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10.2514/6.2012-1739
|
Optimum Design Of A Pid Controller For The Adaptive Torsion Wing Using Ga
|
This paper presents the optimum design of a PID controller for the Adaptive Torsion Wing (ATW) using the genetic algorithm (GA) optimiser. The ATW is a thin-wall, twospar wingbox whose torsional stiffness can be adjusted by translating the spar webs in the chordwise direction inward and towards each. The reduction in torsional stiffness allows external aerodynamic loads to deform the wing and maintain its shape. The ATW is integrated within the wing of a representative UAV to replace conventional ailerons and provide roll control. The ATW is modelled as a two-dimensional equivalent aerofoil using bending and torsion shape functions to express the equations of motion in terms of the twist angle and plunge displacement at the wingtip. The full equations of motion for the ATW equivalent aerofoil were derived using Lagrangian mechanics. The aerodynamic lift and moment acting on the aerofoil were modelled using Theodorsen’s unsteady aerodynamic theory. The equations of motion are then linearized around an equilibrium position and the GA is employed to design a PID controller for the linearized system to minimise the actuation power require. Finally, the sizing and selection of a suitable actuator is performed.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
10.1109/LWC.2017.2735974
|
Coverage And Rate Of Downlink Sequence Transmissions With Reliability Guarantees
|
Real-time distributed control is a promising application of 5G in which communication links should satisfy certain reliability guarantees. In this letter, we derive closed-form maximum average rate when a device (e. g. , industrial machine) downloads a sequence of $ n$ operational commands through cellular connection, while guaranteeing a certain signal-to-interference ratio ( $ {\mathsf {SIR}}$ ) coverage for all $n$ messages. The result is based on novel closed-form $n$ -successive $ {\mathsf {SIR}}$ coverage bounds. The proposed bounds provide simple approximations that are increasingly accurate in the high reliability region.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
W2155488926
|
The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST)
|
The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST, also called the Guo Shou Jing Telescope) is a special reflecting Schmidt telescope. LAMOST's special design allows both a large aperture (effective aperture of 3.6 m–4.9 m) and a wide field of view (FOV) (5°). It has an innovative active reflecting Schmidt configuration which continuously changes the mirror's surface that adjusts during the observation process and combines thin deformable mirror active optics with segmented active optics. Its primary mirror (6.67 m × 6.05 m) and active Schmidt mirror (5.74m × 4.40m) are both segmented, and composed of 37 and 24 hexagonal sub-mirrors respectively. By using a parallel controllable fiber positioning technique, the focal surface of 1.75 m in diameter can accommodate 4000 optical fibers. Also, LAMOST has 16 spectrographs with 32 CCD cameras. LAMOST will be the telescope with the highest rate of spectral acquisition. As a national large scientific project, the LAMOST project was formally proposed in 1996, and approved by the Chinese government in 1997. The construction started in 2001, was completed in 2008 and passed the official acceptance in June 2009. The LAMOST pilot survey was started in October 2011 and the spectroscopic survey will launch in September 2012. Up to now, LAMOST has released more than 480000 spectra of objects. LAMOST will make an important contribution to the study of the large-scale structure of the Universe, structure and evolution of the Galaxy, and cross-identification of multi-waveband properties in celestial objects.
|
[
"Universe Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1016/j.dyepig.2017.10.038
|
Benzothiadiazole derivatives functionalized with two different (hetero)aromatic donor groups: Synthesis and evaluation as TiO<inf>2</inf> sensitizers for DSSCs
|
A series of benzothiadiazole-based push-pull heterocyclic systems were synthesized and characterized in order to study the variations induced by different aromatic and heterocyclic donor groups in the optical, electronic and photovoltaic properties of DSSCs prepared with the respective cyanoacetic acid derivatives. The organic sensitizers bear a 5-hexyl-2,2′-bithienyl or N,N-diphenylanilino donor moieties conjugated with a thienyl-benzothiadiazole spacer functionalized with the electron acceptor/anchoring cyanoacetic acid group. The solar cell based on TiO2 sensitized with the novel dye bearing the 5-hexyl-2,2′-bithienyl donor, exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 0. 95 % due the inefficient electron injection. Co-adsorption studies of the same dye resulted in enhanced photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 2. 49 %, which represents an improvement of cell efficiency of 260 %. The sensitizer bearing the N,N-diphenylanilino donor exhibited 4. 51 % power conversion efficiency, that was further enhanced by co-sensitization to 5. 22 % efficiency.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
10.1142/S0217751X11054978
|
Black Strings Black Rings And State Space Manifold
|
State-space geometry is considered, for diverse three and four parameter nonspherical horizon rotating black brane configurations, in string theory and M-theory. We have explicitly examined the case of unit Kaluza–Klein momentum D1D5P black strings, circular strings, small black rings and black supertubes. An investigation of the state-space pair correlation functions shows that there exist two classes of brane statistical configurations, viz. the first category divulges a degenerate intrinsic equilibrium basis, while the second yields a nondegenerate, curved, intrinsic Riemannian geometry. Specifically, the solutions with finitely many branes expose that the two charged rotating D1D5 black strings and three charged rotating small black rings consort real degenerate state-space manifolds. Interestingly, arbitrary valued M5-dipole charged rotating circular strings and Maldacena–Strominger–Witten black rings exhibit nondegenerate, positively curved, comprehensively regular state-space configurations. Furthermore, the state-space geometry of single bubbled rings admits a well-defined, positive definite, everywhere regular and curved intrinsic Riemannian manifold; except for the two finite values of conserved electric charge. We also discuss the implication and potential significance of this work for the physics of black holes in string theory.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
] |
W2060385250
|
On the linguistic effects of articulatory ease, with a focus on sign languages
|
Spoken language has a well-known drive for ease of articulation, which Kirchner (1998, 2004) analyzes as reduction of the total magnitude of all biomechanical forces involved. We extend Kirchner’s insights from vocal articulation to manual articulation, with a focus on joint usage, and we discuss ways that articulatory ease might be realized in sign languages. In particular, moving more joints and/or joints more proximal to the torso results in greater mass being moved, and thus more articulatory force being expended, than moving fewer joints or moving more distal joints. We predict that in casual conversation, where articulatory ease is prized, moving fewer joints should be favored over moving more, and moving distal joints should be favored over moving proximal joints. We report on the results of our study of the casual signing of fluent signers of American Sign Language, which confirm our predictions: in comparison to citation forms of signs, the casual variants produced by the signers in our experiment exhibit an overall decrease in average joint usage, as well as a general preference for more distal articulation than is used in citation form. We conclude that all language, regardless of modality, is shaped by a fundamental drive for ease of articulation. Our work advances a cross-modality approach for considering ease of articulation, develops a potentially important vocabulary for describing variations in signs, and demonstrates that American Sign Language exhibits variation that can be accounted for in terms of ease of articulation. We further suggest that the linguistic drive for ease of articulation is part of a broader tendency for the human body to reduce biomechanical effort in all physical activities.
|
[
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
223452
|
Aircraft noise reduction technologies and related environmental impact
|
With ARTEM (Aircraft noise Reduction Technologies and related Environmental iMpact), seven EREA members and strategic partners have teamed up with leading European universities and major entities of the European aerospace industry in order to address the technology challenges raised in the call MG-1-2-2017 “Reducing aviation noise”. ARTEM aims at the maturing of promising novel concepts and methods which are directly coupled to new low noise and disruptive 2035 and 2050 aircraft configurations. A core topic of ARTEM is the development of innovative technologies for the reduction of aircraft noise at the source. The approach chosen moves beyond the reduction of isolated sources as pure fan or landing gear noise and addresses the interaction of various components and sources - which often contributes significantly to the overall noise emission of the aircraft.
Secondly, ARTEM addresses innovative concepts for the efficient damping of engine noise and other sources by the investigation of dissipative surface materials and liners. The chosen technology concepts offer the chance to overcome shortcomings (as the narrow band absorption peak or poor low-frequency performance) of current devices. The tasks proposed will mature, and subsequently down select these technologies by comparative testing in a single relevant test setup. Furthermore, noise shielding potential for future aircraft configurations will be investigated. The noise reduction technologies will be coupled to the modelling of future aircraft configurations as the blended wing body (BWB) and other innovative concepts with integrated engines and distributed electrical propulsion. The impact of those new configurations with low noise technology will be assessed in several ways including industry tools, airport scenario predictions, and auralization.
Thereby, ARTEM constitutes a holistic approach for noise reduction for future aircrafts and provides enablers for the expected further increase of air traffic.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
283567
|
Perception and Action in Accelerating Environments
|
Navigating through the environment evokes complex changes of visual, auditory, vestibular, tactile and motor inputs to the brain. Yet, despite this motion, we perceive the world as a stable reality, maintain an integrated sense of where we are, and are able to act rather effortlessly upon surrounding objects. To date, little is known about how the processes for perception and action are maintained dynamically. This project is concerned with the learning and control strategies for perception and action in real-world accelerating environments. Its basic premise, based on statistical optimality principles, is that perception and action problems are related in many ways, not only at the computational level but also at the neural implementation level. The project aims to understand the computational algorithm and its neural embodiment for estimating the state of the world and selecting the right action in accelerating environments, distinguishing contributions of sensory, motor, and cognitive signals. A multidisciplinary approach will be used to understand the neural solutions at different scales and at different levels of abstraction (i.e. brain, behavior, simulations). In three projects, an experimental paradigm will be exploited in which healthy subjects and patients make perceptual judgments and generate motor actions in an accelerating environment. Guided by a comprehensive optimal control framework, behavioral measures will be combined with imaging (EEG) and neural perturbation (TMS) techniques in healthy subjects as well as sensory deprived subjects and cerebellar patients, to identify (adaptive) mechanisms and internal models for perception and action control under whole-body acceleration. This multi-pronged project will be directed at establishing causal links between spatiotemporal neural activation patterns and dynamic sensorimotor integration, and investigate the extent to which such links depend on the integrity of particular brain areas and sensory systems.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1080/21663831.2014.944676
|
Solid solubility and magnetism upon Mn incorporation in the bulk ternary carbides Cr<inf>2</inf>AlC and Cr<inf>2</inf>GaC
|
Herein, we report on the bulk synthesis of (Cr1−xMnx)2AlC and (Cr1−yMny)2GaCMAX phases. Scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy, in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy performed locally on MAXphase grains, revealed x and y to be 0. 06 (3 at%) and 0. 3 (15 at%), respectively. The introduction of Mn into the structure did not result in appreciable changes in the c-lattice constants. Vibrating sample magnetometry measurements suggest that bulk (Cr0. 7Mn0. 3)2GaC may be magnetic.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1016/j.critrevonc.2015.10.011
|
Targeting fatty acid metabolism in cancer and endothelial cells
|
Tumour angiogenesis has long been recognised as a target for anti-cancer therapy. The current approach of inhibiting the VEGF pathway has shown benefit in the clinic, though less than anticipated. We recently documented that glycolytic metabolism in endothelial cells (ECs) fuels angiogenesis, rendering it a possible target for inhibiting vascular growth in pathological conditions. More recently, we reported that the oxidation of fatty acids (FA) is irreplaceable for EC proliferation by providing carbons for de novo nucleotide synthesis. Furthermore, ECs are rather unique in this respect, creating novel therapeutic opportunities. Here, we review and compare the current understanding of FA utilisation in ECs and tumour cells (TCs).
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
] |
10.1137/100788161
|
Composition Of Low Error 2 Query Pcps Using Decodable Pcps
|
The main result of this paper is a generic composition theorem for low-error two-query probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs). Prior to this work, composition of PCPs was well understood only in the constant error regime. Existing composition methods in the low-error regime were nonmodular (i. e. , very much tailored to the specific PCPs that were being composed), resulting in complicated constructions of PCPs. Furthermore, until recently, composition in the low-error regime suffered from incurring an extra “consistency” query, resulting in PCPs that are not “two-query” and hence, much less useful for hardness-of-approximation reductions. In a recent breakthrough, Moshkovitz and Raz (Proceedings of the 49th IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS), 2008) [J. ACM, 57 (2010)] constructed almost linear-sized low-error 2-query PCPs for every language in NP. Indeed, the main technical component of their construction is a novel composition of certain specific PCPs. We generalize and abstract th. . .
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
US 201414564478 A
|
WEB SUBSTRATES HAVING WIDE COLOR GAMUT INDICIA PRINTED THEREON
|
A paper product of the present disclosure having at least one ply is disclosed. At least one outer surface of the web substrate has indicia comprising at least one ink disposed thereon and substantially affixed thereto. The indicia is defined by CIELab coordinate values disposed inside a boundary described by the MacAdam 3-D gamut and CIELab coordinate values disposed outside a boundary described by the Kien 3-D gamut. Alternatively, the indicia is defined by CIELab coordinate values disposed inside a boundary described by the MacAdam 2 -D gamut and CIELab coordinate values disposed outside a boundary described by the Kien 2-D gamut. The indicia have a dot gain of less than 20%.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1063/1.5116760
|
Cation Dependent Electroosmotic Flow In Glass Nanopores
|
We present our findings on the changes to electroosmotic flow outside glass nanopores with respect to the choice of Group 1 cation species. In contrast to standard electrokinetic theory, flow reversal was observed for all salts under a negative driving voltage. Moving down Group 1 resulted in weaker flow when the driving voltage was negative, in line with the reduction in the zeta potential on the glass surface going down the periodic table. No trend emerged with a positive driving voltage; however, for Cs, flow was uniquely found to be in reverse. These results are explained by the interplay between the flow inside the nanopore and flow along the outer walls in the vicinity of the nanopore.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
267352
|
Exploring the Terauniverse with the LHC, Astrophysics and Cosmology
|
The visible matter in the Universe is well described by the Standard Model, but this leaves open major questions in both particle physics and cosmology that may be answered by new physics at the Tera-electron-Volt range: the Terascale. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will soon open a new stage in humanity’s direct exploration of the fundamental physical laws at Terascale energies, which governed the evolution of the Universe a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, and are essential for understanding high-energy astrophysics. In addition to unraveling the intimate structure of matter at the Terascale, e.g., by discovering the source of particle masses and exploring matter-antimatter asymmetry, the LHC will address key cosmological issues such as how dark and conventional matter originated, which may well have been at the Terascale, and the nature of the primordial plasma that filled the Universe. This proposal will lead the understanding whatever new physics the LHC may reveal, incorporating insights from cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and speculative ideas such as string theory. This interdisciplinary approach will also facilitate the application of knowledge acquired from the LHC to fundamental cosmological and astrophysical problems, as well as illuminate future collider priorities, e.g., for LHC upgrades and/or a linear collider. This proposal will bring together particle theorists, experimentalists, astroparticle physicists and experts on field and string theory in the framework of a new ‘London Centre for Terauniverse Studies’. This will provide new opportunities for students and other young researchers to get directly involved in making LHC discoveries and exploring their implications for the Universe, and provide a mechanism for transferring to them interdisciplinary skills.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Universe Sciences"
] |
10.1517/14712598.2014.895811
|
Gene Therapy For Inherited Immunodeficiency
|
Introduction: During the last decade, gene therapy has emerged as a convincing therapy for primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs). Ex vivo gene transfer into autologous hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) via viral vectors permits sustained correction of T cell immunodeficiency in two forms of severe combined immunodeficiency: X–linked SCID (SCID-X1) (γ chain [γc] deficiency) and adenosine deaminase deficiency. However, this success has been balanced by the occurrence of genotoxicity generated by the integration of first-generation retroviral vectors. Recently, the development of safer self-inactivating vectors has led to the initiation of new studies with the hope of equivalent efficacy and a better safety profile. Areas covered: This review article focuses on the updated results of gene therapy trials for PIDs – from early studies to ongoing clinical trials. We detail the major advances made in gene transfer and repair technologies, and discuss the many ways to extend our present experience. Expert opinion: With. . .
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
] |
630044
|
The retrofitting market activation platform based on the generation of standard modules for energy efficiency and clean energy solutions
|
re-MODULEES aims at the creation of an EU-wide “umbrella” framework for EE in existing residential buildings based on the generation of standard modules for the retrofit market activation and up-take. Modularity is to be intended as multi-level: it regards the “breakdown” of the overall retrofit process into standardized segments; and multi-target: it regards their customization according to regional climatic, building, socio-economic and market conditions, in order to shape more effective tools and approaches through which to maximise cost-optimality, positive spillovers and impact. This framework is based on clustering of efforts and evidences, and would allow shaping cross-regional policies, and generating wider homogeneous, integrated and facilitated retrofitting market areas. For this reason, re-MODULEES aims to be a strategic capitalization project which, by leveraging on the wide background of several H2020 projects (as well as from other EU programs), will join and combine knowledge, approaches and tools already available within its clear modular framework, so to optimize their uptake on local markets.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.03.006
|
Narrative ordering and explanation
|
This paper investigates the important role of narrative in social science case-based research. The focus is on the use of narrative in creating a productive ordering of the materials within such cases, and on how such ordering functions in relation to ‘narrative explanation’. It argues that narrative ordering based on juxtaposition - using an analogy to certain genres of visual representation - is associated with creating and resolving puzzles in the research field. Analysis of several examples shows how the use of conceptual or theoretical resources within the narrative ordering of ingredients enables the narrative explanation of the case to be resituated at other sites, demonstrating how such explanations can attain scope without implying full generality.
|
[
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
10.1063/1.4873357
|
Predicting For Thermodynamic Instabilities In Water Oil Surfactant Microemulsions A Mesoscopic Modelling Approach
|
The thermodynamics and structural properties of flexible and rigid nonionic water/oil/surfactant microemulsions have been investigated using a two level-cut Gaussian random field method based on the Helfrich formalism. Ternary stability diagrams and scattering spectra have been calculated for different surfactant rigidities and spontaneous curvatures. A more important contribution of the Gaussian elastic constants compared to the bending one is observed on the ternary stability diagrams. Furthermore, influence of the spontaneous curvature of the surfactant points out a displacement of the instability domains which corresponds to the difference between the spontaneous and effective curvatures. We enlighten that a continuous transition from a connected water in oil droplets to a frustrated locally lamellar (oil in water in oil droplets) microstructure is found to occur when increasing the temperature for an oil-rich microemulsion. This continuous transition translated in a shift in the scattering functions, points out that the phase inversion phenomenon occurs by a coalescence of the water droplets.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1088/1742-5468/2014/05/P05023
|
Universal Hierarchical Behavior Of Citation Networks
|
Many of the essential features of the evolution of scientific research are imprinted in the structure of citation networks. Connections in these networks imply information about the transfer of knowledge among papers, or, in other words, edges describe the impact of papers on other publications. This inherent meaning of the edges implies that citation networks can exhibit hierarchical features that are typical of networks based on decision making. In this paper, we investigate the hierarchical structure of citation networks consisting of papers in the same field. We find that the majority of the networks follow a universal trend towards a highly hierarchical state, and the various fields display differences only concerning (i) their phase in life (distance from the 'birth' of a field) or (ii) the characteristic time according to which they are approaching the stationary state. We also show by a simple argument that the alterations in the behavior are related to and can be understood by the degree of specialization corresponding to the fields. Our results suggest that during the accumulation of knowledge in a given field, some papers are gradually becoming relatively more influential than most other papers.
|
[
"Mathematics",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
interreg_581
|
Coastal areas sustainable tourism water management in the Mediterranean
|
CASTWATER is the first MED project to support sustainable tourism policies & practices on water efficiency in coastal areas. The transnational challenge is to reduce the impact of tourism activities on environmental heritage and to improve management of water resources. The project's overall objective is to support sustainable tourism water management in Med coastal areas, by improving the monitoring and assessment of the water sustainability performance of the tourism sector. CASTWATER follows a studying, testing and transferring approach of transnational cooperation, involving public authorities, tourism enterprises, and relevant agencies and stakeholders. Main outputs are: _x000D_
1. Promotion of widespead uptake of water sustainability indicators & evaluation criteria to measure the tourism sector performance in water efficiency._x000D_
2. Development, validation, pilot testing and evaluation of an online tool for SMEs to monitor, compare and self-assess water efficiency status & efforts, and for public authorities to identify issues, and assess the overall situation of their territories. _x000D_
3. Transferable learning & knowledge resources, and local workshops for public authorities staff on sustainable tourism water management._x000D_
4. Transferability and action plans for public authorities to support the policy integration of sustainable tourism water management approaches into policies and measures, and for enterprises to integrate best practices in their day to day operations.
|
[
"Earth System Science",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
] |
10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02972
|
Vimentin Intermediate Filaments Undergo Irreversible Conformational Changes during Cyclic Loading
|
Intermediate filaments (IFs) are part of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells and, therefore, are largely responsible for the cell's mechanical properties. IFs are characterized by a pronounced extensibility and remarkable resilience that enable them to support cells in extreme situations. Previous experiments showed that, under strain, α-helices in vimentin IFs might unfold to β-sheets. Upon repeated stretching, the filaments soften; however, the remaining plastic strain is negligible. Here, we observe that vimentin IFs do not recover their original stiffness on reasonable time scales, and we explain these seemingly contradicting results by introducing a third, less well-defined conformational state. Reversibility on the nanoscale can be fully rescued by introducing cross-linkers that prevent transition to the β-sheet. Our results classify IFs as a nanomaterial with intriguing mechanical properties, which is likely to play a major role for the cell's local adaption to external stimuli.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
636114
|
Extensions of temporal representations for ontology-based and holistic reasoning in the mobile quality of life domain
|
The concept of Quality of Life (QoL) involves several dimensions, such as physical health and psychological state, which can be assessed by mobile resources and integrated to support holistic processes of reasoning and interventions. Ontologies are the main approach to organise and integrate such data in the form of knowledge. However, while temporal aspects are usually present in the health domain, modelling information evolving time/events in ontologies is a complex problem since temporal relations are ternary and cannot be directly handled by ontology languages. This lack of expressiveness restricts the power of the reasoning processes because several time aspects, which are usually embedded in the QoL domain, cannot be employed. This project aims to design a conceptual framework for representation and reasoning about temporal aspects, associated with an ontological engineering method to guide the use of this novel framework during the process of converting static ontologies to their temporal versions. This approach will be used over the development of four case studies: (1) general QoL ontology to represent the data acquired by the Quality of Life technologies lab over its longitudinal mobile assessments; (2) specialization of the QoL ontology for the aging population; (3) use of the previous ontologies as background knowledge to support the generation of explanations for inductive reasoning; and (4) use of the previous ontologies for QoL deduction-based interventions. The validation of these ontologies and their applications will consider technical (identification of inconsistencies and contradiction) and empirical (ability to provide answers for competency questions) methods. As the main expected result, this project intends to deliver a pragmatic strategy to support the creation of knowledge-based resources that can in fact improve the QoL of the general public and be adapted to cover the particularities of specific population features.
|
[
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1088/1367-2630/17/2/023025
|
Optomechanical Dirac Physics
|
Recent progress in optomechanical systems may soon allow the realization of optomechanical arrays, i. e. periodic arrangements of interacting optical and vibrational modes. We show that photons and phonons on a honeycomb lattice will produce an optically tunable Dirac-type band structure. Transport in such a system can exhibit transmission through an optically created barrier, similar to Klein tunneling, but with interconversion between light and sound. In addition, edge states at the sample boundaries are dispersive and enable controlled propagation of photon–phonon polaritons.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
632546
|
Revealing the synapse architecture and plasticity by structural interactomics
|
Brain function crucially depends on chemical neurotransmission at synapses, while, conversely, synaptic dysfunction underlies neurological and psychiatric disorders. Synapses are composed of more than 2,000 distinct proteins, spatially organized into specialized molecular machineries. During decades of efforts, researchers have acquired a wealth of knowledge on individual key components of the synapse. However, the overall picture of the spatial arrangement, molecular architecture and interaction network of the synaptic proteome remains largely uncharted. Furthermore, innovative methods that allow system-wide profiling of these organizational aspects of synaptic proteins are in great demand.
I propose to develop a highly sensitive cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) pipeline to analyze structural and organizational features of the synaptic proteome at an unprecedented depth and comprehensiveness. In parallel, I also plan to establish quantitative XL-MS strategies to reveal global network rearrangements and complex-specific alterations during long-term potentiation, which arguably is the most attractive cellular model for learning and memory. Importantly, it is foreseeable that numerous novel insights can be discovered, for which I will use complementary approaches and tools, such as biochemistry, super-resolution imaging, structural modelling and network analysis to validate and interrogate their molecular details and network principles. These studies will yield groundbreaking insights into the molecular architecture of the synapse and thereby fill a crucial knowledge gap in neuroscience. Furthermore, they will provide a framework to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic regulation in synaptic plasticity and synaptic dysfunction in neurological disorders.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
W2124040735
|
NETWORK GOVERNANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: CONFLICT AND COOPERATION
|
In this article we propose structural preconditions for effective network governance, including network structures that can facilitate effective coordination of action (such as relational and structural embeddedness), and agreement among network actors about goals and actions. We illustrate circumstances in which these preconditions do not seem to be met through a case study of environmental governance of a major water resource – the Swan River in Western Australia. This governance system, since changed by legislation, did not exhibit embeddedness among its constituent organizations, and crucial relations involved contestation, with organizations apparently pursuing different goals. This paper demonstrates how advanced social network methods can be used to analyse a networked governance system. THE ROLE OF NETWORK GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS IN COMPLEX
|
[
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"Earth System Science"
] |
259133
|
The Low Energy Limit of String Theory and the Observable World
|
The long-standing challenge of string theory, confronting the real world, has become more pressing and at the same time tangible in view of the upcoming LHC. Since the low energy limit of the theory is the main stage where predictions can be compared with experimental data, the goal of this project is to develop a new unified framework to formulate, compute and analyze this limit and its phenomenology. Understanding the low energy limit of string theory at the level where it can be confronted with precision experiments requires two key elements. On one hand one must obtain the full low energy Lagrangians resulting from compactifications from ten to four dimensions. On the other hand, one must analyze the couplings of quarks and leptons, represented by open strings attached to branes. Attempts to construct four-dimensional effective theories have focused in the past on a particular class of six-dimensional spaces, but my work in the last few years has shown that realistic solutions arise from manifolds whose differential properties are actually much weaker and that these compactifications have an elegant reformulation in terms of a generalized version of Riemannian geometry. I plan to use the formalism of generalized geometry to obtain the full tree level, perturbative and non-perturbative corrections to the 4D LEEL resulting from compactifications on these manifolds, and to study their phenomenology. Obtaining the full LEEL is the key step towards understanding if the world as we see it today comes from a string theory compactification: only full knowledge of the Lagrangian allows us to determine in detail how these manifolds lead to theories having 4D isolated vacua with a tiny positive cosmological constant, and support branes whose gauge theory spectrum and couplings are those of the Standard Model. Furthermore, the LEEL will be compared with the data of tomorrow: masses and couplings of supersymmetric partners, if supersymmetry is found at the LHC.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1111/1574-6968.12432
|
Isolation And Characterization Of An Obligately Chemolithoautotrophic Halothiobacillus Strain Capable Of Growth On Thiocyanate As An Energy Source
|
Molecular and microbiological analysis of a laboratory bioreactor biomass oxidizing thiocyanate at autotrophic conditions and at 1 M NaCl showed a domination of a single chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium (SOB) capable of using thiocyanate as an energy source. The bacterium was isolated in pure cultures and identified as a member of the Halothiobacillus halophilus/hydrothermalis clade. This clade includes moderately halophilic chemolithoautotrophic SOB from marine and hypersaline habitats for which the ability to utilize thiocyanate as an electron donor has not been previously demonstrated. Halothiobacillus sp. strain SCN-R1 grew with thiocyanate as the sole energy and nitrogen source oxidizing it to sulfate and ammonium via the cyanate pathway. The pH range for thiocyanate oxidation was within a neutral region between 7 and 8 and the range of salinity was from 0. 2 to 1. 5 M NaCl, with an optimum at 0. 5 M. Despite the close phylogenetic relatedness, none of the tested type strains and other isolates from the H. halophilus/hydrothermalis group exhibited thiocyanate-oxidizing capacity.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
10.1210/en.2015-1634
|
Identification of the Long-Sought Leptin in Chicken and Duck: Expression Pattern of the Highly GC-Rich Avian leptin Fits an Autocrine/Paracrine Rather Than Endocrine Function
|
Abstract
More than 20 years after characterization of the key regulator of mammalian energy balance, leptin, we identified the leptin (LEP) genes of chicken (Gallus gallus) and duck (Anas platyrhynchos). The extreme guanine-cytosine content (∼70%), the location in a genomic region with low-complexity repetitive and palindromic sequence elements, the relatively low sequence conservation, and low level of expression have hampered the identification of these genes until now. In vitro-expressed chicken and duck leptins specifically activated signaling through the chicken leptin receptor in cell culture. In situ hybridization demonstrated expression of LEP mRNA in granular and Purkinje cells of the cerebellum, anterior pituitary, and in embryonic limb buds, somites, and branchial arches, suggesting roles in adult brain control of energy balance and during embryonic development. The expression patterns of LEP and the leptin receptor (LEPR) were explored in chicken, duck, and quail (Coturnix japonica) using RNA-sequencing experiments available in the Short Read Archive and by quantitative RT-PCR. In adipose tissue, LEP and LEPR were scarcely transcribed, and the expression level was not correlated to adiposity. Our identification of the leptin genes in chicken and duck genomes resolves a long lasting controversy regarding the existence of leptin genes in these species. This identification was confirmed by sequence and structural similarity, conserved exon-intron boundaries, detection in numerous genomic, and transcriptomic datasets and characterization by PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, and bioassays. Our results point to an autocrine/paracrine mode of action for bird leptin instead of being a circulating hormone as in mammals.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
10.1080/13510347.2011.572621
|
Democratic Transition And Social Spending The Case Of Pakistan In The 1990S
|
The article assesses the social consequences of the democratic transition that began in Pakistan in 1988 and ended in 1999 by analysing public spending for health and education and changes in human development indicators. Available information indicates that the return to democracy did not lead to greater spending in these two sectors. It is argued that the key internal factors that hampered government commitment to social welfare were the pre-eminence among elected representatives of social groups unwilling to invest in the human capital of the majority and the dominance of the armed forces in the country's power politics.
|
[
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
10.3389/fgene.2017.00232
|
Exploring the link between nucleosome occupancy and DNA methylation
|
Near promoters, both nucleosomes and CpG sites form characteristic spatial patterns. Previously, nucleosome depleted regions were observed upstream of transcription start sites and nucleosome occupancy was reported to correlate both with CpG density and the level of CpG methylation. Several studies imply a causal link where CpG methylation might induce nucleosome formation, whereas others argue the opposite, i. e. , that nucleosome occupancy might influence CpG methylation. Correlations are indeed evident between nucleosomes, CpG density and CpG methylation-at least near promoter sites. It is however less established whether there is an immediate causal relation between nucleosome occupancy and the presence of CpG sites-or if nucleosome occupancy could be influenced by other factors. In this work, we test for such causality in human genomes by analyzing the three quantities both near and away from promoter sites. For data from the human genome we compare promoter regions with given CpG densities with genomic regions without promoters but of similar CpG densities. We find the observed correlation between nucleosome occupancy and CpG density, respectively CpG methylation, to be specific to promoter regions. In other regions along the genome nucleosome occupancy is statistically independent of the positioning of CpGs or their methylation levels. Anti-correlation between CpG density and methylation level is however similarly strong in both regions. On promoters, nucleosome occupancy is more strongly affected by the level of gene expression than CpG density or CpG methylation-calling into question any direct causal relation between nucleosome occupancy and CpG organization. Rather, our results suggest that for organisms with cytosine methylation nucleosome occupancy might be primarily linked to gene expression, with no strong impact on methylation.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
W1973400212
|
PECULIAR SURFACE SIZE-EFFECTS IN <font>NaCl</font> NANO-CRYSTALS
|
While the major target of this contribution was the stabilization of the theoretically predicted CsCl form of the sodium chloride which could exhibit a singular and peculiar metallic behavior, this study took advantage of the nano-scaled aspect of the synthesized NaCl to report for the first time in the literature, the size dependence of various thermodynamic parameters of nano-sized NaCl crystals. More accurately, size effect on vaporization temperature of NaCl nano-crystals has been conducted on NaCl nanoparticles exhibiting a net shape anisotropy. The investigated nano-scaled NaCl particles were micrometric in the basal plane while nanometric in the transversal direction. An obvious size variation of the vaporization temperature is observed experimentally in agreement with the theoretical predictions. Specifically, the vaporization temperature T V decreases from almost 1680 (bulk) to 1290 K (nano-sized): a relative decrease of nearly 23.5%. The T V ≈ T(χ) size dependence where χ is the relative molar concentration of the initial NaCl precursor was found to follow the form T V (° C ) ≈ 750.7χ 2 - 340.1χ + 1002.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02633
|
Modifying Self-Assembled Peptide Cages to Control Internalization into Mammalian Cells
|
Nanoparticles can be used to transport a variety of biological cargoes into eukaryotic cells. Polypeptides provide a versatile material for constructing such systems. Previously, we have assembled nanoscale peptide cages (SAGEs) from de novo designed coiled-coil modules. Here, we show that the modules can be extended with short charged peptides to alter endocytosis of the assembled SAGE particles by cultured human cells in a tunable fashion. First, we find that the peptide extensions affect coiled-coil stability predictably: N-terminal polylysine and C-terminal polyglutamate tags are destabilizing; whereas, the reversed arrangements have little impact. Second, the cationic assembled particles are internalized faster and to greater extents by cells than the parent SAGEs. By contrast, anionic decorations markedly inhibit both aspects of uptake. These studies highlight how the modular SAGE system facilitates rational peptide design to fine-tune the bioactivity of nanoparticles, which should allow engineering of tailored cell-delivery vehicles.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.14318/HAU4.1.021
|
That S Enough About Ethnography
|
Ethnography has become a term so overused, both in anthropology and in contingent disciplines, that it has lost much of its meaning. I argue that to attribute “ethnographicness” to encounters with those among whom we carry on our research, or more generally to fieldwork, is to undermine both the ontological commitment and the educational purpose of anthropology as a discipline, and of its principal way of working—namely participant observation. It is also to reproduce a pernicious distinction between those with whom we study and learn, respectively within and beyond the academy. Anthropology’s obsession with ethnography, more than anything else, is curtailing its public voice. The way to regain it is through reasserting the value of anthropology as a forward-moving discipline dedicated to healing the rupture between imagination and real life.
|
[
"Studies of Cultures and Arts",
"The Social World and Its Interactions"
] |
676832
|
A Minimal-Tag Bioorthogonal Labelling Approach to Protein Uptake, Traffic and Delivery
|
The ability to probe dynamic cellular events that involve disease-associated proteins is limited, to a large extent, by the lack of development of a strategy that can use small coupling partners to react in chemoselective fashion with rapid kinetics that does not interfere with biological function(s) and localisation. In this application, I describe a conceptually new bioorthogonal-labelling approach that combines the introduction of a minimal non-canonical amino acid with chemoselective reactions, which display rapid kinetics, to label proteins in live cells. The small size of the new alkene-tagged amino acids, which will be genetically encoded, should not interfere with the protein’s innate structure, function(s) or localisation. Site-selective bioorthogonal labelling will be achieved through the use of a new photo-triggered [2+2] cycloaddition reaction with an alkene-bearing fluorophore and the known inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction with a fluorogenic tetrazine. Although the former offers potentially improved spatial and temporal resolution, the latter allows for turn-on fluorescence. The proposed new methodology will be applied in the context of a key cytokine involved in cancer progression. The ability to label this cytokine with minimal perturbation of its structure, function(s) and localisation will enable monitoring of its internalisation and intracellular trafficking pathways in cells that overexpress its receptor. In doing so, new insight into cancer biology will be generated that will inform the construction of safer, selective and more efficient protein-drug conjugates for targeted cancer treatment. The concept proposed here is designed to be generally applicable to label and study disease-associated proteins that are difficult to access by means of conventional protein-labelling methods and constitute the first integrated, interdisciplinary approach for the development of protein drug-conjugates.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1038/nature18959
|
Tempo and mode of genome evolution in a 50,000-generation experiment
|
Adaptation by natural selection depends on the rates, effects and interactions of many mutations, making it difficult to determine what proportion of mutations in an evolving lineage are beneficial. Here we analysed 264 complete genomes from 12 Escherichia coli populations to characterize their dynamics over 50,000 generations. The populations that retained the ancestral mutation rate support a model in which most fixed mutations are beneficial, the fraction of beneficial mutations declines as fitness rises, and neutral mutations accumulate at a constant rate. We also compared these populations to mutation-accumulation lines evolved under a bottlenecking regime that minimizes selection. Nonsynonymous mutations, intergenic mutations, insertions and deletions are overrepresented in the long-term populations, further supporting the inference that most mutations that reached high frequency were favoured by selection. These results illuminate the shifting balance of forces that govern genome evolution in populations adapting to a new environment.
|
[
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
FR 2004000859 W
|
CONTACTLESS MAGNETIC SENSOR FOR DETERMINATION OF THE LINEAR POSITION OF A MOVING BODY
|
The invention relates to a magnetic sensor for determination of the linear position of a moving body (2), moving in a linear fashion along a translation axis. The sensor comprises a measuring cell, arranged in a magnetic circuit, for measuring the variations in the value of the magnetic induction flux as a result of variations in the reluctance of the magnetic circuit. According to the invention, the sensor comprises a single fixed magnetic circuit between two fixed poles, defining a variation gap (4), in which at least one magnetic induction extends along a length parallel to the translation axis and at least equal to the track of the moving body for measurement is generated, said variation gap (4) being embodied to permits the linear movement of the moving body (2) which is provided with means for altering the reluctance of said variation gap, mechanically independent of said sensor and a measuring gap (7) in which the measuring cell is arranged.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1063/1.3469939
|
Transparent P Type Snox Thin Film Transistors Produced By Reactive Rf Magnetron Sputtering Followed By Low Temperature Annealing
|
P-type thin-film transistors (TFTs) using room temperature sputtered SnOx (x<2) as a transparent oxide semiconductor have been produced. The SnOx films show p-type conduction presenting a polycrystalline structure composed with a mixture of tetragonal β-Sn and α-SnOx phases, after annealing at 200 °C. These films exhibit a hole carrier concentration in the range of ≈1016–1018 cm−3; electrical resistivity between 101–102 Ω cm; Hall mobility around 4. 8 cm2/V s; optical band gap of 2. 8 eV; and average transmittance ≈85% (400 to 2000 nm). The bottom gate p-type SnOx TFTs present a field-effect mobility above 1 cm2/V s and an ON/OFF modulation ratio of 103.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1039/c9nr07083d
|
Protein-directed crystalline 2D fullerene assemblies
|
Repeat proteins with engineered tyrosine clamps enhance the innate properties of fullerenes in water soluble hybrid 2D crystalline materials with long range molecular order and photo-generated charge carrier capacity.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
643111
|
The biology of myelin and lipoproteins within a glial network
|
Myelin is an abundant, lipid-rich membrane structure formed by oligodendrocytes, each of which extends numerous processes to form distinct myelin internode segments along axons, thereby increasing neural processing speed and energetic efficiency. Myelin undergoes a life cycle with three fundamental distinct phases of metabolism, starting with an ‘anabolic’ phase of early postnatal myelin development, followed by a homeostatic, adult state, in which turnover is low, and ending with a ‘catabolic’, myelin degradative phase in aging. Here, I hypothesize that oligodendrocytes and their myelin sheaths are metabolically connected to other glial cells, and we therefore plan to analyze how the entire glial system interacts during these distinct phases. Key is that lipoproteins may function as vehicles in this communication to connect and regulate lipid metabolism in the cells. We will use systems biology approaches to characterize how astrocytes and microglia respond to myelin assembly and disassembly. I suggest that glial cells serve as a homeostatic control system to balance and buffer changes that occur during the myelin life cycle. This system is relevant in aging, and we therefore plan to analyze how glial cells react and adapt their metabolism to age-related white matter myelin degeneration, and how lipoproteins participate in this process. We will determine the molecular anatomy of the major lipoproteins in the CNS to explore the role of lipoproteins in neurodegenerative diseases to understand both their protective functions as detoxifiers, and also their maladaptive, inflammatory functions driving pathology. We would like to propose a work program, in which we link the fundamental biology of lipid metabolism to myelin in the normal and diseased central nervous system. This approach will not only shed light on myelin biology and lipoproteins function and dysfunction, but may also open the door to new therapeutic venues for neurological disorders.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
RU 2021106582 A
|
HEAVY LIQUID METAL COOLANT NUCLEAR REACTOR
|
FIELD: nuclear reactors.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a nuclear reactor with a heavy liquid metal coolant. In the inner space of a nuclear reactor, not occupied by the necessary equipment, containers filled with a material that reflects or absorbs neutrons with a heat capacity greater than the heat capacity of the coolant are placed with gaps that ensure the flow of the coolant. Moreover, the containers are placed in such a way that the resulting gaps form channels with a turbulent flow of the coolant for cooling these containers at a flow rate corresponding to the nominal power level of the nuclear reactor.EFFECT: increasing efficiency of radiation protection of the in-vessel equipment of a nuclear reactor, increasing the heat storage capacity of the primary circuit, reducing the weight of a nuclear reactor and improving its strength characteristics.14 cl
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1109/SMC.2016.7844765
|
Infectious Hospital Agents An Individual Based Simulation Framework
|
In this paper we present the plan, motivation, background, and the design of an agent-based simulation framework describing the spread of Hospital-Associated Infections (HAIs). We are developing a general simulation environment that is able to model wide range of pathogen transmission scenarios in hospital environment. The elements of the simulation include among others: admission and discharge patients, pathogen transmission via healthcare workers, colonization and infection, modelling hospital events, scheduling treatments, the interventions against HAI spreading. The evolution of the model is tracked in discrete time, and the simulation is driven by stochastic events sampled from predefined distributions. Our aim is to build a general, customisable and extensible simulation environment for the domain of HAIs, therefore the presented design is in Object-Oriented fashion. We implement the system in R using S4 classes, although the design is general. The results of the simulations are time series and transmission networks.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W2037190365
|
Aqueous polymeric micelles of poly[N-isopropylacrylamide-b-sodium 2-(acrylamido)-2-methylpropanesulfonate] with a spiropyran dimer pendant: quadruple stimuli-responsiveness
|
Poly[N-isopropylacrylamide-b-sodium 2-(acrylamido)-2-methylpropane sulfonate] tagged with a spiropyran dimer at the poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) end (SP2-b-NIPAM154-b-AMPS148) was synthesized by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to investigate multiple stimuli-responsive micelles. The micelles formed in aqueous solutions were stimulated by various chemical and physical stimuli and characterized by dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy and ζ-potential measurements. It was found that the block copolymer is responsive to four different types of stimulus viz. light, temperature, metal ion and pH. The NIPAM154 block gives thermo-responsiveness to the block copolymer and the AMPS148 block shows metal ion responsiveness. Due to the presence of the photochromic spiropyran moiety, the block copolymer also shows light and thermo-responsiveness. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report that deals with quadruple stimuli-responsive polymeric micelles. Such quadruple stimuli-responsive block copolymer micelles are expected to open up new applications in a variety of fields.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
172564
|
Exploiting protein complexes that induce cell-death
|
The formation of specific protein complexes are key events in life-and-death decisions made by cells. Inappropriate decisions underpin a plethora of disease conditions from degenerative diseases to cancer while the role of the complexes in these processes make them important therapeutic targets. Our ability to develop small molecules to target death-inducing protein complexes has been hampered by an inability to measure complex formation in cells in real-time and by the absence of robust high-throughput assays for the discovery of new lead molecules that target these complexes.
The proposed network (EPIC) will address both of these problems by developing new approaches to measure necrosome and apoptosome formation in real-time as well as new high-throughput and high-content screening assays using Fluorescence resonance transfer and split-luciferase technologies.
EPIC will conform with the H2020 work programme by integrating research activity, novel reagents and expertise across Europe and world through the mobility, knowledge transfer and training of experienced and early stage researchers from within and without the EU. EPIC will realise the potential of researchers through the development of new skill-sets, the transfer new skills between academia and industry, and the development of career opportunities for EU ESRs and ERs. A key part of this activity is the mobility of non-EU researchers and the inward transfer of essential knowledge from outside the EU to benefit EU-based research.
Establishment of EPIC through RISE will generate lead molecules with demonstrable utility and knowledge that will underpin applications to national funding agencies to sustain the communal effort beyond the life of the RISE award. It will also generate intellectual property that will enable the network to approach biotech and pharma to form academia-industry partnerships that will further develop small molecule leads as therapeutics.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1111/tpj.13352
|
Isolation and characterization of mutants corresponding to the MENA, MENB, MENC and MENE enzymatic steps of 5′-monohydroxyphylloquinone biosynthesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
|
Phylloquinone (PhQ), or vitamin K1, is an essential electron carrier (A1) in photosystem I (PSI). In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which is a model organism for the study of photosynthesis, a detailed characterization of the pathway is missing with only one mutant deficient for MEND having been analyzed. We took advantage of the fact that a double reduction of plastoquinone occurs in anoxia in the A1 site in the mend mutant, interrupting photosynthetic electron transfer, to isolate four new phylloquinone-deficient mutants impaired in MENA, MENB, MENC (PHYLLO) and MENE. Compared with the wild type and complemented strains for MENB and MENE, the four men mutants grow slowly in low light and are sensitive to high light. When grown in low light they show a reduced photosynthetic electron transfer due to a specific decrease of PSI. Upon exposure to high light for a few hours, PSI becomes almost completely inactive, which leads in turn to lack of phototrophic growth. Loss of PhQ also fully prevents reactivation of photosynthesis after dark anoxia acclimation. In silico analyses allowed us to propose a PhQ biosynthesis pathway in Chlamydomonas that involves 11 enzymatic steps from chorismate located in the chloroplast and in the peroxisome.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.03.037
|
Dynamics of dual-fluorescent polymersomes with durable integrity in living cancer cells and zebrafish embryos
|
The long-term fate of biomedical nanoparticles after endocytosis is often only sparsely addressed in vitro and in vivo, while this is a crucial parameter to conclude on their utility. In this study, dual-fluorescent polyisobutylene-polyethylene glycol (PiB-PEG) polymersomes were studied for several days in vitro and in vivo. In order to optically track the vesicles’ integrity, one fluorescent probe was located in the membrane and the other in the aqueous interior compartment. These non-toxic nanovesicles were quickly endocytosed in living A549 lung carcinoma cells but unusually slowly transported to perinuclear lysosomal compartments, where they remained intact and luminescent for at least 90 h without being exocytosed. Fluorescence-assisted flow cytometry indicated that after endocytosis, the nanovesicles were eventually degraded within 7–11 days. In zebrafish embryos, the polymersomes caused no lethality and were quickly taken up by the endothelial cells, where they remained fully intact for as long as 96 h post-injection. This work represents a novel case-study of the remarkable potential of PiB-PEG polymersomes as an in vivo bio-imaging and slow drug delivery platform.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevD.87.034026
|
Missing energy and jets for supersymmetry searches
|
We extend our investigation of backgrounds to new physics signals, following CMS's data-driven search for supersymmetry at the LHC. The aim is to use different sets of cuts in γ+3-jet production to predict the irreducible Z+3-jet background (with the Z boson decaying to neutrinos) to searches with EÌ̧T+3-jet signal topologies. We compute ratios of Z+3-jet to γ+3-jet production cross sections and kinematic distributions at next-to-leading order (NLO) in αs. We compare these ratios with those obtained using a parton shower matched to leading-order matrix elements (ME+PS). This study extends our previous work [Bern et al. , Phys. Rev. D 84, 114002 (2011)PRVDAQ1550-7998] on the Z+2-jet to γ+2-jet ratio. We find excellent agreement with the ratio determined from the earlier NLO results involving two instead of three jets, and agreement to within 10% between the NLO and ME+PS results for the ratios. We also examine the possibility of large QCD logarithms in these processes. Ratios of Z+n-jet to γ+n-jet cross sections are plausibly less sensitive to such corrections than the cross sections themselves. Their effect on estimates of Z+3-jet to γ+3-jet ratios can be assessed experimentally by measuring the γ+3-jet to γ+2-jet production ratio in search regions. We partially address the question of potentially large electroweak logarithms by computing the real-emission part of the electroweak corrections to the ratio using ME+PS and find that it is 1% or less. Our estimate of the remaining theoretical uncertainties in the Z to γ ratio is in agreement with our earlier study.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
] |
CA 3176296 A
|
METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING WIND TURBINE TOWER STRUCTURE WITH EMBEDDED REINFORCEMENT ELEMENTS
|
A system for manufacturing a structure includes a supporting frame assembly (104) moveable in a vertical direction of the structure. Further, the system includes an additive printing assembly (118) secured to the supporting frame assembly. The additive printing assembly includes at least one printer head (120,122,130) configured to dispense a first cementitious material. The system also includes a reinforcement dispensing assembly (136) supported by the supporting frame assembly. Thus, the reinforcement dispensing assembly is configured to automatically and continuously dispense a plurality of reinforcing members as the structure is printed and built up via the at least one printer head and as the supporting frame assembly moves in the vertical direction.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
Q4204107
|
32.BI-MU MILÃO 2020
|
O REGISTO NA 32.BI-MU EM MILÃO É UMA IMPORTANTE OPORTUNIDADE PARA A POLIANGOLAR S.R.L. SE RECONECTAR COM EMPRESAS DO SETOR E EXPANDIR SEU PORTFÓLIO DE CLIENTES, ATENDENDO POTENCIAIS UTENTES DE SEGMENTOS DO SETOR AINDA NÃO CIENTES DAS VANTAGENS OFERECIDAS PELAS FERRAMENTAS DA POLIANGOLAR S.R.L. OS PRINCIPAIS OBJETIVOS DA EMPRESA SÃO OS SEGUINTES:1. CONSOLIDAR OS LAÇOS COM OUTRAS EMPRESAS ITALIANAS E ESTRANGEIRAS DO SETOR;2. PROCURAR PARCERIAS POTENCIAIS E ACORDOS COMERCIAIS ESTREITOS;3. ESTUDAR E INTERCETAR AS NECESSIDADES DO MERCADO DE REFERÊNCIA, COM O OBJETIVO DE MELHORAR O CATÁLOGO DE PRODUTOS DA EMPRESA E OFERECER NO MERCADO EQUIPAMENTOS FUNCIONAIS ÀS NECESSIDADES MOSTRADAS PELOS EXPOSITORES E VISITANTES;4. MELHORAR O POSICIONAMENTO DE SEUS PRODUTOS NO MERCADO EXTERNO, GRAÇAS À RELEVÂNCIA INTERNACIONAL DA FEIRA.
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
US 2004/0012194 W
|
STRUCTURES, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR JOINING ARTICLES AND MATERIALS AND USES THEREFOR
|
This invention provides novel nanofibers and nanofiber structures which posses adherent properties, as well as the use of such nanofibers and nanofiber comprising structures in the coupling and/or joining together of articles or materials.
|
[
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
W2083241003
|
Lamellae formation processes in tropical soils in southeastern Brazil
|
Abstract The pedogenic genesis of lamellae is commonly reported as involving clay illuviation. However, some pedogenic lamellae in tropical soils may be formed by a different process involving the degradation of a continuous Bt horizon and an intense loss of clay. In the present work, we investigated soils along a toposequence containing lamellae formed both by illuviation and Bt degradation to better understand the pedogenic processes and the environmental controls associated with the genesis of lamellae in tropical soils. Soils were described and sampled along a hillslope in the Sao Pedro region, Sao Paulo state, and submitted to physical (particle size), chemical (pH and exchangeable cations), and micromorphological analyses. In the Upper Segment of the studied hillslope, dominated by low gradients, the soil is deep, reddish, and contains a sequence of 12 to 20 lamellae/interlamellae. An examination of thin sections revealed abundant illuvial features formed by moderately to strongly oriented clay bridges between sandy particles in the lamellae, supporting an illuvial origin. In the Middle Segment of the hillslope, characterized by higher gradients, the soil is shallower and yellowish, presents some mottles, and contains a sequence of 2 lamellae/interlamellae. Field descriptions showed curved links between these lamellae and the underlying Bt as well as isolated spots similar to lamellae within interlamellae. The lamellae, Bt, curved links, and spots present similar micromorphological characteristics and only a few illuvial features, which suggest a genetic relationship between lamellae and the Bt horizon and minimize the importance of clay illuviation. The origin of these lamellae is related to the degradation of Bt and clay eluviation by subsurface lateral flows, developed mainly in the contact between Bt and the overlying, more permeable horizons. This process seems to be an important way of lamellae formation under tropical climate and should thus be incorporated into the term pedogenic lamellae, which is usually associated in the international literature with lamellae formed by clay illuviation.
|
[
"Earth System Science"
] |
10.1088/0957-4484/27/28/28LT02
|
Vertically Aligned Zinc Oxide Nanowires Electrodeposited Within Porous Polycarbonate Templates For Vibrational Energy Harvesting
|
A piezoelectric nanogenerator has been fabricated using a simple, fast and scalable template-assisted electrodeposition process, by which vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires were directly grown within a nanoporous polycarbonate (PC) template. The nanowires, having average diameter 184 nm and length 12 μm, are polycrystalline and have a preferred orientation of the [100] axis parallel to the long axis. The output power density of a nanogenerator fabricated from the as-grown ZnO nanowires still embedded within the PC template was found to be 151 ± 25 mW m−3 at an impedance-matched load, when subjected to a low-level periodic (5 Hz) impacting force akin to gentle finger tapping. An energy conversion efficiency of ~4. 2% was evaluated for the electrodeposited ZnO nanowires, and the ZnO–PC composite nanogenerator was found to maintain good energy harvesting performance through 24 h of continuous fatigue testing. This is particularly significant given that ZnO-based nanostructures typically suffer from mechanical and/or environmental degradation that otherwise limits their applicability in vibrational energy harvesting. Our template-assisted synthesis of ZnO nanowires embedded within a protective polymer matrix through a single growth process is thus attractive for the fabrication of low-cost, robust and stable nanogenerators.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
interreg_1933
|
Setting up the innovation support mechanisms and increasing awareness on the potential of Food Innovation and RTD in the South- East Europe area
|
The Food Industry, a major and financially important sector for the SEE area faces significant challenges from global commercial competition. Changing attitudes and emerging consumer trends necessitate constant update of food products, personalisation of nutrition and introduction of innovation in processes. The Inno- Food SEE objective is to set up the appropriate mechanisms that will facilitate the exchange and coordination of innovation approaches and policies for the food sector and to increase awareness on the importance of food innovation for the wider SEE area. The partnership from Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova comprises key players of the RTD and Innovation Cycle (RTD entities, industry and SME support entities, regional authorities, etc.) which have the capacity to influence the development of support mechanisms and raise awareness on the potential of food innovation. The main activities of the project will be: mapping and benchmarking the food innovation environment; identifying key RTD players and food SMEs; preparing SWOT analyses and policy recommendations; developing a network of stakeholders and agreeing on Operation Plans; preparing for investments and setting up a monitoring mechanism; organizing workshops and trainings for research personnel; networking, organizing info- days and a European Conference; media releases and actions targeting researchers and students, etc. Inno- Food SEE aims to become a catalyst for innovation and to create a success story that other sectors will follow and to improve the attractiveness of the regions for investments. The project will develop Operational Plans, prepare for specific investments and facilitate RTD cooperation and adoption of food innovation from the industry. Significant focus is placed to the dissemination of the project results to Food SMEs, RTD entities, young students and researchers, authorities and the general public and food consumer.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
10.1039/c4cp04108a
|
A perspective on chemistry in transient plasma from broadband rotational spectroscopy
|
A review of recent experiments demonstrating the high value of broadband rotational spectroscopy applied to analyse molecular products of plasma chemistry.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
] |
W4213226083
|
Decolonizar o saber: a construção do espírito de nação e o processo de colonização das Américas à luz da teoria de Rodolfo Kusch
|
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
|
[
"Texts and Concepts",
"The Study of the Human Past",
"Studies of Cultures and Arts"
] |
Q4248377
|
LIQUIDITÄTSHILFE FÜR KLEINSTUNTERNEHMEN, DIE VON DER COVID-KRISE BETROFFEN SIND
|
UNTERSTÜTZUNG DER LIQUIDITÄT VON KLEINST- UND KLEINUNTERNEHMEN IM EINZELHANDELS-, LIEFER- UND DIENSTLEISTUNGSSEKTOR, DEREN TÄTIGKEIT INFOLGE DES ERLASSES DES PREMIERMINISTERS VOM 11. MÄRZ 2020 AUSGESETZT WURDE
|
[
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
10.1098/rsif.2017.0792
|
The Markov blankets of life: autonomy, active inference and the free energy principle
|
This work addresses the autonomous organization of biological systems. It does so by considering the boundaries of biological systems, from individual cells to
Home sapiens
, in terms of the presence of Markov blankets under the active inference scheme—a corollary of the free energy principle. A Markov blanket defines the boundaries of a system in a statistical sense. Here we consider how a collective of Markov blankets can self-assemble into a global system that itself has a Markov blanket; thereby providing an illustration of how autonomous systems can be understood as having layers of nested and self-sustaining boundaries. This allows us to show that: (i) any living system is a Markov blanketed system and (ii) the boundaries of such systems need not be co-extensive with the biophysical boundaries of a living organism. In other words, autonomous systems are hierarchically composed of Markov blankets of Markov blankets—all the way down to individual cells, all the way up to you and me, and all the way out to include elements of the local environment.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1051/0004-6361/201528000
|
Simplified Models Of Circumstellar Morphologies For Interpreting High Resolution Data Analytical Approach To The Equatorial Density Enhancement
|
Context. Equatorial density enhancements (EDEs) are a very common astronomical phenomenon. Studies of the circumstellar environments (CSE) of young stellar objects and of evolved stars have shown that these objects often possess these features. These are believed to originate from different mechanisms, ranging from binary interactions to the gravitational collapse of interstellar material. Quantifying the effect of the presence of this type of EDE on the observables is essential for a correct interpretation of high-resolution data. Aims. We seek to investigate the manifestation in the observables of a circumstellar EDE, to assess which properties can be constrained, and to provide an intuitive bedrock on which to compare and interpret upcoming high-resolution data (e. g. ALMA data) using 3D models. Methods. We develop a simplified analytical parametrised description of a 3D EDE, with possible substructure such as warps, gaps, and spiral instabilities. In addition, different velocity fields (Keplerian, radial, super-Keplerian, sub-Keplerian and rigid rotation) are considered. The effect of a bipolar outflow is also investigated. The geometrical models are fed into the 3D radiative transfer code LIME, that produces 3D intensity maps throughout velocity space. We investigate the spectral signature of the J = 3−2 up to J = 7−6 rotational transitions of CO in the models, as well as the spatial aspect of this emission by means of channel maps, wide-slit position-velocity (PV) diagrams, stereograms, and spectral lines. Additionally, we discuss methods of constraining the geometry of the EDE, the inclination, the mass-contrast between the EDE and the bipolar outflow, and the global velocity field. Finally, we simulated ALMA observations to explore the effects of interferometric noise and artefacts on the emission signatures. Results. The effects of the different velocity fields are most evident in the PV diagrams. These diagrams also enable us to constrain the EDE height and inclination. A level of degeneracy may occur in the shapes of individual PV diagrams for different global velocity fields. The orthogonal PV diagrams may completely eliminate this ambiguity. Information on the EDE substructure is evident in the channel maps, but cannot be recovered from the PV diagrams, nor from the spectral lines. However, stereograms enable the detection of warping. For most inclinations the spectral lines are relatively broad, making it difficult to distinguish from an eventual superposed bipolar outflow component. Only under low inclination angles can one distinguish between these structures. Simulations of synthetic ALMA observations show how emission is affected when the largest angular scale of an antenna configuration is exceeded. For a rotating EDE, the emission around zero velocity will first fade because of destructive interference.
|
[
"Universe Sciences",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1002/ece3.3230
|
Maintaining genetic integrity of coexisting wild and domestic populations: Genetic differentiation between wild and domestic Rangifer with long traditions of intentional interbreeding
|
This study investigates the genetic effect of an indigenous tradition of deliberate and controlled interbreeding between wild and domestic Rangifer. The results are interpreted in the context of conservation concerns and debates on the origin of domestic animals. The study is located in Northeastern Zabaĭkal'e, Russia at approximately 57 degrees North latitude. Blood and skin samples, collected from wild and domestic Rangifer, are analyzed for their mtDNA and microsatellite signatures. Local husbandry traditions are documented ethnographically. The genetic data are analyzed with special reference to indigenous understandings of the distinctions between local domestic types and wild Rangifer. The genetic results demonstrate a strong differentiation between wild and domestic populations. Notably low levels of mtDNA haplotype sharing between wild and domestic reindeer, suggest mainly male-mediated gene flow between the two gene pools. The nuclear microsatellite results also point to distinct differences between regional domestic clusters. Our results indicate that the Evenki herders have an effective breeding technique which, while mixing pedigrees in the short term, guards against wholesale introgression between wild and domestic populations over the long term. They support a model of domestication where wild males and domestic females are selectively interbred, without hybridizing the two populations. Our conclusions inform a debate on the origins of domestication by documenting a situation where both wild and domestic types are in constant interaction. The study further informs a debate in conservation biology by demonstrating that certain types of controlled introgression between wild and domestic types need not reduce genetic diversity.
|
[
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems"
] |
10.1038/onc.2016.470
|
MLL-ENL-mediated leukemia initiation at the interface of lymphoid commitment
|
Translocations involving the mixed lineage leukemia-1 are recurrent events in acute leukemia and associate with lymphoid (ALL), myeloid (AML) or mixed lineage (MLL) subtypes. Despite an association with ALL in humans, murine MLL fusion models are persistently restricted to AML. We here explored this issue using an inducible mixed lineage leukemia-eleven nineteen leukemia (MLL-ENL) mouse model. Although multiple progenitor cell types with myeloid potential are potent AML leukemia-initiating cells, also the earliest lymphoid progenitors were capable of initiating AML. This ability to evoke a latent myeloid potential in the earliest lymphoid progenitors was lost upon further lymphoid commitment. At the same time, more downstream/committed lymphoid precursors also failed to initiate lymphoid leukemia. Co-expression of MLL-ENL with a constitutively active RAS allele, the most common co-mutation in MLL fusion leukemias, could influence on both disease latency and lineage assignment of developing leukemia in what appears to be a mutation-order-dependent manner. Finally, CEBPB-mediated transdifferentation of committed and otherwise leukemia-incompetent B-cell progenitors imbued these cells with leukemic competence for AML. Therefore, apart from providing detailed insight into the differential responsiveness of candidate target cells to a first-hit MLL fusion event, our data warrants caution to therapeutic approaches based on the concept of transdifferentiation.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W2096847603
|
Comparison of protective effects of L-carnitine and amifostine on radiation-induced toxicity to growing bone: histopathology and scintigraphy findings.
|
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the radioprotective efficacy of L-carnitine (LC) in growing bones in comparison to amifostine.Sixty two-week-old Wistar albino rats were randomly assigned to six equal groups: Group 1, control (CONT); Group 2, irradiation alone (RT); Group 3, amifostine plus irradiation (AMI+ RT); Group 4, L-carnitine plus irradiation (LC+ RT); Group 5, amifostine alone (AMI); Group 6, L-carnitine alone (LC). The rats in the AMI+ RT, LC+ RT and RT groups were irradiated individually with a single dose of 20 Gy to the left femur. LC (300 mg/kg) and amifostine (200 mg/kg) were applied 30 min before irradiation. The animals were scanned for bone area, mineral content and bone mineral density (BMD) by DEXA and the 99mTc methylene diphosphonate uptake ratio (MUR) was calculated by bone scintigraphy. Histopathological analysis of bone and cartilage was also carried out after euthanasia.Pretreatment with LC or amifostine reduced the radiation-induced damage in growing bone (p= 0.007 and p= 0.04 respectively) and in the epiphysial cartilage (p= 0.002 and p= 0.015 respectively). The protective effect of LC was similar to that of amifostine on both growing bone and on the epiphysial cartilage. The mean left-femur BMD values were significantly higher in the LC+RT (p= 0.02) and AMI+RT (p= 0.01) groups than in the RT group. but did not differ with the two protective agents. Pretreatment with AMI (p= 0.002) and LC (p= 0.01) improved the MUR.L-carnitine is equally as effective as amifostine at protecting growing bone against single dose irradiation damage.
|
[
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1126/science.1212642
|
The structure of the eukaryotic ribosome at 3.0 Å resolution
|
Ribosomes translate genetic information encoded by messenger RNA into proteins. Many aspects of translation and its regulation are specific to eukaryotes, whose ribosomes are much larger and intricate than their bacterial counterparts. We report the crystal structure of the 80S ribosome from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae - including nearly all ribosomal RNA bases and protein side chains as well as an additional protein, Stm1 - at a resolution of 3. 0 angstroms. This atomic model reveals the architecture of eukaryote-specific elements and their interaction with the universally conserved core, and describes all eukaryote-specific bridges between the two ribosomal subunits. It forms the structural framework for the design and analysis of experiments that explore the eukaryotic translation apparatus and the evolutionary forces that shaped it.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1038/cr.2016.39
|
Ubiquitin modifications
|
Protein ubiquitination is a dynamic multifaceted post-translational modification involved in nearly all aspects of eukaryotic biology. Once attached to a substrate, the 76-amino acid protein ubiquitin is subjected to further modifications, creating a multitude of distinct signals with distinct cellular outcomes, referred to as the 'ubiquitin code'. Ubiquitin can be ubiquitinated on seven lysine (Lys) residues or on the N-terminus, leading to polyubiquitin chains that can encompass complex topologies. Alternatively or in addition, ubiquitin Lys residues can be modified by ubiquitin-like molecules (such as SUMO or NEDD8). Finally, ubiquitin can also be acetylated on Lys, or phosphorylated on Ser, Thr or Tyr residues, and each modification has the potential to dramatically alter the signaling outcome. While the number of distinctly modified ubiquitin species in cells is mind-boggling, much progress has been made to characterize the roles of distinct ubiquitin modifications, and many enzymes and receptors have been identified that create, recognize or remove these ubiquitin modifications. We here provide an overview of the various ubiquitin modifications present in cells, and highlight recent progress on ubiquitin chain biology. We then discuss the recent findings in the field of ubiquitin acetylation and phosphorylation, with a focus on Ser65-phosphorylation and its role in mitophagy and Parkin activation.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration"
] |
10.1051/0004-6361/201730458
|
Coronal Loop Density Profile Estimated By Forward Modelling Of Euv Intensity
|
Aims. The transverse density structuring of coronal loops was recently calculated for the first time using the general damping profile for kink oscillations. This seismological method assumes a density profile with a linear transition region. We consider to what extent this density profile accounts for the observed intensity profile of the loop, and how the transverse intensity profile may be used to complement the seismological technique. Methods. We use isothermal and optically transparent approximations for which the intensity of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission is proportional to the square of the plasma density integrated along the line of sight. We consider four different models for the transverse density profile; the generalised Epstein profile, the step function, the linear transition region profile, and a Gaussian profile. The effect of the point spread function is included and Bayesian analysis is used for comparison of the models. Results. The two profiles with finite transitions are found to be preferable to the step function profile, which supports the interpretation of kink mode damping as being due to mode coupling. The estimate of the transition layer width using forward modelling is consistent with the seismological estimate. Conclusions. For wide loops, i. e. those observed with sufficiently high spatial resolution, this method can provide an independent estimate of density profile parameters for comparison with seismological estimates. In the ill-posed case of only one of the Gaussian or exponential damping regimes being observed, it may provide additional information to allow a seismological inversion to be performed. Alternatively, it may be used to obtain structuring information for loops that do not oscillate.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Universe Sciences"
] |
637424
|
Individualised and self-adapting sound processing for cochlear implants
|
Cochlear implants (CIs) are successful auditory prostheses that enable people with deafness to hear through electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. In a CI sound processor, a sound signal is converted into a sequence of electrical pulses. This conversion entails many parameters that should ideally be fine-tuned (fitted) for every individual patient, to account for various anatomical and physiological differences. In current clinical practice, devices are fitted during the initial rehabilitation and yearly thereafter. As fitting is very time consuming, only the bare minimum number of parameters is fitted individually. However, for many other parameters, for which currently the same default values are used for all patients, better speech understanding can be achieved with individual fitting. Apart from the fitting, CIs do not take into account the neural or perceptual effects of stimulation.
The objective of this project is to provide better fitting to individual patients by developing a closed-loop CI that automatically adjusts its fitting and sound processing based on the neural response to speech. To achieve this, we will (1) objectively measure speech understanding, by recording the electroencephalogram (EEG) in response to ecological speech signals, (2) automatically fit a wide array of sound processing parameters accordingly using a genetic algorithm, and (3) develop a wearable closed-loop CI that continuously records the EEG and adjusts the fitting in real-life situations.
This will lead to a better understanding of speech perception of people with a hearing impairment, an objective measure of speech intelligibility with many applications in diagnostics, a method to automatically fit CIs, and a novel closed-loop CI. For the patient this means improved speech intelligibility in noise and therefore better communication and quality of life. For the clinic this means improved efficiency and the ability to better fit devices.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
10.1016/j.anihpc.2012.11.001
|
A quasistatic evolution model for perfectly plastic plates derived by Γ-convergence
|
The subject of this paper is the rigorous derivation of a quasistatic evolution model for a linearly elastic-perfectly plastic thin plate. As the thickness of the plate tends to zero, we prove via Γ-convergence techniques that solutions to the three-dimensional quasistatic evolution problem of Prandtl-Reuss elastoplasticity converge to a quasistatic evolution of a suitable reduced model. In this limiting model the admissible displacements are of Kirchhoff-Love type and the stretching and bending components of the stress are coupled through a plastic flow rule. Some equivalent formulations of the limiting problem in rate form are derived, together with some two-dimensional characterizations for suitable choices of the data.
|
[
"Mathematics",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
DE 102017218929 A
|
Gerüstrahmen mit Klettersicherung
|
Die Erfindung betrifft einen Gerüstrahmen (10). Der Gerüstrahmen (10) weist ein erstes Gerüstrohr (12) und ein zu dem ersten Gerüstrohr (12) beabstandetes zweites Gerüstrohr (14) auf. Zwischen diesen Gerüstrohren (12, 14) ist eine horizontale erste Querstrebe (16) des Gerüstrahmens (10) angeordnet. Der Gerüstrahmen (10) ist dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der Gerüstrahmen (10) eine zweite Querstrebe (18) und eine dritte Querstrebe (26) aufweist. Die zweite Querstrebe (18) ist mit einem ersten Ende (20) an dem ersten Gerüstrohr (12) und mit einem zweiten Ende (22) an der ersten Querstrebe (16) befestigt. Die dritte Querstrebe (26) ist mit einem dritten Ende (28) an dem zweiten Gerüstrohr (14) und mit einem vierten Ende (30) an der zweiten Querstrebe (18) befestigt. Zwischen der zweiten Querstrebe (18) und dem ersten Gerüstrohr (12) ist ein erster spitzer Winkel (42a) ausgebildet. Ein zweiter spitzer Winkel (42b) ist zwischen der dritten Querstrebe (26) und dem zweiten Gerüstrohr (14) ausgebildet. Das zweite und vierte Ende (22,30) der Querstreben (18, 26) sind in der Ebene des Gerüstrahmens (10) zwischen dem ersten Gerüstrohr (12) und dem zweiten Gerüstrohr (14) und von diesen Gerüstrohren (12, 14) beabstandet angeordnet.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1080/00268976.2016.1155777
|
Effective Potential Method For Active Particles
|
We investigate the steady state properties of an active fluid modeled as an assembly of soft repulsive spheres subjected to Gaussian colored noise. Such a noise captures one of the salient aspects of active particles, namely the persistence of their motion and determines a variety of novel features with respect to familiar passive fluids. We show that within the so-called multidimensional unified colored noise approximation, recently introduced in the field of active matter, the model can be treated by methods similar to those employed in the study of standard molecular fluids. The system shows a tendency of the particles to aggregate even in the presence of purely repulsive forces because the combined action of colored noise and interactions enhances the the effective friction between nearby particles. We also discuss whether an effective two-body potential approach, which would allow to employ methods similar to those of density functional theory, is appropriate. The limits of such an approximation are discussed.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Condensed Matter Physics"
] |
10.1016/j.ccell.2019.08.001
|
Age-Related Gliosis Promotes Central Nervous System Lymphoma through CCL19-Mediated Tumor Cell Retention
|
O'Connor et al. show that lymphoma cells (LCs) enter the brain but quickly exit along an endothelial CXCL12 gradient, which is countered by astrocyte-derived CCL19. Aged and gliotic brains express more CCL19 and thus retain LCs longer, conferring an increased risk of developing central nervous system lymphoma.
|
[
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing"
] |
10.1016/j.ajpath.2013.06.011
|
Novel avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus attaches to epithelium in both upper and lower respiratory tract of humans
|
Influenza A viruses from animal reservoirs have the capacity to adapt to humans and cause influenza pandemics. The occurrence of an influenza pandemic requires efficient virus transmission among humans, which is associated with virus attachment to the upper respiratory tract. Pandemic severity depends on virus ability to cause pneumonia, which is associated with virus attachment to the lower respiratory tract. Recently, a novel avian-origin H7N9 influenza A virus with unknown pandemic potential emerged in humans. We determined the pattern of attachment of two genetically engineered viruses containing the hemagglutinin of either influenza virus A/Shanghai/1/13 or A/Anhui/1/13 to formalin-fixed human respiratory tract tissues using histochemical analysis. Our results show that the emerging H7N9 virus attached moderately or abundantly to both upper and lower respiratory tract, a pattern not seen before for avian influenza A viruses. With the caveat that virus attachment is only the first step in the virus replication cycle, these results suggest that the emerging H7N9 virus has the potential both to transmit efficiently among humans and to cause severe pneumonia.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
10.1145/2699026.2699118
|
Password Meters And Generators On The Web From Large Scale Empirical Study To Getting It Right
|
Web services heavily rely on passwords for user authentication. To help users chose stronger passwords, password meter and password generator facilities are becoming increasingly popular. Password meters estimate the strength of passwords provided by users. Password generators help users with generating stronger passwords. This paper turns the spotlight on the state of the art of password meters and generators on the web. Orthogonal to the large body of work on password metrics, we focus on getting password meters and generators right in the web setting. We report on the state of affairs via a large-scale empirical study of web password meters and generators. Our findings reveal pervasive trust to third-party code to have access to the passwords. We uncover three cases when this trust is abused to leak the passwords to third parties. Furthermore, we discover that often the passwords are sent out to the network, invisibly to users, and sometimes in clear. To improve the state of the art, we propose SandPass, a general web framework that allows secure and modular porting of password meter and generation modules. We demonstrate the usefulness of the framework by a reference implementation and a case study with a password meter by the Swedish Post and Telecommunication Agency.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1149/05305.0203ecst
|
Spin lifetime enhancement by shear strain in thin silicon-on-insulator films
|
Spintronics attracts at present much interest because of the potential to build novel spin-based devices which are superior to nowadays charge-based microelectronic elements. Utilizing spin properties of electrons opens great opportunities to reduce device power consumption in future electronic circuits. Silicon, the main element of microelectronics, is promising for spin-driven applications. Understanding the details of the spin propagation in silicon structures is a key for building novel spin-based nanoelectronic devices. We investigate the influence of shear strain on surface roughness induced spin relaxation in a thin silicon-on-insulator-based transistor. Shear strain dramatically influences the spin, which opens a new opportunity to boost spin lifetime in a silicon spin field-effect transistor.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
10.1109/BigData.2014.7004210
|
Representative subsets for big data learning using k-NN graphs
|
In this paper we propose a deterministic method to obtain subsets from big data which are a good representative of the inherent structure in the data. We first convert the large scale dataset into a sparse undirected k-NN graph using a distributed network generation framework that we propose in this paper. After obtaining the k-NN graph we exploit the fast and unique representative subset (FURS) selection method [1], [2] to deterministically obtain a subset for this big data network. The FURS selection technique selects nodes from different dense regions in the graph retaining the natural community structure. We then locate the points in the original big data corresponding to the selected nodes and compare the obtained subset with subsets acquired from state-of-the-art subset selection techniques. We evaluate the quality of the selected subset on several synthetic and real-life datasets for different learning tasks including big data classification and big data clustering.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Mathematics"
] |
W2963540380
|
Computational Efficiency Requires Simple Taxation
|
We characterize the communication complexity of truthful mechanisms. Our departure point is the well known taxation principle. The taxation principle asserts that every truthful mechanism can be interpreted as follows: every player is presented with a menu that consists of a price for each bundle (the prices depend only on the valuations of the other players). Each player is allocated a bundle that maximizes his profit according to this menu. We define the taxation complexity of a truthful mechanism to be the logarithm of the maximum number of menus that may be presented to a player. Our main finding is that in general the taxation complexity essentially equals the communication complexity. The proof consists of two main steps. First, we prove that for rich enough domains the taxation complexity is at most the communication complexity. We then show that the taxation complexity is much smaller than the communication complexity only in pathological cases and provide a formal description of these extreme cases. Next, we study mechanisms that access the valuations via value queries only. In this setting we establish that the menu complexity – a notion that was already studied in several different contexts – characterizes the number of value queries that the mechanism makes in exactly the same way that the taxation complexity characterizes the communication complexity. Our approach yields several applications, including strengthening the solution concept with low communication overhead, fast computation of prices, and hardness of approximation by computationally efficient truthful mechanisms.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Individuals, Markets and Organisations"
] |
10.1021/jacs.6b09243
|
NMR Spectroscopic Characterization of Charge Assisted Strong Hydrogen Bonds in Brønsted Acid Catalysis
|
Hydrogen bonding plays a crucial role in Brønsted acid catalysis. However, the hydrogen bond properties responsible for the activation of the substrate are still under debate. Here, we report an in depth study of the properties and geometries of the hydrogen bonds in (R)-TRIP imine complexes (TRIP: 3,3′-Bis(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)-1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diylhydrogen phosphate). From NMR spectroscopic investigations 1H and 15N chemical shifts, a Steiner-Limbach correlation, a deuterium isotope effect as well as quantitative values of 1JNH,2hJPH and 3hJPN were used to determine atomic distances (rOH, rNH, rNO) and geometry information. Calculations at SCS-MP2/CBS//TPSS-D3/def2-SVP-level of theory provided potential surfaces, atomic distances and angles. In addition, scalar coupling constants were computed at TPSS-D3/IGLO-III. The combined experimental and theoretical data reveal mainly ion pair complexes providing strong hydrogen bonds with an asymmetric single well potential. The geometries of the hydrogen bonds are not affected by varying the steric or electronic properties of the aromatic imines. Hence, the strong hydrogen bond reduces the degree of freedom of the substrate and acts as a structural anchor in the (R)-TRIP imine complex.
|
[
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
10.1080/23251042.2016.1220849
|
Environmental Justice In The Age Of Big Data Challenging Toxic Blind Spots Of Voice Speed And Expertise
|
In recent years, grassroots environmental justice activists have increasingly used big data techniques for monitoring, recording, and reporting toxic environmental exposures. Despite the promise of big data for environmental justice, there is a need to address structural barriers to making toxic environmental exposures visible, and to avoid over-relying on new digital methods and techniques as a panacea for problems of voice. The emphasis of real-time analysis in crowdsourced and participatory big data is good at tracking the immediate aftermath of environmental disasters, but it misses slower-burning environmental problems that emerge over time. While big data more generally may have implications for understanding toxic exposure landscapes across different temporal and spatial scales, it is complex, difficult to analyze, and faces significant problems of reliability. There are three key blind spots of the ethos and practice of big data in relation to environmental justice: voice, speed, and expertise. In. . .
|
[
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Computer Science and Informatics",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
] |
W1774942233
|
Clinical trial registries are of minimal use for identifying selective outcome and analysis reporting
|
This study aimed to examine selective outcome reporting (SOR) and selective analysis reporting (SAR) in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and to explore the usefulness of trial registries for identifying SOR and SAR.We selected one "index outcome" for each of three comparative effectiveness reviews (CERs) of pharmacotherapy and extracted data on this outcome from trial registries and from study publications.Among 50 RCTs published since 2005 and reporting the index outcome, only 50% were listed in registries; 90% of RCTs were assessed as having SOR or SAR. The index outcome in the registry was different from that in the publication in 75% of trials in two CERs, and not specified at all in the third. Reported outcomes and analyses were not consistent between the publication's methods section and the results section in 33% and 46% of the two CERs where the index outcome was a benefit. There were no statistically significant predictors of SOR and SAR in our small sample where some predictors lacked variability.The SOR and SAR were frequent in this pilot study, and the most common type of SOR was the publication of outcomes that were not pre-specified. Trial registries were of little use in identifying SOR and of no use in identifying SAR.
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W18759002
|
“What is the Spirit of this Gathering?” Indigenous Sport Policy-Makers and Self-Determination in Canada
|
In this article, I examine how the process of Indigenous participation in policy-making pertaining to the development of federal sport policy in Canada is connected to Indigenous forms of self-determination. By conducting semi-structured interviews with six Indigenous sport policy-makers, I investigate how their respective thoughts, experiences, and actions shape their perspective on self-determination. My analysis shows that a focus on relationships was at the center of the interviewed Indigenous sport policy-makers’ approaches to the promotion of Indigenous self-determination. Furthermore, the relational nature of Indigenous policy-makers’ identities was also central to their pursuit of self-determination. The promotion of family and community type relationships with government representatives could be used as an outcome of policy-making, in addition to traditional policy directives.
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems"
] |
W1979696346
|
Models for the estimation of diffuse solar radiation for typical cities in Turkey
|
Abstract In solar energy applications, diffuse solar radiation component is required. Solar radiation data particularly in terms of diffuse component are not readily affordable, because of high price of measurements as well as difficulties in their maintenance and calibration. In this study, new empirical models for predicting the monthly mean diffuse solar radiation on a horizontal surface for typical cities in Turkey are established. Therefore, fifteen empirical models from studies in the literature are used. Also, eighteen diffuse solar radiation models are developed using long term sunshine duration and global solar radiation data. The accuracy of the developed models is evaluated in terms of different statistical indicators. It is found that the best performance is achieved for the third-order polynomial model based on sunshine duration and clearness index.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Earth System Science",
"Mathematics"
] |
10.1038/hdy.2016.70
|
Colour ornamentation in the blue tit: Quantitative genetic (co) variances across sexes
|
Although secondary sexual traits are commonly more developed in males than females, in many animal species females also display elaborate ornaments or weaponry. Indirect selection on correlated traits in males and/or direct sexual or social selection in females are hypothesized to drive the evolution and maintenance of female ornaments. Yet, the relative roles of these evolutionary processes remain unidentified, because little is known about the genetic correlation that might exist between the ornaments of both sexes, and few estimates of sex-specific autosomal or sex-linked genetic variances are available. In this study, we used two wild blue tit populations with 9 years of measurements on two colour ornaments: One structurally based (blue crown) and one carotenoid based (yellow chest). We found significant autosomal heritability for the chromatic part of the structurally based colouration in both sexes, whereas carotenoid chroma was heritable only in males, and the achromatic part of both colour patches was mostly non heritable. Power limitations, which are probably common among most data sets collected so far in wild populations, prevented estimation of sex-linked genetic variance. Bivariate analyses revealed very strong cross-sex genetic correlations in all heritable traits, although the strength of these correlations was not related to the level of sexual dimorphism. In total, our results suggest that males and females share a majority of their genetic variation underlying colour ornamentation, and hence the evolution of these sex-specific traits may depend greatly on correlated responses to selection in the opposite sex.
|
[
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
10.1016/j.celrep.2018.12.050
|
A Mammalian Mitophagy Receptor, Bcl2-L-13, Recruits the ULK1 Complex to Induce Mitophagy
|
Upon starvation, autophagy degrades cellular components to obtain nutrition for survival. Damaged mitochondria are removed by mitophagy, which is a specific form of autophagy. Bcl2-L-13 protein is involved in the process. Murakawa et al. find that the ULK1 complex, essential for autophagy, is necessary for Bcl2-L-13-mediated mitophagy.
|
[
"Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration",
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions"
] |
W1276994225
|
Short Communication: Effectiveness at 48 Weeks of Switching from Enfuvirtide to Raltegravir in Virologically Suppressed Multidrug-Resistant HIV Type 1-Infected Patients in a Brazilian Cohort
|
The effectiveness of switching from enfuvirtide to raltegravir in HIV-1-infected patients on a suppressive antiretroviral regimen has been poorly studied in the clinical practice of developing countries. We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study in HIV-1-infected, multidrug-experienced adults (≥18 years old) with plasma HIV-1-RNA <400 copies/ml for at least 4 months on an enfuvirtide-containing therapy between 2005 and 2010, in whom the attending physician switched from enfuvirtide to raltegravir. Effectiveness endpoints were measured at week 48 after switch. Analyses were conducted on an intent-to-treat basis and two strategies for handling missing outcome data were used (hereafter, strategies 1 and 2). Overall, 87 patients were eligible for analysis. At baseline, the median CD4(+) T cell count was 400 cells/μl and 91.9% of patients had <50 HIV-1-RNA copies/ml. At week 48, the proportions of patients with plasma HIV-1-RNA <50 and <400 copies/ml were, respectively, 86.2% (95% CI=77.1; 92.7%) and 88.5% (95% CI=79.9; 94.3%) (strategies 1 and 2) and 89.7% (95% CI=81.3; 95.2%) and 90.8% (95% CI=82.7; 95.9%) (strategies 1 and 2). This was a -10.3% (95% CI=-2.8; -17.9%) and -9.2% (95% CI=-2; -16.4%) difference from baseline in the proportion of patients with plasma HIV-1-RNA <400 copies/ml. The median increase in CD4(+) T cell counts was 41 and 64 cells/μl (p<0.001) (strategies 1 and 2). No patient withdrew raltegravir or developed opportunistic infections, but one was diagnosed with HIV-related dementia. In conclusion, switching from enfuvirtide to raltegravir in patients on a virologically suppressive regimen is an effective strategy even in a Brazilian clinical setting.
|
[
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy",
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases"
] |
W2197869508
|
The critical flaw in the implementation of GPS tracking system in express bus industry
|
Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) in Malaysia has made it mandatory that GPS tracking systems installed in every express buses since 2008 so that the speed can be monitored and recorded based on real-time. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of the system is under question when Malaysia was startled by a series of bus accidents each killed close to 10 lives while several others were seriously injured. This study is undertaken to identify the critical flaw in the implementation of the GPS monitoring system and propose a way to improve the existing monitoring system. Result from the interview session on top management of three express bus companies has found that the real-time record-keeping, which is a corrective measure, have been carried out instead of real-time monitoring, a preventive measure. Therefore, the existing model of speed management needs to be remodeled to alert the bus driver and the passengers who really concern about their own safety. A device and its main features which exploit the real-time monitoring ability of GPS are proposed for effective and systematic implementation of this new model.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Systems and Communication Engineering"
] |
W1572487422
|
Combined temozolomide and radiation as an initial treatment for anaplastic glioma
|
Combined temozolomide (TMZ) and radiation therapy (RT) is often used as initial treatment for anaplastic glioma. However, there is no prospective randomized data available that proves the efficacy of the combination for anaplastic glioma. In this retrospective study we aimed to compare the outcome of patients who had combined TMZ and RT with those who had RT alone for the initial treatment of anaplastic glioma in our centers.Patients with anaplastic astrocytoma or oligoastrocytoma treated at our centers between 2000 and 2010 were reviewed. Only patients who received initial RT or concurrent TMZ and RT (TMZ-RT) were included.Of 62 patients, 55 were less than 66-years old; 36 (58.1%) had a tumor resection and 26 had a biopsy only. An oligodendroglial component in their tumor histology was present in 21 patients (33.9%). At a median follow up of 20.7 months for all patients, median progression-free survival was similar for the two treatment groups (RT alone: 16.7 months (95% CI 9.4, 34.8 months) versus TMZ-RT: 14.8 months (95% CI 8.6, 28.6 months, P = NS). Median overall survival was 27.4 months (95% CI 10.6, not estimable [NE] months) for patients who had RT alone and 34.1 months (95% CI 19.8, 42.1 months) for those who had TMZ-RT.No significant benefit of combined TMZ with RT compared to RT alone was observed as the initial treatment of anaplastic glioma. Prospective randomized trials are needed to evaluate the optimal treatment for this disease.
|
[
"Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases",
"Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System"
] |
10.1002/cbic.201500094
|
Simple "on-demand" production of bioactive natural products
|
Exchange of the native promoter to the arabinose-inducible promoter PBAD was established in entomopathogenic bacteria to silence and/or activate gene clusters involved in natural product biosynthesis. This allowed the "on-demand" production of GameXPeptides, xenoamicins, and the blue pigment indigoidine. The gene clusters for the novel "mevalagmapeptides" and the highly toxic xenorhabdins were identified by this approach.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering"
] |
10.1109/WACV.2017.31
|
Recognition Of Group Activities In Videos Based On Single And Two Person Descriptors
|
Group activity recognition from videos is a very challenging problem that has barely been addressed. We propose an activity recognition method using group context. In order to encode both single-person description and two-person interactions, we learn mappings from highdimensional feature spaces to low-dimensional dictionaries. In particular the proposed two-person descriptor takes into account geometric characteristics of the relative pose and motion between the two persons. Both single-person and two-person representations are then used to define unary and pairwise potentials of an energy function, whose optimization leads to the structured labeling of persons involved in the same activity. An interesting feature of the proposed method is that, unlike the vast majority of existing methods, it is able to recognize multiple distinct group activities occurring simultaneously in a video. The proposed method is evaluated with datasets widely used for group activity recognition, and is compared with several baseline methods.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
10.1007/978-3-319-10599-4_35
|
Category Specific Video Summarization
|
In large video collections with clusters of typical categories, such as “birthday party” or “flash-mob”, category-specific video summarization can produce higher quality video summaries than unsupervised approaches that are blind to the video category.
|
[
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
757411
|
Pervasive Upstream Non-Coding Transcription Underpinning Adaptation
|
Genomic DNA represents the blueprint of life: it instructs solutions to challenges during life cycles of organisms. Curiously DNA in higher organisms is mostly non-protein coding (e.g. 97% in human). The popular “junk-DNA” hypothesis postulates that this non-coding DNA is non-functional. However, high-throughput transcriptomics indicates that this may be an over-simplification as most non-coding DNA is transcribed. This pervasive transcription yields two molecular events that may be functional: 1.) resulting long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) molecules, and 2.) the act of pervasive transcription itself. Whereas lncRNA sequences and functions differ on a case-by-case basis, RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcribes most lncRNA. Pol II activity leaves molecular marks that specify transcription stages. The profiles of stage-specific activities instruct separation and fidelity of transcription units (genomic punctuation). Pervasive transcription affects genomic punctuation: upstream lncRNA transcription over gene promoters can repress downstream gene expression, also referred to as tandem Transcriptional Interference (tTI). Even though tTI was first reported decades ago a systematic characterization of tTI is lacking. Guided by my expertise in lncRNA transcription I recently identified the genetic material to dissect tTI in plants as an independent group leader. My planned research promises to reveal the genetic architecture and the molecular hallmarks defining tTI in higher organisms. Environmental lncRNA transcription variability may trigger tTI to promote organismal responses to changing conditions. We will address the roles of tTI in plant cold response to test this hypothesis. I anticipate our findings to inform on the fraction of pervasive transcription engaging in tTI. My proposal promises to advance our understanding of genomes by reconciling how the transcription of variable non-coding DNA sequences can elicit equivalent functions.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution"
] |
W2483532719
|
Leadership, followers' mental health and job performance in organizations: A comprehensive meta-analysis from an occupational health perspective
|
Summary
The present meta-analysis investigates the associations between leadership, followers' mental health, and job performance by taking into account different groups of leadership constructs including transformational leadership, relations-oriented leadership, task-oriented leadership, destructive leadership, and leader–member exchange. Six categories of mental health-related outcomes are considered representing both negative and positive mental health states of followers, namely, affective symptoms, burnout, stress, well-being, psychological functioning, and health complaints. Meta-analytic models are used to estimate the association between these categories of leadership and mental health. Our results reveal that transformational leadership, a high quality of relations-oriented and task-oriented leadership behavior, as well as a high quality of leader–follower interaction are positively associated with mental health. In contrast, destructive leadership is strongly negatively associated with mental health. In addition, the mediation effects of leadership on job performance via mental health are estimated. Results partially support the mediating role of mental health concerning the relationship between leadership and job performance. Our results emphasize the importance of leadership as an occupational health factor, and they may serve as basis for the planning and designing of occupational health policies and interventions despite existing research limitations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
|
[
"The Social World and Its Interactions",
"The Human Mind and Its Complexity"
] |
interreg_435
|
Cycling routes to improve the natural and cultural heritage
|
The proposal aims at enhancing the cross-border territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Carinthia and Salzburg, increasing its external visibility and physical usability, preserving the environment and satisfying tourist mobility needs, considering primarily the current situation regarding accessibility to major attractions, and facilitating incoming users (by cycling and hiking) through the promotion and enhancement of existing public transport systems and the improvement of the overall Alpe Adria Radweg Cycle-Way. A proposal will be made regarding the experiment of new intermodal passenger services (such as bus plus bike from MICOTRA train stations), the launch of new bike friendly services and the implementation of joint actions to promote tourism, such as the affixing of common signage near the most important points of the CAAR. The LP, Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in consultation with its partners Land of Carinthia and their respective tourist offices, will also help in identifying links with major cycle-ways of the cross-border area, for greater enjoyment of natural and cultural cross-border assets. _x000D_
_x000D_
The project includes, among other initiatives, pilot projects for the safety of the cycle-way, eliminating architectural barriers and critical points present in a stretch near the town of Pontebba, by re-using the former Pontebbana railroad, new intermodal services and start up of new bike friendly services .
|
[
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space",
"Products and Processes Engineering"
] |
10.1038/ismej.2014.45
|
Microbiome of prebiotic-treated mice reveals novel targets involved in host response during obesity
|
The gut microbiota is involved in metabolic and immune disorders associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. We previously demonstrated that prebiotic treatment may significantly improve host health by modulating bacterial species related to the improvement of gut endocrine, barrier and immune functions. An analysis of the gut metagenome is needed to determine which bacterial functions and taxa are responsible for beneficial microbiota-host interactions upon nutritional intervention. We subjected mice to prebiotic (Pre) treatment under physiological (control diet: CT) and pathological conditions (high-fat diet: HFD) for 8 weeks and investigated the production of intestinal antimicrobial peptides and the gut microbiome. HFD feeding significantly decreased the expression of regenerating islet-derived 3-gamma (Reg3g) and phospholipase A2 group-II (PLA2g2) in the jejunum. Prebiotic treatment increased Reg3g expression (by ∼50-fold) and improved intestinal homeostasis as suggested by the increase in the expression of intectin, a key protein involved in intestinal epithelial cell turnover. Deep metagenomic sequencing analysis revealed that HFD and prebiotic treatment significantly affected the gut microbiome at different taxonomic levels. Functional analyses based on the occurrence of clusters of orthologous groups (COGs) of proteins also revealed distinct profiles for the HFD, Pre, HFD-Pre and CT groups. Finally, the gut microbiota modulations induced by prebiotics counteracted HFD-induced inflammation and related metabolic disorders. Thus, we identified novel putative taxa and metabolic functions that may contribute to the development of or protection against the metabolic alterations observed during HFD feeding and HFD-Pre feeding.
|
[
"Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions",
"Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing",
"Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy"
] |
10.1088/1367-2630/18/11/111001
|
High Elastic Impedance Terasonic Hybrid Superlattices
|
The fabrication of new hard/soft hybrid superlattices (SLs) by pulsed laser deposition strongly suppresses interfacial intermixing, as compared to the strong infiltration occurring in their analogue periodic structures prepared by spin-coating. Doring et al (2016 New J. Phys. 18 092002) report on the growth of SLs, optimally realizing the wealth of hard and soft materials to boost the terasonic bandgap width and enhance phonon localization upon designed layer thickness sequence in aperiodic SLs. Optimal utilization of the fabrication technique could drive the design of architected SLs with strong photon–phonon coupling and tuned heat conduction.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1109/DCC.2019.00045
|
Super Ray Based Low Rank Approximation For Light Field Compression
|
We describe a local low rank approximation method based on super-rays for light field compression. Super-rays can be seen as a set of super-pixels that are coherent across all light field views. A super-ray based disparity estimation method is proposed using a low rank prior, in order to be able to align all the super-pixels forming each super-ray. A dedicated super-ray construction method is described that constrains the super-pixels forming a given super-ray to be all of the same shape and size, dealing with occlusions. This constraint is needed so that the super-rays can be used as a support of angular dimensionality reduction based on low rank matrix approximation. A low rank matrix approximation is then computed on the disparity compensated super-rays using a singular value decomposition (SVD). A coding algorithm is then described for the different components of the resulting low rank approximation. Experimental results show performance gains compared with two reference light field coding schemes (HEVC-based scheme and JPEG-Pleno VM 1. 1).
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Computer Science and Informatics"
] |
US 2016/0069313 W
|
MODULAR ANTENNAS IN WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS
|
A wireless power transmission system includes a transmitter configured to transmit power waves including printed circuit boards and antenna boards, where each antenna board comprises one or more antenna elements, at least one antenna board resides on a printed circuit board, and the at least one antenna board is connected with a power feeding line. The transmitter further includes a heat sink attached to the at least one printed circuit board, wherein placement of the heat sink with respect to the at least one antenna board comprising the one or more antenna elements and shape of the heat sink is configured such that the heat sink operates as a reflector to direct wireless power waves transmitted from the one or more antenna elements of the at least one antenna board in a pre-determined direction.
|
[
"Systems and Communication Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevA.92.022704
|
Three-body recombination in heteronuclear mixtures at finite temperature
|
Within the universal zero-range theory, we compute the three-body recombination rate to deep molecular states for two identical bosons resonantly interacting with each other and with a third atom of another species, in the absence of weakly bound dimers. The results allow for a quantitative understanding of loss resonances at finite temperature and, combined with experimental data, can be used for testing the Efimov universality and extracting the corresponding three-body parameters in a given system. Curiously, we find that the loss rate can be dramatically enhanced by the resonant heavy-heavy interaction, even for high mass ratios where this interaction is practically irrelevant for the Efimov scaling factor. This effect is important for analyzing the recent loss measurements in the Cs-Li mixture.
|
[
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
IL 2012000239 W
|
CARBON FILTER DEVICE AND AIR FILTER APPARATUS
|
An air filter apparatus may include a carbon filter device comprising an air-pervious pouch filled with granular carbon, condensed between two opposite air-pervious limiters and surrounded by an elastic band exerting a force towards a central axis of the carbon filter device so as to maintain the granular carbon tightly packed, allowing air driven through the granular carbon to be filtered.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Materials Engineering"
] |
10.1103/PhysRevX.9.041061
|
Intrinsic Anomalous Nernst Effect Amplified by Disorder in a Half-Metallic Semimetal
|
Intrinsic anomalous Nernst effect, like its Hall counterpart, is generated by Berry curvature of electrons in solids. Little is known about its response to disorder. In contrast, the link between the amplitude of the ordinary Nernst coefficient and the mean-free path is extensively documented. Here, by studying Co3Sn2S2, a topological half-metallic semimetal hosting sizable and recognizable ordinary and anomalous Nernst responses, we demonstrate an anticorrelation between the amplitudes of carrier mobility and the anomalous SxyA (the ratio of transverse electric field to the longitudinal temperature gradient in the absence of magnetic field). We argue that the observation, paradoxically, establishes the intrinsic origin of the anomalous Nernst effect in this system. We conclude that various intrinsic off-diagonal coefficients are set by the way the Berry curvature is averaged on a grid involving the mean-free path, the Fermi wavelength, and the de Broglie thermal length.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences"
] |
10.1117/12.862356
|
Spin Orbit Torques In Ultrathin Ferromagnetic Metal Layers
|
The spin-orbit interaction constitutes a weak but essential perturbation to the Hamiltonian of magnetic systems. Linking spins with atomic structure, spin-orbit coupling assumes a prominent role in structures of reduced
dimensionality, where it defines the internal anisotropy fields. In this paper, we discuss interface-enhanced spinorbit
effects that arise in metallic multilayers in the presence of an electric current. We demonstrate that a novel
type of spin torque can be induced in ferromagnetic metal films lacking structure inversion symmetry through the
Rashba effect. Owing to the combination of spin-orbit and exchange interactions, we show that electrons flowing
in the plane of a Co layer with asymmetric Pt and AlOx interfaces produce an effective transverse magnetic field
of 1 T per 108 A/cm2 of applied current. This torque does not require a current flowing through noncollinear
magnetic structures, opening new perspectives for room temperature applications in spintronics.
|
[
"Condensed Matter Physics",
"Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences",
"Synthetic Chemistry and Materials"
] |
203650
|
M- and Z-estimation in semiparametric statistics : applications in various fields
|
The area of semiparametric statistics is, in comparison to the areas of fully parametric or nonparametric statistics, relatively unexplored and still in full development. Semiparametric models offer a valid alternative for purely parametric ones, that are known to be sensitive to incorrect model specification, and completely nonparametric models, which often suffer from lack of precision and power. A drawback of semiparametric models so far is, however, that the development of mathematical properties under these models is often a lot harder than under the other two types of models. The present project tries to solve this difficulty partially, by presenting and applying a general method to prove the asymptotic properties of estimators for a wide spectrum of semiparametric models. The objectives of this project are twofold. On one hand we will apply a general theory developed by Chen, Linton and Van Keilegom (2003) for a class of semiparametric Z-estimation problems, to a number of novel research ideas, coming from a broad range of areas in statistics. On the other hand we will show that some estimation problems are not covered by this theory, we consider a more general class of semiparametric estimators (M-estimators called) and develop a general theory for this class of estimators. This theory will open new horizons for a wide variety of problems in semiparametric statistics. The project requires highly complex mathematical skills and cutting edge results from modern empirical process theory.
|
[
"Mathematics"
] |
10.3847/0004-637X/825/2/129
|
Minimal Prospects For Radio Detection Of Extensive Air Showers In The Atmosphere Of Jupiter
|
One possible approach for detecting ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos is to search for radio emission from extensive air showers created when they interact in the atmosphere of Jupiter, effectively utilizing Jupiter as a particle detector. We investigate the potential of this approach. For searches with current or planned radio telescopes we find that the effective area for detection of cosmic rays is substantial (~3*10^7 km^2), but the acceptance angle is so small that the typical geometric aperture (~10^3 km^2 sr) is less than that of existing terrestrial detectors, and cosmic rays also cannot be detected below an extremely high threshold energy (~10^23 eV). The geometric aperture for neutrinos is slightly larger, and greater sensitivity can be achieved with a radio detector on a Jupiter-orbiting satellite, but in neither case is this sufficient to constitute a practical detection technique. Exploitation of the large surface area of Jupiter for detecting ultra-high-energy particles remains a long-term prospect that will require a different technique, such as orbital fluorescence detection.
|
[
"Universe Sciences",
"Fundamental Constituents of Matter"
] |
172707
|
Boosting the implementation of participatory strategies on separate paper collection for efficient recycling
|
The European paper industry is at the core of the bioeconomy, using wood, a renewable material, and Paper for Recycling (PfR) as its main raw materials for producing paper products. This industry is a strategic sector in the EU economy, actively contributing to the re-industrialisation of Europe. Currently, the production of paper and board in the EU is 91 tonnes per year, while PfR represents 63%. The contribution of PfR has increased over the last few years (from 25 t to 40 t).
This increase in the availability of PfR has not taken place in all EU states, and this is especially true in Eastern European countries. Besides, although high collection rates are achieved, the quality of this material does not always meet the requirements of paper recycling. Both facts make difficult to keep up with the increases in PfR collection rates observed over the last few years if specific actions are not taken.
IMPACTPapeRec aims to put Europe at the forefront of PfR collection, ensuring raw material procurement from mainly European sources through an innovative approach based on the participation of the whole paper value chain including citizens and municipalities, which is also open to other sectors. Main objective is to provide an innovative and common knowledge platform, which will enable present and future cooperation. Analysis on best practices in PfR collection and assessment procedures are delivered, considering specific local conditions. They will encourage reliable decisions and make solutions available to decision-makers ensuring the procurement and supply of PfR in Europe through the improvement of municipal paper collection. Medium-long results are: increases in PfR collection (up to 75%); 1.57 Mt/year and raw material savings of €385 million.
This proposal has positive support from the EU of the commitment approved within the EIP on raw materials “IMPACT - Introduction and Improvement of Separate Paper Collection to avoid landfilling and incineration”.
|
[
"Products and Processes Engineering",
"Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution",
"Human Mobility, Environment, and Space"
] |
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