S supply, yield, and nitrate content and discuss the relevance of this interaction in relation to crop-management strategies under different growing seasons. In the fall-winter season, broccoli yield of “Sultan F1”, “Majestic F1” and “Marathon F1” were 21.23%, 128.52% and 88.53% higher than spring season. Furthermore, S application increased the yield by 9% average over growing seasons, cultivars and N-forms. Also, application of urea as N-source decreased the yield by approximately 13–15% than other N-sources. High curd nitrate accumulation was attributed with spring season and “Marathon F1”, however, less accumulation was found in fall-winter season and “Majestic F1”. Fertilizers containing N forms that not ready available to the crop, i.e. ammonium sulfate and urea, decreased nitrate than fast N-release fertilizer (ammonium nitrate), but their effect on the yield was different. Highest yield with low content of nitrate was achieved when ammonium sulfate combined with sulfur were used during fall-winter season, especially in cv. “Marathon F1”. N-source and sulfur application had no effect on vitamin C, conversely, it was affected by growing season and tested genotypes. Therefore, additions of ammonium sulfate and sulfur application in the field of broccoli were essential to produce higher yield with good quality curds that pose minimum health risk to human. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
]
|
10.1038/srep05198 | X-ray phase-contrast imaging at 100 keV on a conventional source | X-ray grating interferometry is a promising imaging technique sensitive to attenuation, refraction and scattering of the radiation. Applications of this technique in the energy range between 80 and 150 keV pose severe technical challenges, and are still mostly unexplored. Phase-contrast X-ray imaging at such high energies is of relevant scientific and industrial interest, in particular for the investigation of strongly absorbing or thick materials as well as for medical imaging. Here we show the successful implementation of a Talbot-Lau interferometer operated at 100 keV using a conventional X-ray tube and a compact geometry, with a total length of 54 cm. We present the edge-on illumination of the gratings in order to overcome the current fabrication limits. Finally, the curved structures match the beam divergence and allow a large field of view on a short and efficient setup. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1007/s00526-015-0878-2 | Representation of Markov chains by random maps: existence and regularity conditions | We systematically investigate the problem of representing Markov chains by families of random maps, and which regularity of these maps can be achieved depending on the properties of the probability measures. Our key idea is to use techniques from optimal transport to select optimal such maps. Optimal transport theory also tells us how convexity properties of the supports of the measures translate into regularity properties of the maps via Legendre transforms. Thus, from this scheme, we cannot only deduce the representation by measurable random maps, but we can also obtain conditions for the representation by continuous random maps. Finally, we present conditions for the representation of Markov chain by random diffeomorphisms. | [
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1007/s10964-016-0419-0 | Etiological Influences on Perceptions of Parenting: A Longitudinal, Multi-Informant Twin Study | Children and their parents often differ in their perception of the relationship they share. As this relationship changes developmentally, the nature of these differences may also change. Longitudinal genetic designs can be used to investigate the developmental etiologies of shared and distinct perceptions. In this study, we used longitudinal psychometric models to analyze child and parent reports of negative parenting for 6417 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study at ages 9, 12 and 14 years. Within-time cross-reporter correlations, indicating the degree to which children and parents perceived negative parenting behaviors similarly at each age, were moderate (r = . 44 − . 46). Longitudinal genetic analyses revealed these shared perceptions to be relatively stable during the transition into adolescence, with this stability driven by a combination of children’s genetic factors and family-wide environmental factors. In contrast, child- and parent-specific perceptions of parenting were predominantly age-specific, a developmental pattern underpinned by child genetic factors and a combination of family-wide and unique environmental influences. These results and their implications are discussed in the context of interplay between reciprocal interactions, subjective insight and developmental behavioral change in the parent–child relationship. | [
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
10.1073/pnas.1818400116 | Changes in belowground biodiversity during ecosystem development | Belowground organisms play critical roles in maintaining multiple ecosystem processes, including plant productivity, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Despite their importance, however, we have a limited understanding of how and why belowground biodiversity (bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates) may change as soils develop over centuries to millennia (pedogenesis). Moreover, it is unclear whether belowground biodiversity changes during pedogenesis are similar to the patterns observed for aboveground plant diversity. Here we evaluated the roles of resource availability, nutrient stoichiometry, and soil abiotic factors in driving belowground biodiversity across 16 soil chronosequences (from centuries to millennia) spanning a wide range of globally distributed ecosystem types. Changes in belowground biodiversity during pedogenesis followed two main patterns. In lower-productivity ecosystems (i. e. , drier and colder), increases in belowground biodiversity tracked increases in plant cover. In more productive ecosystems (i. e. , wetter and warmer), increased acidification during pedogenesis was associated with declines in belowground biodiversity. Changes in the diversity of bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates with pedogenesis were strongly and positively correlated worldwide, highlighting that belowground biodiversity shares similar ecological drivers as soils and ecosystems develop. In general, temporal changes in aboveground plant diversity and belowground biodiversity were not correlated, challenging the common perception that belowground biodiversity should follow similar patterns to those of plant diversity during ecosystem development. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that ecological patterns in belowground biodiversity are predictable across major globally distributed ecosystem types and suggest that shifts in plant cover and soil acidification during ecosystem development are associated with changes in belowground biodiversity over centuries to millennia. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
W1988944052 | Substituent effects and local molecular shape correlations | Using a detailed electron density shape analysis methodology, a new method is proposed for studying the main components of substituent effects in a series of disubstituted benzenes, in correlation with their activating and deactivating characteristics as observed by the induced shape changes of a local electron density cloud. The numerical measures obtained for the extent of shape changes can be correlated with known and with some unexpected effects of various substituents. The insight obtained from the shape analysis provides a theoretical, electron density based justification for some well-known trends, but it also provides new explanations for some of the unexpected features of these substituent effects. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1038/nrc.2017.69 | Classifying the evolutionary and ecological features of neoplasms | Neoplasms change over time through a process of cell-level evolution, driven by genetic and epigenetic alterations. However, the ecology of the microenvironment of a neoplastic cell determines which changes provide adaptive benefits. There is widespread recognition of the importance of these evolutionary and ecological processes in cancer, but to date, no system has been proposed for drawing clinically relevant distinctions between how different tumours are evolving. On the basis of a consensus conference of experts in the fields of cancer evolution and cancer ecology, we propose a framework for classifying tumours that is based on four relevant components. These are the diversity of neoplastic cells (intratumoural heterogeneity) and changes over time in that diversity, which make up an evolutionary index (Evo-index), as well as the hazards to neoplastic cell survival and the resources available to neoplastic cells, which make up an ecological index (Eco-index). We review evidence demonstrating the importance of each of these factors and describe multiple methods that can be used to measure them. Development of this classification system holds promise for enabling clinicians to personalize optimal interventions based on the evolvability of the patient's tumour. The Evo-A nd Eco-indices provide a common lexicon for communicating about how neoplasms change in response to interventions, with potential implications for clinical trials, personalized medicine and basic cancer research. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
W4210270456 | Traumatismos torácicos: estrategia diagnóstica y terapéutica | En el caso de Francia, las principales causas de traumatismos torácicos, abiertos o cerrados, están representadas por los accidentes de tráfico y las caídas de gran altura, y suelen formar parte de los politraumatismos. La lesión torácica provocada por un mecanismo de desaceleración repentina es más probable que cause lesiones de tipo cerrado: contusión de órganos sólidos, ruptura de órganos huecos. Los criterios clínicos de gravedad en un paciente con traumatismo torácico son: dificultad respiratoria aguda y/o falla circulatoria y la existencia de más de dos fracturas costales y elementos relacionados con el estado basal del paciente. El primer tratamiento en un paciente consciente es una analgesia eficaz lo antes posible para mejorar los parámetros ventilatorios. El ajuste de la dosis de morfina sigue siendo la modalidad analgésica de referencia en caso de dolor intenso. La sedación con ketamina puede ser necesaria en caso de movilización dolorosa del paciente o antes de efectuar un procedimiento invasivo (reducción de una luxación, etc.). La evaluación de las lesiones torácicas en el momento del ingreso incluye una radiografía de tórax y/o una ecografía pleuropulmonar, que pueden servir para determinar si es necesario un drenaje urgente. La tomografía computarizada (TC) con inyección de medio de contraste es la exploración de referencia para el diagnóstico de las lesiones torácicas y, en particular, de las lesiones aórticas. La toracotomía para hemostasia está indicada en un paciente en shock hemorrágico debido a un hemotórax persistente y activo a pesar de un drenaje torácico. La vía de acceso será anterolateral, derecha o izquierda, según el lugar del hemotórax. La combinación de ventilación no invasiva y analgesia locorregional se considera una estrategia de tratamiento óptima en el paciente consciente. La colocación de una endoprótesis mediante radiología intervencionista es el tratamiento de primera línea para la ruptura traumática de la aorta. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
10.1038/srep40789 | Paracrine cross-talk between skeletal muscle and macrophages in exercise by PGC-1α-controlled BNP | Activation of resident and infiltrating immune cells is a central event in training adaptation and other contexts of skeletal muscle repair and regeneration. A precise orchestration of inflammatory events in muscle fibers and immune cells is required after recurrent contraction-relaxation cycles. However, the mechanistic aspects of this important regulation remain largely unknown. We now demonstrate that besides a dominant role in controlling cellular metabolism, the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ 3 co-activator 1α (PGC-1α) also has a profound effect on cytokine expression in muscle tissue. Muscle PGC-1α expression results in activation of tissue-resident macrophages, at least in part mediated by PGC-1α-dependent B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) production and secretion. Positive effects of exercise in metabolic diseases and other pathologies associated with chronic inflammation could accordingly involve the PGC-1α-BNP axis and thereby provide novel targets for therapeutic approaches. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1177/1466138120919448 | Introduction Special Issue Paradoxical Orders Parenting Encounters The Welfare State And Difference In Europe | This special issue examines welfare programs as sites where Europe’s increasingly diverse societies are being shaped and negotiated. It zooms in on parenting as a central governmental domain where . . . | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
W1504424087 | Disaster crises management in Turkey: 1999 Marmara earthquake case | Earthquakes are one of the major disasters that require a holistic approach in crisis management strategies owing to their devastating effects. However, the continuing incapability of some countries learning from earthquakes poses a major policy problem for disaster reduction and response. Up until the Marmara Earthquake, Turkey was one of these countries. This paper examines the conditions and characteristics contributing to the massive 1999 Marmara earthquake that devastated the country in a large scale and resulted in many casualties, never seen before in its history. It also focuses on the response of the government to this earthquake and lessons learnt from the disaster in terms of preparedness as well as processes of mitigation, response and recovery. It tries to explain the conditions that lead to changes in a wide range of areas from insurance of buildings to their construction standards realized by the government in order to reduce its vulnerability to future disasters.
Ozet
Depremler, yikici etkilerinin buyuklugu nedeniyle kriz yonetimi stratejilerinde butuncul yaklasimi gerektiren en onemli dogal afetlerden birisidir. Bununla beraber, bazi ulkelerin meydana gelen daha onceki depremlerden gerekli dersleri cikarma konusundaki yetersizlikleri, bu tur dogal afetlere karsi hazirlikli olma ve felaketin yikici etkilerini minimuma indirme konusunda ciddi bir politika eksikligine isaret etmektedir. Marmara Depremine kadar Turkiye’ de bu ulkelerden birisiydi. Bu makale, tarihte gorulmedik derecede yikici olan ve pekcok insanin hayatini kaybetmesine yol acan 1999 Marmara Depreminin kosullarini ve karakteristik ozelliklerini incelemektedir. Makale, devletin sozkonusu depreme yaklasimini ve bundan sonra gerceklesebilecek muhtemel depremlere hazirlik ve etkilerini minimuma indirme anlaminda bu depremden ogrenilen derslere de odaklanmaktadir. Bu makale ayrica, olasi bir depreme hazir olma mahiyetinde; deprem sigortasi yaptirma mecburiyetinden, bina yapimina getirilen standartlara kadar pek cok alanda devlet tarafindan hayata gecirilen yenilikleri de aciklamaya calismaktadir. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
10.1038/s41467-018-06971-y | Manipulating azobenzene photoisomerization through strong light–molecule coupling | The formation of hybrid light–molecule states (polaritons) offers a new strategy to manipulate the photochemistry of molecules. To fully exploit its potential, one needs to build a toolbox of polaritonic phenomenologies that supplement those of standard photochemistry. By means of a state-of-the-art computational photochemistry approach extended to the strong-coupling regime, here we disclose various mechanisms peculiar of polaritonic chemistry: coherent population oscillations between polaritons, quenching by trapping in dead-end polaritonic states and the alteration of the photochemical reaction pathway and quantum yields. We focus on azobenzene photoisomerization, that encompasses the essential features of complex photochemical reactions such as the presence of conical intersections and reaction coordinates involving multiple internal modes. In the strong coupling regime, a polaritonic conical intersection arises and we characterize its role in the photochemical process. Our chemically detailed simulations provide a framework to rationalize how the strong coupling impacts the photochemistry of realistic molecules. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
W2130747753 | Toronto’s Urban Heat Island—Exploring the Relationship between Land Use and Surface Temperature | The urban heat island effect is linked to the built environment and threatens human health during extreme heat events. In this study, we analyzed whether characteristic land uses within an urban area are associated with higher or lower surface temperatures, and whether concentrations of “hot” land uses exacerbate this relationship. Zonal statistics on a thermal remote sensing image for the City of Toronto revealed statistically significant differences between high average temperatures for commercial and resource/industrial land use (29.1 °C), and low average temperatures for parks and recreational land (25.1 °C) and water bodies (23.1 °C). Furthermore, higher concentrations of either of these land uses were associated with more extreme surface temperatures. We also present selected neighborhoods to illustrate these results. The paper concludes by recommending that municipal planners and decision-makers formulate policies and regulations that are specific to the problematic land uses, in order to mitigate extreme heat. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1111/1365-2656.13173 | Sex Independent Senescence In A Cooperatively Breeding Mammal | Researchers studying mammals have frequently interpreted earlier or faster rates of ageing in males as resulting from polygyny and the associated higher costs of reproductive competition. Yet, few studies conducted on wild populations have compared sex-specific senescence trajectories outside of polygynous species, making it difficult to make generalized inferences on the role of reproductive competition in driving senescence, particularly when other differences between males and females might also contribute to sex-specific changes in performance across lifespan. Here, we examine age-related variation in body mass, reproductive output and survival in dominant male and female meerkats, Suricata suricatta. Meerkats are socially monogamous cooperative breeders where a single dominant pair virtually monopolizes reproduction in each group and subordinate group members help to rear offspring produced by breeders. In contrast to many polygynous societies, we find that neither the onset nor the rate of senescence in body mass or reproductive output shows clear differences between males and females. Both sexes also display similar patterns of age-related survival across lifespan, but unlike most wild vertebrates, survival senescence (increases in annual mortality with rising age) was absent in dominants of both sexes, and as a result, the fitness costs of senescence were entirely attributable to declines in reproductive output from mid- to late-life. We suggest that the potential for intrasexual competition to increase rates of senescence in females-who are hormonally masculinized and frequently aggressive-is offset by their ability to maintain longer tenures of dominance than males, and that these processes when combined lead to similar patterns of senescence in both sexes. Our results stress the need to consider the form and intensity of sexual competition as well as other sex-specific features of life history when investigating the operation of senescence in wild populations. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
]
|
758791 | The Time is Now: Understanding Social Network Dynamics Using Relational Event Histories | Relational event history data are becoming increasingly available due to new technical developments. These data contain detailed information about who interacted with whom in a network and when. For example, employees wear sociometric badges storing time-stamped interactions between colleagues, classrooms are monitored to observe interactions between teachers and students, and police databases store violent interactions between criminal gangs in city districts.
This new type of data has the potential to greatly contribute to our understanding of dynamic social networks by providing new insights about speed, rhythm, duration, and lag in social interactions. However a crucial problem is that statistical tools for analyzing such data are currently underdeveloped. We are therefore unable to exploit this treasure of information, resulting in a limited understanding about the evolution of social relations in continuous time.
I will undertake the following actions to resolve this fundamental shortcoming. First, I will develop an innovative Bayesian statistical framework for the analysis of relational event histories by building upon the novel relational event model, which has great potential but is in a preliminary stage of development. Second, I will implement the new framework in free and user-friendly software to ensure general utilization among social scientists. Third, in collaboration with network experts in organizational sociology, sociology of education, and criminology, I will develop tailor-made extensions for dynamic social processes in important applications.
In sum, this project will yield a groundbreaking new methodology for testing and building theories on time-sensitive processes in social networks. It will allow us to research, among others, how fast integration occurs among teams with workers from different cultures, how long it takes to develop respect in the classroom, and when violent interactions between criminal gangs will occur in the near future. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.15252/embj.201798308 | p62 filaments capture and present ubiquitinated cargos for autophagy | The removal of misfolded, ubiquitinated proteins is an essential part of the protein quality control. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy are two interconnected pathways that mediate the degradation of such proteins. During autophagy, ubiquitinated proteins are clustered in a p62-dependent manner and are subsequently engulfed by autophagosomes. However, the nature of the protein substrates targeted for autophagy is unclear. Here, we developed a reconstituted system using purified components and show that p62 and ubiquitinated proteins spontaneously coalesce into larger clusters. Efficient cluster formation requires substrates modified with at least two ubiquitin chains longer than three moieties and is based on p62 filaments cross-linked by the substrates. The reaction is inhibited by free ubiquitin, K48-, and K63-linked ubiquitin chains, as well as by the autophagosomal marker LC3B, suggesting a tight cross talk with general proteostasis and autophagosome formation. Our study provides mechanistic insights on how substrates are channeled into autophagy. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1051/0004-6361/201628661 | Califa The Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey Iv Third Public Data Release | This paper describes the Third Public Data Release (DR3) of the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. Science-grade quality data for 667 galaxies are made public, including the 200 galaxies of the Second Public Data Release (DR2). Data were obtained with the integral-field spectrograph PMAS/PPak mounted on the 3. 5m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory. Three different spectral setups are available, i) a low-resolution V500 setup covering the wavelength range 3749-7500 AA (4240-7140 AA unvignetted) with a spectral resolution of 6. 0 AA (FWHM), for 646 galaxies, ii) a medium-resolution V1200 setup covering the wavelength range 3650-4840 AA (3650-4620 AA unvignetted) with a spectral resolution of 2. 3 AA (FWHM), for 484 galaxies, and iii) the combination of the cubes from both setups (called COMBO), with a spectral resolution of 6. 0 AA and a wavelength range between 3700-7500 AA (3700-7140 AA unvignetted), for 446 galaxies. The Main Sample, selected and observed according to the CALIFA survey strategy covers a redshift range between 0. 005 and 0. 03, spans the color-magnitude diagram and probes a wide range of stellar mass, ionization conditions, and morphological types. The Extension Sample covers several types of galaxies that are rare in the overall galaxy population and therefore not numerous or absent in the CALIFA Main Sample. All the cubes in the data release were processed using the latest pipeline, which includes improved versions of the calibration frames and an even further improved im- age reconstruction quality. In total, the third data release contains 1576 datacubes, including ~1. 5 million independent spectra. It is available at this http URL. | [
"Universe Sciences",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
W2022595658 | Health promotion for adolescent childhood leukemia survivors: Building on prevention science and ehealth | Teenage survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have increased morbidity likely due to their prior multicomponent treatment. Habits established in adolescence can impact individuals' subsequent adult behaviors. Accordingly, healthy lifestyles, avoiding harmful actions, and appropriate disease surveillance are of heightened importance among teenage survivors. We review the findings from prevention science and their relevance to heath promotion. The capabilities and current uses of eHealth components including e-learning, serious video games, exergaming, behavior tracking, individual messaging, and social networking are briefly presented. The health promotion needs of adolescent survivors are aligned with those eHealth aspects to propose a new paradigm to enhance the wellbeing of adolescent ALL survivors. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pone.0074307 | Global patterns of diversity and selection in human tyrosinase gene. | Global variation in skin pigmentation is one of the most striking examples of environmental adaptation in humans. More than two hundred loci have been identified as candidate genes in model organisms and a few tens of these have been found to be significantly associated with human skin pigmentation in genome-wide association studies. However, the evolutionary history of different pigmentation genes is rather complex: some loci have been subjected to strong positive selection, while others evolved under the relaxation of functional constraints in low UV environment. Here we report the results of a global study of the human tyrosinase gene, which is one of the key enzymes in melanin production, to assess the role of its variation in the evolution of skin pigmentation differences among human populations. We observe a higher rate of non-synonymous polymorphisms in the European sample consistent with the relaxation of selective constraints. A similar pattern was previously observed in the MC1R gene and concurs with UV radiation-driven model of skin color evolution by which mutations leading to lower melanin levels and decreased photoprotection are subject to purifying selection at low latitudes while being tolerated or even favored at higher latitudes because they facilitate UV-dependent vitamin D production. Our coalescent date estimates suggest that the non-synonymous variants, which are frequent in Europe and North Africa, are recent and have emerged after the separation of East and West Eurasian populations. | [
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1111/mmi.13732 | Bacterial transformation: ComFA is a DNA-dependent ATPase that forms complexes with ComFC and DprA | Pneumococcal natural transformation contributes to genomic plasticity, antibiotic resistance development and vaccine escape. Streptococcus pneumoniae, like many other naturally transformable species, has evolved sophisticated protein machinery for the binding and uptake of DNA. Two proteins encoded by the comF operon, ComFA and ComFC, are involved in transformation but their exact molecular roles remain unknown. In this study, we provide experimental evidence that ComFA binds to single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and has ssDNA-dependent ATPase activity. We show that both ComFA and ComFC are essential for the transformation process in pneumococci. Moreover, we show that these proteins interact with each other and with other proteins involved in homologous recombination, such as DprA, thus placing the ComFA-ComFC duo at the interface between DNA uptake and DNA recombination during transformation. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
]
|
W1990738655 | Bataille: The Master, the Slave, and Consumption | The aim of the essay is to situate Bataille’s idiosyncratic thought on consumption in the context of the modern debate on this topic, to unravel its vacillations and contradictions, and to tease out its main implications. The modern philosophical and ideological debate on consumption, while highly variegated, can be usefully divided into two main camps, two broad intellectual traditions or lineages, a Marxist and a Nietzschean one. These camps are diametrically opposed in all important respects, including consumption, yet paradoxically enough, Bataille had roots in both. This point is of crucial importance for understanding his position and its striking peculiarities. Bataille’s contradictory political position is explored, a position which overtly embraces radicalism but remains in fact profoundly attached, it is argued, to capitalism. | [
"Texts and Concepts"
]
|
10.1007/JHEP03(2015)091 | Higgs Boson Gluon Fusion Production Beyond Threshold In N3Lo Qcd | In this article, we compute the gluon fusion Higgs boson cross-section at N3LO through the second term in the threshold expansion. This calculation constitutes a major milestone towards the full N3LO cross section. Our result has the best formal accuracy in the threshold expansion currently available, and includes contributions from collinear regions besides subleading corrections from soft and hard regions, as well as certain logarithmically enhanced contributions for general kinematics. We use our results to perform a critical appraisal of the validity of the threshold approximation at N3LO in perturbative QCD. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
10.2138/gselements.16.4.253 | Lithium and Lithium Isotopes in Earth’s Surface Cycles | Lithium and its isotopes can provide information on continental silicate weathering, which is the primary natural drawdown process of atmospheric CO2 and a major control on climate. Lithium isotopes themselves can help our understanding of weathering, via globally important processes such as clay formation and cation retention. Both these processes occur as part of weathering in modern surface environments, such as rivers, soil pore waters, and groundwaters, but Li isotopes can also be used to track weathering changes across major climate-change events. Lithium isotope evidence from several past climatic warming and cooling episodes shows that weathering processes respond rapidly to changes in temperature, meaning that weathering is capable of bringing climate back under control within a few tens of thousands of years. | [
"Earth System Science"
]
|
US 2019/0032891 W | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING ELECTRONIC PLUMBING FIXTURE DATA AND HEALTH DATA TO A USER DEVICE FOR TRANSMISSION OVER A NETWORK | An EPF digital record transmission system may be configured to transmit an EPF digital record from an EPF device to a user device. The user device may then transmit the EPF digital record to a host server for storage and processing. The EPF device may also be configured to transmit health data and the user device may be configured to analyze one or both of the health data and the EPF digital record and present a health recommendation. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1126/science.aal4346 | Optical imaging of surface chemistry and dynamics in confinement | We imaged the interfacial structure and dynamics of water in a microscopically confined geometry, in three dimensions and on millisecond time scales, with a structurally illuminated wide-field second harmonic microscope. The second harmonic images reported on the orientational order of interfacial water, induced by charge-dipole interactions between water molecules and surface charges. The images were converted into surface potential maps. Spatially resolved surface acid dissociation constant (pKa,s) values were determined for the silica deprotonation reaction by following pH-induced chemical changes on the curved and confined surfaces of a glass microcapillary immersed in aqueous solutions. These values ranged from 2. 3 to 10. 7 along the wall of a single capillary because of surface heterogeneities. Water molecules that rotate along an oscillating external electric field were also imaged. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
W1982262730 | The complete mitochondrial genome of Accipiter virgatus and evolutionary history of the pseudo-control regions in Falconiformes | Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Accipiter virgatus was determined. This mt-genome was 17,952 bp in length and consisted of 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, one control region (CR) and one pseudo-control region (CCR). Phylogenetic analyses of 14,644 bp of mitochondrial DNA (12 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs and 22 tRNAs) revealed the phylogenetic position of Cathartidae ( Cathartes aura ) was more closer to Ciconiidae (storks) than Accipitridae. To investigate the divergence times of the CCRs in Falconiformes, detailed analyses of the noncoding regions (CR and CCR) were performed. We found the recently reported novel gene order in Falconiformes had multiple independent origins and hence cannot be used to infer phylogenetic lineages. Indeed, the molecular clock suggested the CCR in Falconidae emerged about 65.4 million years (Mya), while that in Pandionidae–Accipitridae clade emerged about 19.16 Mya. The intra-genomic homology between the noncoding regions was detected in Spilornis cheela , which supporting the duplication hypothesis. Furthermore, the structure of CCR should be featured by a region containing tandem repeats as two definitely separated clusters of tandem repeats were found. The findings presented here should be considered in future phylogenetic and evolutionary studies targeting the pseudo-control regions of all Falconiformes species. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
W1972099564 | AN EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT OF TEACHER QUALITY AND “OPPORTUNITY GAP” ON STUDENT SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT IN CHINA | This study aims to better understand questions related to the impact of teacher quality and access to qualified teachers in China. A large-scale data set collected in 2010 in China was used along with concurrently collected teacher questionnaires. In total, surveys from 9,943 8th grade students from 343 middle schools in 6 provinces were used, along with 2,084 teacher questionnaires from each of the sampled schools. Multilevel (or hierarchical linear) statistical modeling analyses along with multivariate analysis of variance were completed to investigate the impact of science teacher characteristics on student achievement and whether there was an “opportunity gap” between high and low socioeconomic status (SES) students’ access to qualified science teachers in the subject of biology, physics, and earth and space science. In this research, little evidence was found to support the claim that teacher-related factors are consistently related to student achievement in science, while school-level SES was considered in the model. However, school-level SES was consistently found to be an influential factor of student science achievement. In addition, it was discovered that, in China, a disparity was found between high and low SES schools with respect to access to quality teachers. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
10.7150/ijbs.30543 | Synthetic-evolution reveals narrow paths to regulation of the saccharomyces cerevisiae mitotic kinesin-5 cin8 | Cdk1 has been found to phosphorylate the majority of its substrates in disordered regions, but some substrates maintain precise phosphosite positions over billions of years. Here, we examined the phosphoregulation of the kinesin-5, Cin8, using synthetic Cdk1-sites. We first analyzed the three native Cdk1 sites within the catalytic motor domain. Any single site conferred regulation, but to different extents. Synthetic sites were then systematically generated by single amino-acid substitutions, starting from a phosphodeficient variant of Cin8. Out of 29 synthetic Cdk1 sites, 8 disrupted function; 19 were neutral, similar to the phospho-deficient variant; and only two gave rise to phosphorylation-dependent spindle phenotypes. Of these two, one was immediately adjacent to a native Cdk1 site. Only one novel site position resulted in phospho-regulation. This site was sampled elsewhere in evolution, but the synthetic version was inefficient in S. cerevisiae. This study shows that a single phosphorylation site can modulate complex spindle dynamics, but likely requires further evolution to optimally regulate the precise reaction cycle of a mitotic motor. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
10.1111/1365-2656.12795 | Socially Informed Dispersal In A Territorial Cooperative Breeder | Dispersal is a key process governing the dynamics of socially and spatially structured populations and involves three distinct stages: emigration, transience and settlement. At each stage, individuals have to make movement decisions, which are influenced by social, environmental and individual factors. Yet, a comprehensive understanding of the drivers that influence such decisions is still lacking, particularly for the transient stage during which free-living individuals are inherently difficult to follow. Social circumstances such as the likelihood of encountering conspecifics can be expected to strongly affects decision-making during dispersal, particularly in territorial species where encounters with resident conspecifics are antagonistic. Here, we analysed the movement trajectories of 47 dispersing coalitions of Kalahari meerkats Suricata suricatta through a landscape occupied by constantly monitored resident groups, while simultaneously taking into account environmental and individual characteristics. We used GPS locations collected on resident groups to create a georeferenced social landscape representing the likelihood of encountering resident groups. We used a step-selection function to infer the effect of social, environmental and individual covariates on habitat selection during dispersal. Finally, we created a temporal mismatch between the social landscape and the dispersal event of interest to identify the temporal scale at which dispersers perceive the social landscape. Including information about the social landscape considerably improved our representation of the dispersal trajectory compared to analyses that only accounted for environmental variables. The latter were only marginally selected or avoided by dispersers. Before leaving their natal territory, dispersers selected areas frequently used by their natal group. In contrast, after leaving their natal territory, they selectively used areas where they were less likely to encounter unrelated groups. This pattern was particularly marked in larger dispersing coalitions and when unrelated males were part of the dispersing coalition. Our results suggest that, in socially and spatially structured species, dispersers gather and process social information during dispersal, and that reducing risk of aggression from unrelated resident groups outweighs benefits derived from conspecific attraction. Finally, our work underlines the intimate link between the social structure of a population and dispersal, which affect each other reciprocally. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
Q3850706 | Sostenere le imprese registrate ai sensi della legge sul turismo come tour operator o agente di viaggio per superare le conseguenze economiche della pandemia di COVID-19 | Sostenere le imprese registrate ai sensi della legge sul turismo come tour operator o agente di viaggio per superare le conseguenze economiche della pandemia di COVID-19 | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
788065 | A New Foundation for Computer Graphics with Inherent Uncertainty | The use of Computer Graphics (CG) is constantly expanding, e.g., in Virtual and Augmented Reality, requiring realistic interactive renderings of complex virtual environments at a much wider scale than available today. CG has many limitations we must overcome to satisfy these demands. High-quality accurate rendering needs expensive simulation, while fast approximate rendering algorithms have no guarantee on accuracy; both need manually-designed expensive-to-create content. Capture (e.g., reconstruction from photos) can provide content, but it is uncertain (i.e., inaccurate and incomplete). Image-based rendering (IBR) can display such content, but lacks flexibility to modify the scene. These different rendering algorithms have incompatible but complementary tradeoffs in quality, speed and flexibility; they cannot currently be used together, and only IBR can directly use captured content. To address these problems
FunGraph will revisit the foundations of Computer Graphics, so these disparate methods can be used together, introducing the treatment of uncertainty to achieve this goal.
FunGraph introduces estimation of rendering uncertainty, quantifying the expected error of rendering components, and propagation of input uncertainty of captured content to the renderer. The ultimate goal is to define a unified renderer exploiting the advantages of each approach in a single algorithm. Our methodology builds on the use of extensive synthetic (and captured) “ground truth” data, the domain of Uncertainty Quantification adapted to our problems and recent advances in machine learning – Bayesian Deep Learning in particular.
FunGraph will fundamentally transform computer graphics, and rendering in particular, by proposing a principled methodology based on uncertainty to develop a new generation of algorithms that fully exploit the spectacular (but previously incompatible) advances in rendering, and fully benefit from the wealth offered by constantly improving captured content. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
W2069513917 | Dynamics of cavity fields with dissipative and amplifying couplings through multiple quantum two-state systems | We consider simultaneous dissipative and amplifying coupling of cavity fields to multiple two-state systems. We derive a master equation for optical field in a leaky cavity coupled to a reservoir through multiple two-state systems. In our previous works we have limited our study to systems where the reservoir either solely absorbs energy (detector setup) or adds energy (amplifying setup) to the cavity through a single two-state system. In this work we allow both interactions simultaneously and derive a reduced dynamic model for the optical field. We also generalize our model to cover the coupling of the field to several two state systems and discuss its connection to macroscopic interaction, e.g., in semiconductors. Our model includes four physical parameters: the field two-state system coupling $\ensuremath{\gamma}$, the excitation and deexcitation couplings of the two-state system by the reservoir ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{A}$ and ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{D}$, respectively, and the mirror losses of the cavity $C$. We solve the steady-state fields at different regimes of these physical parameters. Furthermore, we show that, depending on the parameters, our model can describe the operation of a detector, a light emitting diode, or a laser. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
]
|
10.1063/1.5085390 | Symplectic Integration And Physical Interpretation Of Time Dependent Coupled Cluster Theory | The formulation of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in terms of coupled-cluster theory is outlined, with emphasis on the bivariational framework and its classical Hamiltonian structure. An indefinite inner product is introduced, inducing physical interpretation of coupled-cluster states in the form of transition probabilities, autocorrelation functions, and explicitly real values for observables, solving interpretation issues which are present in time-dependent coupled-cluster theory and in ground-state calculations of molecular systems under the influence of external magnetic fields. The problem of the numerical integration of the equations of motion is considered, and a critical evaluation of the standard fourth-order Runge-Kutta scheme and the symplectic Gauss integrator of variable order are given, including several illustrative numerical experiments. While the Gauss integrator is stable even for laser pulses well above the perturbation limit, our experiments indicate that a system-dependent upper limit exists for the external field strengths. Above this limit, time-dependent coupled-cluster calculations become very challenging numerically, even in the full configuration interaction limit. The source of these numerical instabilities is shown to be rapid increases of the amplitudes as ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses pump the system out of the ground state into states that are virtually orthogonal to the static Hartree-Fock reference determinant. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
interreg_1784 | International centre of competences for Innovation in the Mediterranean countries | The project arises from the results of the previous INNOVA project financed by INTERREG IIIA Greece-Italy 2000-2006. On the basis of the feasibility study drawn up from the project on the creation of a school INNOVA - Transnational School of Innovation and from the protocol of intent on its creation, the present project aims to establish and operate a school/centre of transnational skills as a result of widening the established network to favour territorial aggregation and the development of innovation in strategic productive sectors: Energy & Environment, Culture & Tourism, Agro-alimentary, Information & Communication Technology | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
]
|
10.1002/chem.201502457 | Ln<inf>12</inf>-Containing 60-Tungstogermanates: Synthesis, Structure, Luminescence, and Magnetic Studies | A new class of hexameric Ln12-containing 60-tungstogermanates, [Na(H2O)6⊂Eu12(OH)12(H2O)18Ge2(GeW10O38)6]39- (Eu12), [Na(H2O)6⊂Gd12(OH)6(H2O)24Ge(GeW10O38)6]37- (Gd12), and [(H2O)6⊂Dy12(H2O)24(GeW10O38)6]36- (Dy12), comprising six di-Ln-embedded {β(4,11)-GeW10} subunits was prepared by reaction of [α-GeW9O34]10- with LnIII ions in weakly acidic (pH 5) aqueous medium. Depending on the size of the LnIII ion, the assemblies feature selective capture of two (for Eu12), one (for Gd12), or zero (for Dy12) extra GeIV ions. The selective encapsulation of a cationic sodium hexaaqua complex [Na(H2O)6]+ was observed for Eu12 and Gd12, whereas Dy12 incorporates a neutral, distorted-octahedral (H2O)6 cluster. The three compounds were characterized by single-crystal XRD, ESI-MS, photoluminescence, and magnetic studies. Dy12 was shown to be a single-molecule magnet. Cagelike polyoxometalates: A new class of cagelike Ln12-containing 60-tungstogermanates (Ln=Eu, Gd, Dy) was prepared by the reaction of [α-GeW9O34]10- with LnIII ions in a weakly acidic aqueous medium. Depending on the size of the LnIII ion, the assemblies feature selective capture of two (Eu12), one (Gd12), or zero (Dy12) extra GeIV ions. Selective encapsulation of [Na(H2O)6]+ was observed for Eu12 and Gd12, whereas Dy12 incorporates a neutral, distorted-octahedral (H2O)6 cluster (see figure). | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
]
|
10.1051/0004-6361/201321779 | Discovery Of A Magnetic Field In The Corot Hybrid B Type Pulsator Hd 43317 | Context. A promising way of testing the impact of a magnetic field on internal mixing (core overshooting, internal rotation) in mainsequence B-type stars is to perform asteroseismic studies of a sample of magnetic pulsators. Aims. The CoRoT satellite revealed that the B3IV star HD 43317 is a hybrid SPB/β Cep-type pulsator that has a wealth of pulsational constraints on which one can perform a seismic modelling, in particular, probing the extent of its convective core and mixing processes. Moreover, indirect indicators of a magnetic field in the star were observed: rotational modulation due to chemical or temperature spots and X-ray emission. Our goal was to directly investigate the field in HD 43317 and, if it is magnetic, to characterise it. Methods. We collected data with the Narval spectropolarimeter installed at Telescope Bernard Lyot (TBL, Pic du Midi, France) and applied the least-squares deconvolution technique to measure the circular polarisation of the light emitted from HD 43317. We modelled the longitudinal field measurements directly with a dipole. Results. Zeeman signatures in the Stokes V profiles of HD 43317 are clearly detected and rotationally modulated, which proves that this star exhibits an oblique magnetic field. The modulation with the rotation period deduced from the CoRoT light curve is also confirmed, and we found a field strength at the poles of about 1 kG. Our result must be taken into account in future seismic modelling work of this star. | [
"Universe Sciences",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
10.1063/1.4989775 | Effect Of Oxygen Plasma On Nanomechanical Silicon Nitride Resonators | Precise control of tensile stress and intrinsic damping is crucial for the optimal design of nanomechanical systems for sensor applications and quantum optomechanics in particular. In this letter we study the in uence of oxygen plasma on the tensile stress and intrinsic damping of nanomechanical silicon nitride resonators. Oxygen plasma treatments are common steps in micro and nanofabrication. We show that oxygen plasma of only a few minutes oxidizes the silicon nitride surface, creating several nanometer thick silicon dioxide layers with a compressive stress of 1. 30(16)GPa. Such oxide layers can cause a reduction of the e ective tensile stress of a 50 nm thick stoichiometric silicon nitride membrane by almost 50%. Additionally, intrinsic damping linearly increases with the silicon dioxide lm thickness. An oxide layer of 1. 5nm grown in just 10s in a 50W oxygen plasma almost doubled the intrinsic damping. The oxide surface layer can be e ciently removed in bu ered HF. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1088/1751-8113/49/48/484002 | Quantum Walk Search Through Potential Barriers | An ideal quantum walk transitions from one vertex to another with perfect fidelity, but in physical systems, the particle may be hindered by potential energy barriers. Then the particle has some amplitude of tunneling through the barriers, and some amplitude of staying put. We investigate the algorithmic consequence of such barriers for the quantum walk formulation of Grover's algorithm. We prove that the failure amplitude must scale as for search to retain its quantum runtime; otherwise, it searches in classical O(N) time. Thus searching larger 'databases' requires increasingly reliable hop operations or error correction. This condition holds for both discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.225305 | Topological Phase Transitions in the Repulsively Interacting Haldane-Hubbard Model | Using dynamical mean-field theory and exact diagonalization we study the phase diagram of the repulsive Haldane-Hubbard model, varying the interaction strength and the sublattice potential difference. In addition to the quantum Hall phase with Chern number C=2 and the band insulator with C=0 present already in the noninteracting model, the system also exhibits a C=0 Mott insulating phase, and a C=1 quantum Hall phase. We explain the latter phase by a spontaneous symmetry breaking where one of the spin components is in the Hall state and the other in the band insulating state. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1038/nsmb.3413 | A MILI-independent piRNA biogenesis pathway empowers partial germline reprogramming | In mice, the pathway involving PIWI and PIWI-interacting RNA (PIWI-piRNA) is essential to re-establish transposon silencing during Male-germline reprogramming. The cytoplasmic PIWI protein MILI mediates piRNA-guided transposon RNA cleavage as well as piRNA amplification. MIWI2's binding to piRNA and its nuclear localization are proposed to be dependent upon MILI function. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a piRNA biogenesis pathway that sustains partial MIWI2 function and reprogramming activity in the absence of MILI. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1038/srep12840 | Ultrafast excited-state dynamics and fluorescence deactivation of near-infrared fluorescent proteins engineered from bacteriophytochromes | Near-infrared fluorescent proteins, iRFPs, are recently developed genetically encoded fluorescent probes for deep-tissue in vivo imaging. Their functions depend on the corresponding fluorescence efficiencies and electronic excited state properties. Here we report the electronic excited state deactivation dynamics of the most red-shifted iRFPs: iRFP702, iRFP713 and iRFP720. Complementary measurements by ultrafast broadband fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy show that single exponential decays of the excited state with 600 ∼ 700 ps dominate in all three iRFPs, while photoinduced isomerization was completely inhibited. Significant kinetic isotope effects (KIE) were observed with a factor of ∼1. 8 in D<inf>2</inf>O, and are interpreted in terms of an excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) process that deactivates the excited state in competition with fluorescence and chromophore mobility. On this basis, new approaches for rational molecular engineering may be applied to iRFPs to improve their fluorescence. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1111/1365-2664.12701 | Extinction Risk Of North American Seed Plants Elevated By Climate And Land Use Change | Summary
Climate and land-use change are expected to substantially alter future plant species distributions leading to higher extinction rates. However, little is known about how plant species ranges, richness and phylogenetic diversity of continents will be affected by these dynamics. We address this gap here by examining the patterns of species' distributions and phylogenetic relationships for 7465 seed plant taxa in North America. An ensemble of species distribution models was used to estimate the potential suitable habitat of species under different sets of climate, land-use and dispersal constraint scenarios. We then evaluated the vulnerability and extinction risk of individual species to changes in climate and land use, and examined whether rare, endangered and evolutionarily distinct species were disproportionally threatened by climate and land-use change. We show that ~2000 species may lose >80% of their suitable habitats under the A1b emission scenario for the 2080s, while ~100 species may experience >80% range expansions (a 20 : 1 ratio of loss to gain). When considering >50% range retraction and expansion, the ratio of loss to gain was 13 : 1. A greater loss of species diversity is expected at low latitudes, while larger gains are expected at high latitudes. Evolutionarily distinct species are predicted to have significantly higher extinction risks than extant species. This suggests a disproportionate future loss of phylogenetic diversity for the North American flora. Synthesis and applications. Our study provides continental-scale evidence of plant species extinction risk caused by future climate and land-use change, and highlights the importance of integrating phylogenetic measures into conservation risk assessments. This work provides insight into the status, trends and threats for a large share of North America's plant species by identifying risks and prioritizing conservation in a rapidly changing world. | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1111/jofi.12364 | Stock Market Volatility and Learning | We show that consumption-based asset pricing models with time-separable preferences generate realistic amounts of stock price volatility if one allows for small deviations from rational expectations. Rational investors with subjective beliefs about price behavior optimally learn from past price observations. This imparts momentum and mean reversion into stock prices. The model quantitatively accounts for the volatility of returns, the volatility and persistence of the price-dividend ratio, and the predictability of long-horizon returns. It passes a formal statistical test for the overall fit of a set of moments provided one excludes the equity premium. | [
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5990-11.2012 | Critical-state dynamics of avalanches and oscillations jointly emerge from balanced excitation/inhibition in neuronal networks | Criticality has gained widespread interest in neuroscience as an attractive framework for understanding the character and functional implications of variability in brain activity. The metastability of critical systems maximizes their dynamic range, storage capacity, and computational power. Power-law scaling-a hallmark of criticality- has been observed on different levels, e. g. , in the distribution of neuronal avalanches in vitro and in vivo, but also in the decay of temporal correlations in behavioral performance and ongoing oscillations in humans. An unresolved issue is whether power-law scaling on different organizational levels in the brain-and possibly in other hierarchically organized systems-can be related. Here, we show that critical-state dynamics of avalanches and oscillations jointly emerge in a neuronal network model when excitation and inhibition is balanced. The oscillatory activity of the model was qualitatively similar to what is typically observed in recordings of human resting-state MEG. Wepropose that homeostatic plasticity mechanisms tune this balance in healthy brain networks, and that it is essential for critical behavior on multiple levels of neuronal organization with ensuing functional benefits. Based on our network model, we introduce a concept of multi-level criticality in which power-law scaling can emerge on multiple time scales in oscillating networks. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
W2209791335 | Investigation of defects in Gd doped GaN using thermally stimulated current spectroscopy | Abstract Defects in Gd-doped GaN layers are investigated using thermally stimulated current spectroscopy (TSC). The line-shape function, which commonly considers a delta function like density of state for the trap levels, is modified to take into account broad trap distributions. This function is used to fit the spectra which show two broad TSC features in all Gd-doped samples. The feature associated with the trap distribution peaking at about 45 meV from the band edge (TSC-1) can be attributed to unintentional oxygen donors, while the second feature for which the distribution peaks at ≈ 130 meV (TSC-2) from the band edge is assigned to the defects resulting due to Gd incorporation as the intensity of this feature increases with the Gd concentration. However, only a portion of the TSC-2 band, which is estimated to have an activation energy of 240 meV, is substantially reduced upon annealing at 800 °C. The annealing also results in a complete suppression of the magnetization. This implies that the observed magnetization is likely to be resulting from the defects associated with this portion of TSC-2 band. Furthermore, the energetic position of this portion of TSC-2 band (240 meV) matches very well with the activation energy ( ≈ 200 meV ) for the low temperature PL peak at 3.05 eV, which has already been attributed to the defects responsible for the observed magnetic behavior. This suggests that both the TSC and the PL features are resulting from the same defect type and therefore, could provide a vital clue in the search for the exact nature of the defect responsible. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
]
|
W2062600058 | Simple models of carbon and nitrogen cycling in New Zealand hill country pastures: exploring impacts of intensification on soil C and N pools | Concerns about climate change and water quality make it necessary to have a better understanding of the cycling of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) within landscapes. In New Zealand, pastoral farming on hill country is a major land use, and there is little information available at a landscape level on the cycling of C and N within these systems, particularly the impacts of land use intensification. Published information on the individual components of C and N cycles in hill country pastoral systems was used to construct simple C and N models for two notional hill country paddocks with contrasting amounts of annual net herbage accumulation (NHA). These simple models of C and N cycling were used to explore the potential impacts of intensification on soil C and N pools. The C and N models constructed illustrate that both the C and N cycles in hill country pastoral farming are characterised by large fluxes in and out of the system and relatively small annual accumulations or depletions of their respective soil poo... | [
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Earth System Science"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005508 | Representational models: A common framework for understanding encoding, pattern-component, and representational-similarity analysis | Representational models specify how activity patterns in populations of neurons (or, more generally, in multivariate brain-activity measurements) relate to sensory stimuli, motor responses, or cognitive processes. In an experimental context, representational models can be defined as hypotheses about the distribution of activity profiles across experimental conditions. Currently, three different methods are being used to test such hypotheses: encoding analysis, pattern component modeling (PCM), and representational similarity analysis (RSA). Here we develop a common mathematical framework for understanding the relationship of these three methods, which share one core commonality: all three evaluate the second moment of the distribution of activity profiles, which determines the representational geometry, and thus how well any feature can be decoded from population activity. Using simulated data for three different experimental designs, we compare the power of the methods to adjudicate between competing representational models. PCM implements a likelihood-ratio test and therefore provides the most powerful test if its assumptions hold. However, the other two approaches—when conducted appropriately—can perform similarly. In encoding analysis, the linear model needs to be appropriately regularized, which effectively imposes a prior on the activity profiles. With such a prior, an encoding model specifies a well-defined distribution of activity profiles. In RSA, the unequal variances and statistical dependencies of the dissimilarity estimates need to be taken into account to reach near-optimal power in inference. The three methods render different aspects of the information explicit (e. g. single-response tuning in encoding analysis and population-response representational dissimilarity in RSA) and have specific advantages in terms of computational demands, ease of use, and extensibility. The three methods are properly construed as complementary components of a single data-analytical toolkit for understanding neural representations on the basis of multivariate brain-activity data. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Mathematics"
]
|
10.1039/C4GC01614A | Reductive Functionalization Of Co2 With Amines An Entry To Formamide Formamidine And Methylamine Derivatives | CO2 utilization for the production of C1-containing molecules is a desirable route to value-added chemicals. In this perspective, we summarize the recent results devoted to the formation of nitrogen compounds obtained by reductive functionalization of CO2 in the presence of amines. Using mild reductants, such as molecular hydrogen, hydrosilanes and hydroboranes, novel catalytic reactions have been designed in the last few years to facilitate the reductive functionalization of CO2 to formamide, formamidine and methylamine derivatives. While early efforts were devoted to the formylation of N–H bonds, efficient organic and metal catalysts have been developed lately to promote the complete deoxygenation of CO2 to benzimidazoles, quinazolinones, formamidines and methylamines. Finally, the opportunities and challenges facing the practical use of CO2 in the production of nitrogen-containing molecules are discussed. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
]
|
10.1038/s41567-019-0516-6 | Stress relaxation in epithelial monolayers is controlled by the actomyosin cortex | Epithelial monolayers are one-cell-thick tissue sheets that line most of the body surfaces, separating internal and external environments. As part of their function, they must withstand extrinsic mechanical stresses applied at high strain rates. However, little is known about how monolayers respond to mechanical deformations. Here, by subjecting suspended epithelial monolayers to stretch, we find that they dissipate stresses on a minute timescale and that relaxation can be described by a power law with an exponential cut-off at timescales larger than about 10 s. This process involves an increase in monolayer length, pointing to active remodelling of cellular biopolymers at the molecular scale during relaxation. Strikingly, monolayers consisting of tens of thousands of cells relax stress with similar dynamics to single rounded cells, and both respond similarly to perturbations of the actomyosin cytoskeleton. By contrast, cell–cell junctional complexes and intermediate filaments do not relax tissue stress, but form stable connections between cells, allowing monolayers to behave rheologically as single cells. Taken together, our data show that actomyosin dynamics governs the rheological properties of epithelial monolayers, dissipating applied stresses and enabling changes in monolayer length. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
885173 | Platelet lysate based dermal formulation for the treatment of skin ulcers | The LYSADERM project aims at the fabrication of a medicinal cream containing Platelet Lysate (PL), that can be used for the topical therapy of skin ulcers. The applicant company Episkey is an innovative start-up founded in 2016 with the aim of introducing into the market novel therapeutic products obtained from human Platelet Lysate. Episkey holds the exclusive licenses of international patents covering the therapeutic administration of cord blood Platelet Lysate, and already developed an international network of cord blood banks aimed at the procurement of Cord Blood Platelet Lysate for pharmaceutical transformation into platelet derivatives and drugs. Within the broad scope of our company mission, the LYSADERM project aims at marketing a novel formulation of dermatological cream containing tissue regenerative factors present in human platelets. The LYSADERM dermatological cream will be therefore used for the treatment of skin ulcers, including serious disorders, such as diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and leg ulcers. LYSADERM aims to be the first pharmaceutical cream containing Platelet Lysate, and it is expected to improve healing of the ulcers in comparison to conventional treatments, at lower cost; therefore, it would become the standard procedure to treat diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers and leg ulcers. The LYSADERM business project is expected to generate positive outcomes for the whole society, such as the increase of effectiveness in the treatment of skin ulcers both in hospitals and at the patient’s home. It is roughly estimated that once industrialized, LYSADERM can generate in just 5 years a total of over 10 M annual revenues, covering the 0.4% of the EU market share. Overall, the main objective of our phase I project is to achieve the technical definition of the LYSADERM product, to realize a complete exploitation plan, and to consolidate our business plan through a second-level FTO and the definition of the financial forecasts. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
]
|
W1820579481 | Simulation study of magnetic resonance imaging examination reservation processes for stroke patients | The timely imaging examinations are most important for stroke patients to have the further appropriate diagnosis and treatment. We have proposed a contract-based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) reservation process in [1] in order to reduce their waiting time for MRI examinations. Contracted time slots (CTS) are especially reserved for stroke patients. Regular time slots (RTS) assignment policy is to assign some “unlucky” patients to RTS by keeping CTS queue length below a certain threshold. We further propose a reservation process in [2] in order to reduce the waiting time of these “unlucky” patients by utilizing the virtual CTS queue. RTS assignment policy is used to reserve additional RTS instead of assigning specific patients directly to RTS. This paper proposes a new reservation process without the virtual CTS queue. All times slots including CTS and RTS are used on FIFO (First In First Out) order. Computational results show that the improved method can greatly reduce the maximal waiting time and the deviation of average waiting time. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
US 2013/0044350 W | MONITORING ACCESSES OF A THREAD TO MULTIPLE MEMORY CONTROLLERS AND SELECTING A THREAD PROCESSOR FOR THE THREAD BASED ON THE MONITORING | A method of an aspect includes running a plurality of threads on a plurality of thread processors. Memory accesses, of a thread of the plurality that is running on a first thread processor of the plurality, are monitored to both a first memory through a first memory controller and a second memory through a second memory controller. A second thread processor of the plurality is selected for a thread based on the monitoring of the memory accesses of the thread to both the first memory and the second memory. Installation of the thread, for which the second thread processor was selected, is initiated on the second thread processor. Other methods, apparatus, and systems are also disclosed. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
W3016484605 | Investigation of the thermoeconomic improvement of integrating enhanced geothermal single flash with transcritical organic Rankine cycle | Abstract In this research, the integration of an enhanced single flash geothermal cycle with a transcritical organic Rankine cycle (TORC) is proposed. To discover the feasibility and thermoeconomic improvement, the proposed system is investigated and compared thermoeconomically with a subcritical ORC integrated to single flash geothermal. Thermoeconomic evaluation is conducted with consideration Pseudo-critical point effect in supercritical condition as well as Bauman rule in geofluid turbine. The considered key parameters to conduct a parametric study are heat source temperature, separator pressure, and geofluid condenser pressure. To perform the thermoeconomic analysis, the heat transfer areas, as well as overall heat transfer coefficients of all heat exchangers, are calculated. Moreover, the total cost rate and levelized cost of energy for the considered systems are obtained. The results reveal that the heat source temperature plays an important role in the power production variation, while the separator and flash condenser pressures are kept constant. An increment of 20 °C in the heat source temperature leads to an increase of up to 22% in generated power for both considered systems. Also, based on the comparative study, a combination of the flash-transcritical ORC cycle has 7.2% higher power production compared to the combination of flash-subcritical one. A multi-objective optimization based on the genetic algorithm method is performed. The optimization results show that the energy and exergy efficiencies, exergy destruction rate, and total cost rate is well improved in single flash-TORC compared to the subcritical one. | [
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
interreg_1479 | Green Intermodal Freight Transport | The main aim of the current project is to map, analyze, and evaluate the status of the transport sector in the GIFT transport network and propose new policies and strategies in infrastructure, processes, assets, ICT, legislation, norms and harmonization/ standardization issues, in order to promote innovative green intermodal freight transport corridors. GIFT project will drill down in three Pan-European Transport Corridors, namely IV, V and VII that cover almost the entire SEE region. These corridors have been selected, since: -They connect ports to landlocked countries via road and rail infrastructure -A very significant flow of freight from/to Europe uses these corridors.They involve important areas such as the Adriatic, the Danube, the Black Sea regions and the Balkans -They have the potential to become green, since the instruments (both economical and operational) that can enhance a better integration of different modes of transport, exist. Moreover, we decided to use the PEC Corridors (instead of the TEN-T corridors) as the latter do not cross non-EU countries such as Serbia, BiH, Albania, etc, which however belong to the SEE region. In any case, we have selected PEN Corridors that are in line with TEN-T initiatives. In order to fulfill the initial aim, we will map and assess the current status in terms of transport strategy, operations and policies of the three selected Corridors. Subsequently, based on the findings of our analysis, we will synthesize concrete and pragmatic proposals for the improvement of the current transport network and for relevant policies to promote green transport in the selected corridors. In order to assess the effectiveness of our proposals, we will develop a series of tools to test their green operation. The aim will be to assess the impact of the proposed improvements and policies in terms of trip duration, cost, risk, and CO2 emissions. | [
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Earth System Science",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
]
|
10.1142/S1230161217400108 | Testing The Validity Of The Local And Global Gkls Master Equations On An Exactly Solvable Model | When deriving a master equation for a multipartite weakly-interacting open quantum systems, dissipation is often addressed locally on each component, i. e. ignoring the coherent couplings, which are later added ‘by hand’. Although simple, the resulting local master equation (LME) is known to be thermodynamically inconsistent. Otherwise, one may always obtain a consistent global master equation (GME) by working on the energy basis of the full interacting Hamiltonian. Here, we consider a two-node ‘quantum wire’connected to two heat baths. The stationary solution of the LME and GME are obtained and benchmarked against the exact result. Importantly, in our model, the validity of the GME is constrained by the underlying secular approximation. Whenever this breaks down (for resonant weakly-coupled nodes), we observe that the LME, in spite of being thermodynamically flawed: (a) predicts the correct steady state, (b) yields with the exact asymptotic heat currents, and (c) reliably reflects the correlations between the nodes. In contrast, the GME fails at all three tasks. Nonetheless, as the inter-node coupling grows, the LME breaks down whilst the GME becomes correct. Hence, the global and local approach may be viewed as complementary tools, best suited to different parameter regimes. | [
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.1145/2829952 | Parsecss Evaluating The Impact Of Task Parallelism In The Parsec Benchmark Suite | In this work, we show how parallel applications can be implemented efficiently using task parallelism. We also evaluate the benefits of such parallel paradigm with respect to other approaches. We use the PARSEC benchmark suite as our test bed, which includes applications representative of a wide range of domains from HPC to desktop and server applications. We adopt different parallelization techniques, tailored to the needs of each application, to fully exploit the task-based model. Our evaluation shows that task parallelism achieves better performance than thread-based parallelization models, such as Pthreads. Our experimental results show that we can obtain scalability improvements up to 42p on a 16-core system and code size reductions up to 81p. Such reductions are achieved by removing from the source code application specific schedulers or thread pooling systems and transferring these responsibilities to the runtime system software. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1038/s41598-019-50137-9 | DeNeRD: high-throughput detection of neurons for brain-wide analysis with deep learning | Mapping the structure of the mammalian brain at cellular resolution is a challenging task and one that requires capturing key anatomical features at the appropriate level of analysis. Although neuroscientific methods have managed to provide significant insights at the micro and macro level, in order to obtain a whole-brain analysis at a cellular resolution requires a meso-scopic approach. A number of methods can be currently used to detect and count cells, with, nevertheless, significant limitations when analyzing data of high complexity. To overcome some of these constraints, we introduce a fully automated Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based method for whole-brain image processing to Detect Neurons in different brain Regions during Development (DeNeRD). We demonstrate a high performance of our deep neural network in detecting neurons labeled with different genetic markers in a range of imaging planes and imaging modalities. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
10.1145/2598153.2598200 | Routelens Easy Route Following For Map Applications | Millions of people go to the Web to search for geographical itineraries. Inspecting those map itineraries remains tedious because they seldom fit on screen, requiring much panning & zooming to see details. Focus+context techniques address this problem by displaying routes at a scale that allows them to fully fit on screen: users see the entire route at once, and perform magnified steering using a lens to navigate along the path, revealing additional detail. Navigation based on magnified steering has been shown to outperform pan & zoom for large steering tasks. Yet, this task remains challenging, in part because paths have a tendency to "slip off" the side of the lens. RouteLenses automatically adjust their position based on the geometry of the path that users steer through. RouteLenses make it easier for users to follow a route, yet do not constrain movements too strictly, leaving them free to move the lens away from the path to explore its surroundings. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1364/OE.24.029269 | High Speed Spatial Control Of The Intensity Phase And Polarisation Of Vector Beams Using A Digital Micro Mirror Device | The dynamic spatial control of light fields is essential to a range of applications, from microscopy to optical micro-manipulation and communications. Here we describe the use of a single digital micro-mirror device (DMD) to generate and rapidly switch vector beams with spatially controllable intensity, phase and polarisation. We demonstrate local spatial control over linear, elliptical and circular polarisation, allowing the generation of radially and azimuthally polarised beams and Poincare beams. All of these can be switched at rates of up to 4kHz (limited only by our DMD model), a rate ∼2 orders of magnitude faster than the switching speeds of typical phase-only spatial light modulators. The polarisation state of the generated beams is characterised with spatially resolved Stokes measurements. We also describe detail of technical considerations when using a DMD, and quantify the mode capacity and efficiency of the beam generation. The high-speed switching capabilities of this method will be particularly useful for the control of light propagation through complex media such as multimode fibers, where rapid spatial modulation of intensity, phase and polarisation is required. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1021/la503601u | In situ experiments to reveal the role of surface feature sidewalls in the cassie-wenzel transition | Waterproof and self-cleaning surfaces continue to attract much attention as they can be instrumental in various different technologies. Such surfaces are typically rough, allowing liquids to contact only the outermost tops of their asperities, with air being entrapped underneath. The formed solid-liquid-air interface is metastable and, hence, can be forced into a completely wetted solid surface. A detailed understanding of the wetting barrier and the dynamics of this transition is critically important for the practical use of the related surfaces. Toward this aim, wetting transitions were studied in situ at a set of patterned perfluoropolyether dimethacrylate (PFPEdma) polymer surfaces exhibiting surface features with different types of sidewall profiles. PFPEdma is intrinsically hydrophobic and exhibits a refractive index very similar to water. Upon immersion of the patterned surfaces into water, incident light was differently scattered at the solid-liquid-air and solid-liquid interface, which allows for distinguishing between both wetting states by dark-field microscopy. The wetting transition observed with this methodology was found to be determined by the sidewall profiles of the patterned structures. Partial recovery of the wetting was demonstrated to be induced by abrupt and continuous pressure reductions. A theoretical model based on Laplaces law was developed and applied, allowing for the analytical calculation of the transition barrier and the potential to revert the wetting upon pressure reduction. | [
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
]
|
10.15252/embj.2019102864 | Autonomous aggregation suppression by acidic residues explains why chaperones favour basic residues | Many chaperones favour binding to hydrophobic sequences that are flanked by basic residues while disfavouring acidic residues. However, the origin of this bias in protein quality control remains poorly understood. Here, we show that while acidic residues are the most efficient aggregation inhibitors, they are also less compatible with globular protein structure than basic amino acids. As a result, while acidic residues allow for chaperone-independent control of aggregation, their use is structurally limited. Conversely, we find that, while being more compatible with globular structure, basic residues are not sufficient to autonomously suppress protein aggregation. Using Hsp70, we show that chaperones with a bias towards basic residues are structurally adapted to prioritize aggregating sequences whose structural context forced the use of the less effective basic residues. The hypothesis that emerges from our analysis is that the bias of many chaperones for basic residues results from fundamental thermodynamic and kinetic constraints of globular structure. This also suggests the co-evolution of basic residues and chaperones allowed for an expansion of structural variety in the protein universe. | [
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
W2110712321 | Lung Cancer Assistant: a hybrid clinical decision support application for lung cancer care | Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings are becoming the model of care for cancer patients worldwide. While MDTs have improved the quality of cancer care, the meetings impose substantial time pressure on the members, who generally attend several such MDTs. We describe Lung Cancer Assistant (LCA), a clinical decision support (CDS) prototype designed to assist the experts in the treatment selection decisions in the lung cancer MDTs. A novel feature of LCA is its ability to provide rule-based and probabilistic decision support within a single platform. The guideline-based CDS is based on clinical guideline rules, while the probabilistic CDS is based on a Bayesian network trained on the English Lung Cancer Audit Database (LUCADA). We assess rule-based and probabilistic recommendations based on their concordances with the treatments recorded in LUCADA. Our results reveal that the guideline rule-based recommendations perform well in simulating the recorded treatments with exact and partial concordance rates of 0.57 and 0.79, respectively. On the other hand, the exact and partial concordance rates achieved with probabilistic results are relatively poorer with 0.27 and 0.76. However, probabilistic decision support fulfils a complementary role in providing accurate survival estimations. Compared to recorded treatments, both CDS approaches promote higher resection rates and multimodality treatments. | [
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
]
|
W2102225802 | Consumers' interest in learning about cooking: the influence of age, gender and education | General and governmental interest in cooking has increased recently. In part this may be because the acquisition of food preparation skills may make individuals less dependent on processed foods and reduce risks of overweight and obesity. However, little research has been conducted on consumers' interests in learning about cooking. Therefore in 2012 an online survey was conducted in Australia among 1023 adult food preparers with the aim of determining what and how they wanted to learn to cook. Questions were asked about interest in learning about cooking-related topics, specific main meals and cooking techniques, preferred ways to learn, and their demographic characteristics. Frequency and cross-tabulation analyses were used to compare the responses across demographic categories, and content and correspondence analyses were used to analyse meal preferences and age-related differences. The findings show that 71% of the sample wanted to learn more about cooking. Respondents wanted to learn to cook a wide range of evening meals, especially ethnic dishes (e.g. Chinese, Thai, Italian, ‘Asian’). Most preferred to learn from television (68%), newspapers and magazines (41%), although attendance at cooking classes (34%), YouTube (27%) and special newsletters (24%) were also popular. There were few, weak associations between interest in cooking and the respondents' demographic characteristics. The findings are discussed in relation to the common problems faced by all domestic food preparers and the major opportunities to communicate about cooking. | [
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
10.1186/1741-7007-10-22 | Ubiquitin Ligases And Beyond | In a review published in 2004 [1] and that still repays reading today, Cecile Pickart traced the evolution of research on ubiquitination from its origins in the proteasomal degradation of proteins through the revelation that it has a central role in cell cycle regulation and the recognition of regulatory roles for ubiquitin in intracellular membrane transport, cell signalling, transcription, translation, and DNA repair. Pickart's article marked the expansion of ubiquitination from what most regarded as a niche preoccupation, with implications only for housekeeping protein turnover and the destruction of damaged ribosomal products, to seize the attention and excite the imagination of researchers in every area of cell biology. Comparisons to phosphorylation are rife - specific ubiquitin ligases promote ubiquitination and deubiquitinating enzymes terminate its effects of ubiquitination just as ubiquitination just as kinases and phosphatases induce and terminate the effects of phosphorylation - though ubiquitination, unlike phosphorylation, can operate irreversibly, by delivering its targets to the proteasome: hence its vital role in the progression of the cell cycle. It was already clear in 2004 that the number of ubiquitinating and deubiquitinating enzymes was very large, and that ubiquitin tags can be attached to proteins either as monomers or as poly-ubiquitin chains. But it had only recently been discovered that there are at least seven different kinds of poly-ubiquitin chains, and how the diversity of poly-ubiquitin signals is generated and interpreted in cells was in large part territory still to be explored. In a series of articles the first three of which are published this month, we review what is now known about some of the central issues in research on ubiquitination, revisiting the questions of how ubiquitin signals are conjugated to and removed from specific targets, and how they are recognized and contribute to the regulation of central processes in cells. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
10.1109/PDP.2017.79 | Privacy Preserving Location Proximity For Mobile Apps | Location Based Services (LBS) have seen alarming privacy breaches in recent years. While there has been much recent progress by the research community on developing privacy-enhancing mechanisms for LBS, their evaluation has been often focused on the privacy guarantees, while the question of whether these mechanisms can be adopted by practical LBS applications has received limited attention. This paper studies the applicability of Privacy-Preserving Location Proximity (PPLP) protocols in the setting of mobile apps. We categorize popular location social apps and analyze the trade-offs of privacy and functionality with respect to PPLP enhancements. To investigate the practical performance trade-offs, we present an in-depth case study of an Android application that implements InnerCircle, a state-of-the-art protocol for privacy-preserving location proximity. This study indicates that the performance of the privacy-preserving application for coarse-grained precision is comparable to real applications with the same feature set. | [
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
]
|
10.1016/j.hydroa.2020.100072 | Flood severity along the Usumacinta River, Mexico: Identifying the anthropogenic signature of tropical forest conversion | Anthropogenic activities are altering flood frequency-magnitude distributions along many of the world's large rivers. Yet isolating the impact of any single factor amongst the multitudes of competing anthropogenic drivers is a persistent challenge. The Usumacinta River in southeastern Mexico provides an opportunity to study the anthropogenic driver of tropical forest conversion in isolation, as the long meteorological and discharge records capture the river's response to large-scale agricultural expansion without interference from development activities such as dams or channel modifications. We analyse continuous daily time series of precipitation, temperature, and discharge to identify long-term trends, and employ a novel approach to disentangle the signal of deforestation by normalising daily discharges by 90-day mean precipitation volumes from the contributing area in order to account for climatic variability. We also identify an anthropogenic signature of tropical forest conversion at the intra-annual scale, reproduce this signal using a distributed hydrological model (VMOD), and demonstrate that the continued conversion of tropical forest to agricultural land use will further exacerbate large-scale flooding. We find statistically significant increasing trends in annual minimum, mean, and maximum discharges that are not evident in either precipitation or temperature records, with mean monthly discharges increasing between 7% and 75% in the past decades. Model results demonstrate that forest cover loss is responsible for raising the 10-year return peak discharge by 25%, while the total conversion of forest to agricultural use would result in an additional 18% rise. These findings highlight the need for an integrated basin-wide approach to land management that considers the impacts of agricultural expansion on increased flood prevalence, and the economic and social costs involved. | [
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
]
|
10.1038/jhh.2013.88 | Blood pressure changes after renal denervation at 10 European expert centers | We did a subject-level meta-analysis of the changes (Δ) in blood pressure (BP) observed 3 and 6 months after renal denervation (RDN) at 10 European centers. Recruited patients (n=109; 46. 8% women; mean age 58. 2 years) had essential hypertension confirmed by ambulatory BP. From baseline to 6 months, treatment score declined slightly from 4. 7 to 4. 4 drugs per day. Systolic/diastolic BP fell by 17. 6/7. 1 mm Hg for office BP, and by 5. 9/3. 5, 6. 2/3. 4, and 4. 4/2. 5 mm Hg for 24-h, daytime and nighttime BP (P≤0. 03 for all). In 47 patients with 3- and 6-month ambulatory measurements, systolic BP did not change between these two time points (P≥0. 08). Normalization was a systolic BP of <140 mm Hg on office measurement or <130 mm Hg on 24-h monitoring and improvement was a fall of ≥10 mm Hg, irrespective of measurement technique. For office BP, at 6 months, normalization, improvement or no decrease occurred in 22. 9, 59. 6 and 22. 9% of patients, respectively; for 24-h BP, these proportions were 14. 7, 31. 2 and 34. 9%, respectively. Higher baseline BP predicted greater BP fall at follow-up; higher baseline serum creatinine was associated with lower probability of improvement of 24-h BP (odds ratio for 20-μmol l -1 increase, 0. 60; P=0. 05) and higher probability of experiencing no BP decrease (OR, 1. 66; P=0. 01). In conclusion, BP responses to RDN include regression-to-the-mean and remain to be consolidated in randomized trials based on ambulatory BP monitoring. For now, RDN should remain the last resort in patients in whom all other ways to control BP failed, and it must be cautiously used in patients with renal impairment. | [
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
]
|
W1540320462 | Impact assessment of AC and DC electric rope shovels on coal mine power distribution system | Electric rope shovel is a major piece of equipment in coal mines. They consume significant amounts of power and each of their motions require few thousands kVA. Therefore, commissioning a new shovel in the existing power system of a mine has to be done with very careful analysis of its impact on the network. Aspects such as load flow studies, fault analysis, protection co-ordination, harmonic analysis and arc flash studies are of great interest for the power system engineers on site. The aim of this research paper is to present the modeling process used to simulate the operation of both an electric rope shovel in operation and another new shovel to be commissioned in a coal mine and assess their impact on the power system. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
interreg_3586 | Technological Transformation & Transitioning of Regional Economies | The debate on the implications of technological transformation is just beginning and the potential impacts in the long-term cannot yet be fully known. However, it is clear that regions and cities throughout the EU currently demonstrate differing capacities, socioeconomic profiles, levels of knowledge, attitudes and readiness to cope with transformative technological change, placing major importance on regional policies in the coming years.There is a growing recognition that one-size-fits-all policies cannot address effectively the differential challenges faced in different geographies. This is reflected in the White Paper and the Seventh Cohesion Report which calls for more targeted support in places which are being left behind. Similarly, the recently published ‘Renewed EU Industrial Policy Strategy’ highlights the need to provide “tailor-made and joined-up support to address the specific challenges of regions going through an acute crisis or falling into decline”.The objective of this research is to provide a pan-European investigation of the territorial dimensions of current technological transformations and the transitioning of regional economies in Europe. The research should develop an understanding about what the technological transformation means from a territorial perspective and examine how emerging technologies are actively (re)shaping regional economies in different geographical contexts and the territorial and structural changes they are bringing (and likely to bring) about, focusing, in particular, on the transport, manufacturing and energy sectors, where the territorial impacts are likely to be strongest and most pervasive. | [
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
]
|
W2162878038 | Divorcing China: The Swing from the Patrilineal Genealogy of China to the Matrilineal Genealogy of Taiwan in Taiwan's National Imagination | This paper explores the popular concept of the relationship between Taiwan and China as a feminine/ masculine dichotomy which has been constructed within Taiwan's national imagination. First, I will focus on how this dichotomy has been created within the process of identity-shifting in Taiwan since the 1990s as manifested in Taiwanese pop songs. Second, I will demonstrate how it has been appropriated within the process of nation-building. Two primary questions will be addressed: How is the national imagination of Taiwan in Taiwanese pop songs constructed through maternal and feminine images? How is the matrilineal genealogy in Taiwanese pop songs appropriated by the opposition camp, namely the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to mobilize voters? I will investigate, from a cultural studies perspective, how cultural imagination has come to serve as the vehicle to formulate resistance, mobilize voters, gain power and, most importantly, reconstruct Taiwanese nationalism within Taiwan's political limbo for decades. Furthermore, Margaret Somers' discussion (1993, 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 1995c; Somers and Gibson 1994) of narrative identity is adopted as the framework for this paper in order to look at how identities are constructed within and across multiple realms. My research methods consist of conducting in-depth interviews and analysing texts. | [
"Texts and Concepts",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
]
|
10.1002/hbm.22644 | Differential lateralization of hippocampal connectivity reflects features of recent context and ongoing demands: An examination of immediate post-task activity | Neuroimaging studies have shown that task demands affect connectivity patterns in the human brain not only during task performance but also during subsequent rest periods. Our goal was to determine whether ongoing connectivity patterns during rest contain information about both the current rest state, as well as the recently terminated task. Our experimental design consisted of two types of active tasks that were followed by two types of low-demand rest states. Using this design, we examined whether hippocampal functional connectivity during wakeful rest reflects both features of a recently terminated task and those of the current resting-state condition. We identified four types of networks: (i) one whose connectivity with the hippocampus was determined only by features of a recently terminated task, (ii) one whose connectivity was determined only by features of the current resting-state, (iii) one whose connectivity reflected aspects of both the recently terminated task and ongoing resting-state features, and (iv) one whose connectivity with the hippocampus was strong, but not affected by any external factor. The left and right hippocampi played distinct roles in these networks. These findings suggest that ongoing hippocampal connectivity networks mediate information integration across multiple temporal scales, with hippocampal laterality moderating these connectivity patterns. | [
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System"
]
|
10.1038/nmeth.2645 | Accounting for technical noise in single-cell RNA-seq experiments | Single-cell RNA-seq can yield valuable insights about the variability within a population of seemingly homogeneous cells. We developed a quantitative statistical method to distinguish true biological variability from the high levels of technical noise in single-cell experiments. Our approach quantifies the statistical significance of observed cell-to-cell variability in expression strength on a gene-by-gene basis. We validate our approach using two independent data sets from Arabidopsis thaliana and Mus musculus. | [
"Mathematics",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
169440 | Next-Comm: event-driven design approach to achieve maximum energy efficiency for the next generation digital communication circuits” | Dr. Christos Vezyrtzis is currently employed in the US as an IBM Research Staff Member, after concluding his PhD at Columbia University in the City of New York! Instead of a life-long career in the US, he decided to take the step back to Europe. Through his unique expertise in continuous-time digital signal processors, he will acquire a career in Europe, establishing himself in the field of next-generation communication circuits.
The primary technical focus is the novel event-driven design approach to achieve maximum energy efficiency for the next generation digital communication circuits. This will lead to a drastic reduction in power cost, environmentally friendly products and significantly prolonged operation time. The novel radios will have a cleaner emitted spectrum, less interference which leads to higher data rates (closer to the theoretical limit). Improvement in energy-efficiency will help the European market get one step ahead of the competitors, mainly in the US and Asia.
Infineon, as the host organization, is highly supportive to this idea gaining one of the top-level experts in asynchronous and continuous-time digital circuits to strengthen the European Semiconductor Industry. Such effort will greatly benefit from Dr. Vezyrtzis’ extensive skills in the new and upcoming field of continuous-time digital circuits. The Marie S. Curie funding gives Dr. Vezyrtzis the freedom to develop his own strategy to re-integrate in Europe while gaining additional industry experience and support an application oriented research project for future communication solutions.
The career goal for the researcher is to find a long-term position in European research, starting in industry to get an additional set of capabilities while investing his know-how in the project. At the end of the Marie S Curie fellowship he will have clarity about his further path in Europe – being qualified for industry as well as for academia. | [
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
]
|
10.1371/journal.pgen.1004448 | The Two Cis-Acting Sites, parS1 and oriC1, Contribute to the Longitudinal Organisation of Vibrio cholerae Chromosome I | The segregation of bacterial chromosomes follows a precise choreography of spatial organisation. It is initiated by the bipolar migration of the sister copies of the replication origin (ori). Most bacterial chromosomes contain a partition system (Par) with parS sites in close proximity to ori that contribute to the active mobilisation of the ori region towards the old pole. This is thought to result in a longitudinal chromosomal arrangement within the cell. In this study, we followed the duplication frequency and the cellular position of 19 Vibrio cholerae genome loci as a function of cell length. The genome of V. cholerae is divided between two chromosomes, chromosome I and II, which both contain a Par system. The ori region of chromosome I (oriI) is tethered to the old pole, whereas the ori region of chromosome II is found at midcell. Nevertheless, we found that both chromosomes adopted a longitudinal organisation. Chromosome I extended over the entire cell while chromosome II extended over the younger cell half. We further demonstrate that displacing parS sites away from the oriI region rotates the bulk of chromosome I. The only exception was the region where replication terminates, which still localised to the septum. However, the longitudinal arrangement of chromosome I persisted in Par mutants and, as was reported earlier, the ori region still localised towards the old pole. Finally, we show that the Par-independent longitudinal organisation and oriI polarity were perturbed by the introduction of a second origin. Taken together, these results suggest that the Par system is the major contributor to the longitudinal organisation of chromosome I but that the replication program also influences the arrangement of bacterial chromosomes. | [
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
W2078281797 | Immune responses of mice against recombinant bovine herpesvirus 5 glycoprotein D | Glycoprotein D (gD) is essential for attachment and penetration of Bovine herpesvirus 5 (BoHV-5) into permissive cells, and is a major target of the host immune system, inducing strong humoral and cellular immune responses. The aim of this study was to evaluate in mice the immunogenicity of recombinant BoHV-5 gD (rgD5) expressed in Pichia pastoris. Vaccines formulated with rgD5 alone or adjuvanted with Montanide 50 ISA V2; Emulsigen or Emulsigen-DDA was administered intramuscularly or subcutaneously. Almost all formulations stimulated a humoral immune response after the first inoculation. The only exception was observed when the rgD5 was administered subcutaneously without adjuvant, in this case, the antibodies were observed after three doses. Higher titers of neutralizing antibodies were obtained with the three oil-based adjuvant formulations when compared to non-adjuvanted vaccine formulations. The rgD5 vaccine stimulated high mRNA expression levels of Th1 (INF-γ) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-17, GM-CSF). The results demonstrated that the recombinant gD from BoHV-5 conserved important epitopes for viral neutralization from native BoHV-5 gD and was able to elicit mixed Th1/Th2 immune response in mice. | [
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
]
|
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