The structural basis of the dominant negative phenotype of the Gαi1β1γ2 G203A/A326S heterotrimer

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Liu, Ping; Jia, Ming-zhu; Zhou, X Edward; De Waal, Parker W; Dickson, Bradley M; Liu, Bo; Hou, Li; Yin, Yan-ting; Kang, Yan-yong; Shi, Yi; Melcher, Karsten; Xu, H Eric; Jiang, Yi

2016-01-01

Aim: Dominant negative mutant G proteins have provided critical insight into the mechanisms of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling, but the mechanisms underlying the dominant negative characteristics are not completely understood. The aim of this study was to determine the structure of the dominant negative Gαi1β1γ2 G203A/A326S complex (Gi-DN) and to reveal the structural basis of the mutation-induced phenotype of Gαi1β1γ2. Methods: The three subunits of the Gi-DN complex were co-expressed with a baculovirus expression system. The Gi-DN heterotrimer was purified, and the structure of its complex with GDP was determined through X-ray crystallography. Results: The Gi-DN heterotrimer structure revealed a dual mechanism underlying the dominant negative characteristics. The mutations weakened the hydrogen bonding network between GDP/GTP and the binding pocket residues, and increased the interactions in the Gα-Gβγ interface. Concomitantly, the Gi-DN heterotrimer adopted a conformation, in which the C-terminus of Gαi and the N-termini of both the Gβ and Gγ subunits were more similar to the GPCR-bound state compared with the wild type complex. From these structural observations, two additional mutations (T48F and D272F) were designed that completely abolish the GDP binding of the Gi-DN heterotrimer. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that the mutations impede guanine nucleotide binding and Gα-Gβγ protein dissociation and favor the formation of the G protein/GPCR complex, thus blocking signal propagation. In addition, the structure provides a rationale for the design of other mutations that cause dominant negative effects in the G protein, as exemplified by the T48F and D272F mutations. PMID:27498775

Reduced striatal dopamine DA D2 receptor function in dominant-negative GSK-3 transgenic mice.

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Gomez-Sintes, Raquel; Bortolozzi, Analia; Artigas, Francesc; Lucas, José J

2014-09-01

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a serine/threonine kinase with constitutive activity involved in cellular architecture, gene expression, cell proliferation, fate decision and apoptosis, among others. GSK-3 expression is particularly high in brain where it may be involved in neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer׳s disease, bipolar disorder and major depression. A link with schizophrenia is suggested by the antipsychotic drug-induced GSK-3 regulation and by the involvement of the Akt/GSK-3 pathway in dopaminergic neurotransmission. Taking advantage of the previous development of dominant negative GSK-3 transgenic mice (Tg) showing a selective reduction of GSK-3 activity in forebrain neurons but not in dopaminergic neurons, we explored the relationship between GSK-3 and dopaminergic neurotransmission in vivo. In microdialysis experiments, local quinpirole (DA D2-R agonist) in dorsal striatum reduced dopamine (DA) release significantly less in Tg mice than in wild-type (WT) mice. However, local SKF-81297 (selective DA D1-R agonist) in dorsal striatum reduced DA release equally in both control and Tg mice indicating a comparable function of DA D1-R in the direct striato-nigral pathway. Likewise, systemic quinpirole administration - acting preferentially on presynaptic DA D2- autoreceptors to modulate DA release-reduced striatal DA release similarly in both control and Tg mice. Quinpirole reduced locomotor activity and induced c-fos expression in globus pallidus (both striatal DA D2-R-mediated effects) significantly more in WT than in Tg mice. Taking together, the present results show that dominant negative GSK-3 transgenic mice show reduced DA D2-R-mediated function in striatum and further support a link between dopaminergic neurotransmission and GSK-3 activity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Extracting real-crack properties from non-linear elastic behaviour of rocks: abundance of cracks with dominating normal compliance and rocks with negative Poisson ratios

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V. Y. Zaitsev

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Results of examination of experimental data on non-linear elasticity of rocks using experimentally determined pressure dependences of P- and S-wave velocities from various literature sources are presented. Overall, over 90 rock samples are considered. Interpretation of the data is performed using an effective-medium description in which cracks are considered as compliant defects with explicitly introduced shear and normal compliances without specifying a particular crack model with an a priori given ratio of the compliances. Comparison with the experimental data indicated abundance (∼ 80 % of cracks with the normal-to-shear compliance ratios that significantly exceed the values typical of conventionally used crack models (such as penny-shaped cuts or thin ellipsoidal cracks. Correspondingly, rocks with such cracks demonstrate a strongly decreased Poisson ratio including a significant (∼ 45 % portion of rocks exhibiting negative Poisson ratios at lower pressures, for which the concentration of not yet closed cracks is maximal. The obtained results indicate the necessity for further development of crack models to account for the revealed numerous examples of cracks with strong domination of normal compliance. Discovering such a significant number of naturally auxetic rocks is in contrast to the conventional viewpoint that occurrence of a negative Poisson ratio is an exotic fact that is mostly discussed for artificial structures.

Authoritarianism, dominance and assertiveness.

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Ray, J J

1981-08-01

It is shown that there are definitions of the three constructs of authoritarianism, dominance and assertiveness which read very similarly; so much so that no distinction is immediately evident. It is proposed that authoritarianism might be conceived as aggressive dominance and at least some types of assertiveness as nonaggressive dominance. A new scale of Dominance suitable for general population use was produced, and compared with the existing Ray (1976) behavior inventory of authoritarianism. Both scales showed highly significant correlations with peer rated dominance and submission (the latter being negative in sign) but only the authoritarianism scale showed significant correlations with rated aggressiveness and rigidity. It was concluded that the new definitions could be operationalized into valid scales.

Relating 2-Rainbow Domination To Roman Domination

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Alvarado José D.

2017-11-01

Full Text Available For a graph G, let R(G and yr2(G denote the Roman domination number of G and the 2-rainbow domination number of G, respectively. It is known that yr2(G ≤ R(G ≤ 3/2yr2(G. Fujita and Furuya [Difference between 2-rainbow domination and Roman domination in graphs, Discrete Appl. Math. 161 (2013 806-812] present some kind of characterization of the graphs G for which R(G − yr2(G = k for some integer k. Unfortunately, their result does not lead to an algorithm that allows to recognize these graphs efficiently. We show that for every fixed non-negative integer k, the recognition of the connected K4-free graphs G with yR(G − yr2(G = k is NP-hard, which implies that there is most likely no good characterization of these graphs. We characterize the graphs G such that yr2(H = yR(H for every induced subgraph H of G, and collect several properties of the graphs G with R(G = 3/2yr2(G.

Right Hemispheric Dominance in Processing of Unconscious Negative Emotion

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Sato, Wataru; Aoki, Satoshi

2006-01-01

Right hemispheric dominance in unconscious emotional processing has been suggested, but remains controversial. This issue was investigated using the subliminal affective priming paradigm combined with unilateral visual presentation in 40 normal subjects. In either left or right visual fields, angry facial expressions, happy facial expressions, or…

Dominance and queen succession in captive colonies of the eusocial naked mole-rat, Heterocephalus glaber.

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Clarke, F M; Faulkes, C G

1997-07-22

Naked mole-rat colonies exhibit a high reproductive skew, breeding being typically restricted to one female (the 'queen') and one to three males. Other colony members are reproductively suppressed, although this suppression can be reversed following the removal or death of the queen. We examined dominance and queen succession within captive colonies to investigate the relationship between urinary testosterone and cortisol, dominance rank and reproductive status; and to determine if behavioural and/or physiological parameters can be used as predictors of queen succession. Social structure was characterized by a linear dominance hierarchy before and after queen removal. Prior to queen removal, dominance rank was negatively correlated with body weight and urinary testosterone and cortisol titres in males and females. Queen removal results in social instability and aggression between high ranking individuals. Dominance rank appears to be a good predictor of reproductive status: queens are the highest ranking colony females and are succeeded by the next highest ranking females. The intense dominance-related aggression that accompanies reproductive succession in naked mole-rats provides empirical support for optimal skew theory.

Alternative Splice Variants Modulates Dominant-Negative Function of Helios in T-Cell Leukemia.

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Shaorong Zhao

Full Text Available The molecular defects which lead to multistep incidences of human T-cell leukemia have yet to be identified. The DNA-binding protein Helios (known as IKZF2, a member of the Ikaros family of Krüppel-like zinc-finger proteins, functions pivotally in T-cell differentiation and activation. In this study, we identify three novel short Helios splice variants which are T-cell leukemic specific, and demonstrate their dominant-negative function. We then test the cellular localization of distinct Helios isoforms, as well as their capability to form heterodimer with Ikaros, and the association with complexes comprising histone deacetylase (HDAC. In addition, the ectopic expression of T-cell leukemic Helios isoforms interferes with T-cell proliferation and apoptosis. The gene expression profiling and pathway analysis indicated the enrichment of signaling pathways essential for gene expression, translation, cell cycle checkpoint, and response to DNA damage stimulus. These data indicate the molecular function of Helios to be involved in the leukemogenesis and phenotype of T-cell leukemia, and also reveal Helios deregulation as a novel marker for T-cell leukemia.

A KCNC3 mutation causes a neurodevelopmental, non-progressive SCA13 subtype associated with dominant negative effects and aberrant EGFR trafficking.

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Khare, Swati; Nick, Jerelyn A; Zhang, Yalan; Galeano, Kira; Butler, Brittany; Khoshbouei, Habibeh; Rayaprolu, Sruti; Hathorn, Tyisha; Ranum, Laura P W; Smithson, Lisa; Golde, Todd E; Paucar, Martin; Morse, Richard; Raff, Michael; Simon, Julie; Nordenskjöld, Magnus; Wirdefeldt, Karin; Rincon-Limas, Diego E; Lewis, Jada; Kaczmarek, Leonard K; Fernandez-Funez, Pedro; Nick, Harry S; Waters, Michael F

2017-01-01

The autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a diverse group of neurological disorders anchored by the phenotypes of motor incoordination and cerebellar atrophy. Disease heterogeneity is appreciated through varying comorbidities: dysarthria, dysphagia, oculomotor and/or retinal abnormalities, motor neuron pathology, epilepsy, cognitive impairment, autonomic dysfunction, and psychiatric manifestations. Our study focuses on SCA13, which is caused by several allelic variants in the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNC3 (Kv3.3). We detail the clinical phenotype of four SCA13 kindreds that confirm causation of the KCNC3R423H allele. The heralding features demonstrate congenital onset with non-progressive, neurodevelopmental cerebellar hypoplasia and lifetime improvement in motor and cognitive function that implicate compensatory neural mechanisms. Targeted expression of human KCNC3R423H in Drosophila triggers aberrant wing veins, maldeveloped eyes, and fused ommatidia consistent with the neurodevelopmental presentation of patients. Furthermore, human KCNC3R423H expression in mammalian cells results in altered glycosylation and aberrant retention of the channel in anterograde and/or endosomal vesicles. Confirmation of the absence of plasma membrane targeting was based on the loss of current conductance in cells expressing the mutant channel. Mechanistically, genetic studies in Drosophila, along with cellular and biophysical studies in mammalian systems, demonstrate the dominant negative effect exerted by the mutant on the wild-type (WT) protein, which explains dominant inheritance. We demonstrate that ocular co-expression of KCNC3R423H with Drosophila epidermal growth factor receptor (dEgfr) results in striking rescue of the eye phenotype, whereas KCNC3R423H expression in mammalian cells results in aberrant intracellular retention of human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Together, these results indicate that the neurodevelopmental consequences of

Negations in syllogistic reasoning: evidence for a heuristic-analytic conflict.

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Stupple, Edward J N; Waterhouse, Eleanor F

2009-08-01

An experiment utilizing response time measures was conducted to test dominant processing strategies in syllogistic reasoning with the expanded quantifier set proposed by Roberts (2005). Through adding negations to existing quantifiers it is possible to change problem surface features without altering logical validity. Biases based on surface features such as atmosphere, matching, and the probability heuristics model (PHM; Chater & Oaksford, 1999; Wetherick & Gilhooly, 1995) would not be expected to show variance in response latencies, but participant responses should be highly sensitive to changes in the surface features of the quantifiers. In contrast, according to analytic accounts such as mental models theory and mental logic (e.g., Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991; Rips, 1994) participants should exhibit increased response times for negated premises, but not be overly impacted upon by the surface features of the conclusion. Data indicated that the dominant response strategy was based on a matching heuristic, but also provided evidence of a resource-demanding analytic procedure for dealing with double negatives. The authors propose that dual-process theories offer a stronger account of these data whereby participants employ competing heuristic and analytic strategies and fall back on a heuristic response when analytic processing fails.

Recurring dominant-negative mutations in the AVP-NPII gene cause neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus

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Repaske, D.R. [Children`s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH (United States); Phillips, J.A.; Krishnamani, M.R.S. [Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine, Nashville, TN (United States)] [and others

1994-09-01

Autosomal dominant neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus (ADNDI) is a familial form of arginine vasopressin (or antidiuretic hormone) deficiency that is usually manifest in early childhood with polyuria, polydipsia and an antidiuretic response to exogenous vasopressin or its analogs. The phenotype is postulated to arise from gliosis and depletion of the magnocellular neurons that produce vasopressin in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus. ADNDI is caused by heterozygosity for a variety of mutations in the AVP-NPII gene which encodes vasopressin, its carrier protein (NPII) and a glycoprotein (copeptin) of unknown function. These mutations include: (1) Ala 19{r_arrow}Thr (G279A) in AVP`s signal peptide, (2) Gly 17{r_arrow}Val (G1740T), (3) Pro 24{r_arrow}Leu (C1761T), (4) Gly 57{r_arrow}Ser (G1859A) and (5) del Glu 47({delta}AGG 1824-26), all of which occur in NPII. In characterizing the AVP-NPII mutations in five non-related ADNDI kindreds, we have detected two kindreds having mutation 1 (G279A), two having mutation 3 (C1761T) and one having mutation 4 (G1859A) without any other allelic changes being detected. Two of these recurring mutations (G279A and G1859A) are transitions that occur at CpG dinucleotides while the third (C1761T) does not. Interestingly, families with the same mutations differed in their ethnicity or in their affected AVP-NPII allele`s associated haplotype of closely linked DNA polymorphisms. Our data indicated that at least three of five known AVP-NPII mutations causing ADNDI tend to recur but the mechanisms by which these dominant-negative mutations cause variable or progressive expression of the ADNDI phenotype remain unclear.

A dominant-negative mutant inhibits multiple prion variants through a common mechanism.

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Fen Pei

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Prions adopt alternative, self-replicating protein conformations and thereby determine novel phenotypes that are often irreversible. Nevertheless, dominant-negative prion mutants can revert phenotypes associated with some conformations. These observations suggest that, while intervention is possible, distinct inhibitors must be developed to overcome the conformational plasticity of prions. To understand the basis of this specificity, we determined the impact of the G58D mutant of the Sup35 prion on three of its conformational variants, which form amyloids in S. cerevisiae. G58D had been previously proposed to have unique effects on these variants, but our studies suggest a common mechanism. All variants, including those reported to be resistant, are inhibited by G58D but at distinct doses. G58D lowers the kinetic stability of the associated amyloid, enhancing its fragmentation by molecular chaperones, promoting Sup35 resolubilization, and leading to amyloid clearance particularly in daughter cells. Reducing the availability or activity of the chaperone Hsp104, even transiently, reverses curing. Thus, the specificity of inhibition is determined by the sensitivity of variants to the mutant dosage rather than mode of action, challenging the view that a unique inhibitor must be developed to combat each variant.

A cell-permeable dominant-negative survivin protein induces apoptosis and sensitizes prostate cancer cells to TNF-α therapy

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Kanwar Jagat R

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Survivin is a member of the inhibitor-of-apoptosis (IAP family which is widely expressed by many different cancers. Overexpression of survivin is associated with drug resistance in cancer cells, and reduced patient survival after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Agents that antagonize the function of survivin hold promise for treating many forms of cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a cell-permeable dominant-negative survivin protein would demonstrate bioactivity against prostate and cervical cancer cells grown in three dimensional culture. Results A dominant-negative survivin (C84A protein fused to the cell penetrating peptide poly-arginine (R9 was expressed in E. coli and purified by affinity chromatography. Western blot analysis revealed that dNSurR9-C84A penetrated into 3D-cultured HeLa and DU145 cancer cells, and a cell viability assay revealed it induced cancer cell death. It increased the activities of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and rendered DU145 cells sensitive to TNF-α via by a mechanism involving activation of caspase-8. Conclusions The results demonstrate that antagonism of survivin function triggers the apoptosis of prostate and cervical cancer cells grown in 3D culture. It renders cancer cells sensitive to the proapoptotic affects of TNF-α, suggesting that survivin blocks the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis. Combination of the biologically active dNSurR9-C84A protein or other survivin antagonists with TNF-α therapy warrants consideration as an approach to cancer therapy.

Exhibition

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2017-01-01

Sintropie Flavio Pellegrini From 13 to 24 March 2017 CERN Meyrin, Main Building Energia imprigionata - Flavio Pellegrini. The exhibition is composed by eleven wood artworks with the expression of movement as theme. The artworks are the result of harmonics math applied to sculpture. The powerful black colour is dominated by the light source, generating reflexes and modulations. The result is a continuous variation of perspective visions. The works generate, at a first approach, an emotion of mystery and incomprehension, only a deeper contemplation lets one discover entangling and mutative details, evidencing the elegance of the lines and letting the meaning emerge. For more information : staff.association@cern.ch | Tél: 022 766 37 38

A KCNC3 mutation causes a neurodevelopmental, non-progressive SCA13 subtype associated with dominant negative effects and aberrant EGFR trafficking.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Swati Khare

Full Text Available The autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs are a diverse group of neurological disorders anchored by the phenotypes of motor incoordination and cerebellar atrophy. Disease heterogeneity is appreciated through varying comorbidities: dysarthria, dysphagia, oculomotor and/or retinal abnormalities, motor neuron pathology, epilepsy, cognitive impairment, autonomic dysfunction, and psychiatric manifestations. Our study focuses on SCA13, which is caused by several allelic variants in the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNC3 (Kv3.3. We detail the clinical phenotype of four SCA13 kindreds that confirm causation of the KCNC3R423H allele. The heralding features demonstrate congenital onset with non-progressive, neurodevelopmental cerebellar hypoplasia and lifetime improvement in motor and cognitive function that implicate compensatory neural mechanisms. Targeted expression of human KCNC3R423H in Drosophila triggers aberrant wing veins, maldeveloped eyes, and fused ommatidia consistent with the neurodevelopmental presentation of patients. Furthermore, human KCNC3R423H expression in mammalian cells results in altered glycosylation and aberrant retention of the channel in anterograde and/or endosomal vesicles. Confirmation of the absence of plasma membrane targeting was based on the loss of current conductance in cells expressing the mutant channel. Mechanistically, genetic studies in Drosophila, along with cellular and biophysical studies in mammalian systems, demonstrate the dominant negative effect exerted by the mutant on the wild-type (WT protein, which explains dominant inheritance. We demonstrate that ocular co-expression of KCNC3R423H with Drosophila epidermal growth factor receptor (dEgfr results in striking rescue of the eye phenotype, whereas KCNC3R423H expression in mammalian cells results in aberrant intracellular retention of human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR. Together, these results indicate that the neurodevelopmental

Reversion of autocrine transformation by a dominant negative platelet-derived growth factor mutant.

Science.gov (United States)

Vassbotn, F S; Andersson, M; Westermark, B; Heldin, C H; Ostman, A

1993-07-01

A non-receptor-binding mutant of the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) A chain, PDGF-0, was generated by exchanging 7 amino acids in the sequence. The mutant chains formed dimers that were similar to wild-type PDGF-AA with regard to stability and rate of processing to the mature 30-kDa secreted forms. Moreover, the mutant chains formed disulfide-bonded heterodimers with the PDGF B chain in NIH 3T3 cells heterodimer underwent the same processing and secretion as PDGF-AB. Transfection of c-sis-expressing 3T3 cells with PDGF-0 significantly inhibited the transformed phenotype of these cells, as determined by the following criteria. (i) Compared with PDGF-0-negative clones, PDGF-0-producing clones showed a reverted morphology. (ii) Clones producing PDGF-0 grew more slowly than PDGF-0-negative clones, with a fivefold difference in cell number after 14 days in culture. (iii) The expression of PDGF-0 completely inhibited the ability of the c-sis-expressing 3T3 cells to form colonies in soft agar; this inhibition was overcome by the addition of recombinant PDGF-BB to the culture medium, showing that the lack of colony formation of these cells was not due to a general unresponsiveness to PDGF. The specific expression of a PDGF-0/PDGF wild-type heterodimer in COS cells revealed that the affinity of the mutant heterodimer for the PDGF alpha receptor was decreased by approximately 50-fold compared with that of PDGF-AA. Thus, we show that a non-receptor-binding PDGF A-chain mutant neutralizes in a trans-dominant manner the autocrine transforming potential of the c-sis/PDGF B chain by forming low-affinity heterodimers with wild-type PDGF chains. This method of specifically antagonizing the effect of PDGF may be useful in investigations of the role of PDGF in normal and pathological conditions.

Inhibition of elastase-pulmonary emphysema in dominant-negative MafB transgenic mice.

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Aida, Yasuko; Shibata, Yoko; Abe, Shuichi; Inoue, Sumito; Kimura, Tomomi; Igarashi, Akira; Yamauchi, Keiko; Nunomiya, Keiko; Kishi, Hiroyuki; Nemoto, Takako; Sato, Masamichi; Sato-Nishiwaki, Michiko; Nakano, Hiroshi; Sato, Kento; Kubota, Isao

2014-01-01

Alveolar macrophages (AMs) play important roles in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We previously demonstrated upregulation of the transcription factor MafB in AMs of mice exposed to cigarette smoke. The aim of this study was to elucidate the roles of MafB in the development of pulmonary emphysema. Porcine pancreatic elastase was administered to wild-type (WT) and dominant-negative (DN)-MafB transgenic (Tg) mice in which MafB activity was suppressed only in macrophages. We measured the mean linear intercept and conducted cell differential analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells, surface marker analysis using flow cytometry, and immunohistochemical staining using antibodies to matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and MMP-12. Airspace enlargement of the lungs was suppressed significantly in elastase-treated DN-MafB Tg mice compared with treated WT mice. AMs with projected pseudopods were decreased in DN-MafB Tg mice. The number of cells intermediately positive for F4/80 and weakly or intermediately positive for CD11b, which are considered cell subsets of matured AMs, decreased in the BAL of DN-MafB Tg mice. Furthermore, MMP-9 and -12 were significantly downregulated in BAL cells of DN-MafB Tg mice. Because MMPs exacerbate emphysema, MafB may be involved in pulmonary emphysema development through altered maturation of macrophages and MMP expression.

Measuring positive and negative affect in the voiced sounds of African elephants (Loxodonta africana).

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Soltis, Joseph; Blowers, Tracy E; Savage, Anne

2011-02-01

As in other mammals, there is evidence that the African elephant voice reflects affect intensity, but it is less clear if positive and negative affective states are differentially reflected in the voice. An acoustic comparison was made between African elephant "rumble" vocalizations produced in negative social contexts (dominance interactions), neutral social contexts (minimal social activity), and positive social contexts (affiliative interactions) by four adult females housed at Disney's Animal Kingdom®. Rumbles produced in the negative social context exhibited higher and more variable fundamental frequencies (F(0)) and amplitudes, longer durations, increased voice roughness, and higher first formant locations (F1), compared to the neutral social context. Rumbles produced in the positive social context exhibited similar shifts in most variables (F(0 )variation, amplitude, amplitude variation, duration, and F1), but the magnitude of response was generally less than that observed in the negative context. Voice roughness and F(0) observed in the positive social context remained similar to that observed in the neutral context. These results are most consistent with the vocal expression of affect intensity, in which the negative social context elicited higher intensity levels than the positive context, but differential vocal expression of positive and negative affect cannot be ruled out.

Dominant negative mutations of Caenorhabditis elegans daf-7 confer a novel developmental phenotype.

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Crook, Matt; Grant, Warwick N

2013-06-01

TGF-β signaling pathways are involved in the control of development in every member of the animal kingdom. As such, TGF-β ligands are widely divergent yet retain a set of core conserved features, specifically, a pre-protein cleavage site and several conserved ligand domain residues, the disruption of which produces a dominant negative phenotype. We have extended these observations into an invertebrate system by creating a series of loss-of-function Caenorhabditis elegans daf-7 transgenes. When we tested these mutant transgenes in a daf-7/+ background, we saw a molting and excretory canal phenotype. Members of both pathways downstream of daf-4 were required for this phenotype. Our results show that the basic mechanisms of TGF-β function are conserved across the animal kingdom. A subset of our daf-7 mutations also produced an unexpected and novel phenotype. Epistasis experiments demonstrated that both daf-3/-5 and sma-4/-9 were downstream of our mutant daf-7 transgenes, which suggests not only a role for DAF-7 in the control of molting and the development of the excretory system but also that daf-7 and dbl-1 signaling may converge downstream of their shared Type II receptor, daf-4. Our approach may unveil new roles in development for other invertebrate TGF-β ligands. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Aged dominant negative p38α MAPK mice are resistant to age-dependent decline in adult-neurogenesis and context discrimination fear conditioning.

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Cortez, IbDanelo; Bulavin, Dmitry V; Wu, Ping; McGrath, Erica L; Cunningham, Kathryn A; Wakamiya, Maki; Papaconstantinou, John; Dineley, Kelly T

2017-03-30

A major aspect of mammalian aging is the decline in functional competence of many self-renewing cell types, including adult-born neuronal precursors. Since age-related senescence of self-renewal occurs simultaneously with chronic up-regulation of the p38MAPKalpha (p38α) signaling pathway, we used the dominant negative mouse model for attenuated p38α activity (DN-p38α AF/+ ) in which Thr180 and Tyr182 are mutated (T→A/Y→F) to prevent phosphorylation activation (DN-p38α AF/+ ) and kinase activity. As a result, aged DN-p38α AF/+ mice are resistant to age-dependent decline in proliferation and regeneration of several peripheral tissue progenitors when compared to wild-type littermates. Aging is the major risk factor for non-inherited forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD); environmental and genetic risk factors that accelerate the senescence phenotype are thought to contribute to an individual's relative risk. In the present study, we evaluated aged DN-p38α AF/+ and wildtype littermates in a series of behavioral paradigms to test if p38α mutant mice exhibit altered baseline abnormalities in neurological reflexes, locomotion, anxiety-like behavior, and age-dependent cognitive decline. While aged DN-p38α AF/+ and wildtype littermates appear equal in all tested baseline neurological and behavioral parameters, DN-p38α AF/+ exhibit superior context discrimination fear conditioning. Context discrimination is a cognitive task that is supported by proliferation and differentiation of adult-born neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Consistent with enhanced context discrimination in aged DN-p38α AF/+ , we discovered enhanced production of adult-born neurons in the dentate gyrus of DN-p38α AF/+ mice compared to wildtype littermates. Our findings support the notion that p38α inhibition has therapeutic utility in aging diseases that affect cognition, such as AD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Receptor homodimerization plays a critical role in a novel dominant negative P2RY12 variant identified in a family with severe bleeding.

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Mundell, S J; Rabbolini, D; Gabrielli, S; Chen, Q; Aungraheeta, R; Hutchinson, J L; Kilo, T; Mackay, J; Ward, C M; Stevenson, W; Morel-Kopp, M-C

2018-01-01

Essentials Three dominant variants for the autosomal recessive bleeding disorder type-8 have been described. To date, there has been no phenotype/genotype correlation explaining their dominant transmission. Proline plays an important role in P2Y12R ligand binding and signaling defects. P2Y12R homodimer formation is critical for the receptor function and signaling. Background Although inherited platelet disorders are still underdiagnosed worldwide, advances in molecular techniques are improving disease diagnosis and patient management. Objective To identify and characterize the mechanism underlying the bleeding phenotype in a Caucasian family with an autosomal dominant P2RY12 variant. Methods Full blood counts, platelet aggregometry, flow cytometry and western blotting were performed before next-generation sequencing (NGS). Detailed molecular analysis of the identified variant of the P2Y12 receptor (P2Y12R) was subsequently performed in mammalian cells overexpressing receptor constructs. Results All three referred individuals had markedly impaired ADP-induced platelet aggregation with primary wave only, despite normal total and surface P2Y12R expression. By NGS, a single P2RY12:c.G794C substitution (p.R265P) was identified in all affected individuals, and this was confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Mammalian cell experiments with the R265P-P2Y12R variant showed normal receptor surface expression versus wild-type (WT) P2Y12R. Agonist-stimulated R265P-P2Y12R function (both signaling and surface receptor loss) was reduced versus WT P2Y12R. Critically, R265P-P2Y12R acted in a dominant negative manner, with agonist-stimulated WT P2Y12R activity being reduced by variant coexpression, suggesting dramatic loss of WT homodimers. Importantly, platelet P2RY12 cDNA cloning and sequencing in two affected individuals also revealed three-fold mutant mRNA overexpression, decreasing even further the likelihood of WT homodimer formation. R265 located within extracellular loop 3 (EL3) is

Large Negative Linear Compressibility in InH(BDC)₂ from Framework Hinging.

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Zeng, Qingxin; Wang, Kai; Zou, Bo

2017-11-08

Materials with negative linear compressibility (NLC) counterintuitively expand along one specific direction coupled to the volume reduction when compressed uniformly. NLC with a large value is desired for compression and materials science. However, NLC is generally smaller than -20 TPa -1 . High-pressure X-ray diffraction experiments reveal that the β-quartz-like InH(BDC) 2 generates an extreme NLC (-62.4 TPa -1 ) by framework hinging. InH(BDC) 2 is much safer and lower-cost than Au + /Ag + and CN - -containing materials that dominated the fields of large NLC. This work reconfirms that a negative thermal expansion flexible framework could likely exhibit large NLC. Moreover, a large NLC could be anticipated to arise from β-quartz-like or related frameworks composed of rigid linear ligands and flexible framework angles.

Graphene nanomesh-based devices exhibiting a strong negative differential conductance effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung Nguyen, V; Mazzamuto, F; Saint-Martin, J; Bournel, A; Dollfus, P

2012-01-01

Using atomistic quantum simulation based on a tight binding model, we have investigated the transport characteristics of graphene nanomesh-based devices and evaluated the possibilities of observing negative differential conductance. It is shown that by taking advantage of bandgap opening in the graphene nanomesh lattice, a strong negative differential conductance effect can be achieved at room temperature in pn junctions and n-doped structures. Remarkably, the effect is improved very significantly (with a peak-to-valley current ratio of a few hundred) and appears to be weakly sensitive to the transition length in graphene nanomesh pn hetero-junctions when inserting a pristine (gapless) graphene section in the transition region between n and p zones. The study therefore suggests new design strategies for graphene electronic devices which may offer strong advantages in terms of performance and processing over the devices studied previously. (paper)

A dominant negative form of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor induces metacyclogenesis and increases mitochondrial density in Trypanosoma cruzi

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashimoto, Muneaki; Nara, Takeshi; Enomoto, Masahiro; Kurebayashi, Nagomi; Yoshida, Mitsutaka; Sakurai, Takashi; Mita, Toshihiro; Mikoshiba, Katsuhiko

2015-01-01

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP_3R) is a key regulator of intracellular Ca"2"+ concentration that release Ca"2"+ from Ca"2"+ stores in response to various external stimuli. IP_3R also works as a signal hub which form a platform for interacting with various proteins involved in diverse cell signaling. Previously, we have identified an IP_3R homolog in the parasitic protist, Trypanosoma cruzi (TcIP_3R). Parasites expressing reduced or increased levels of TcIP_3R displayed defects in growth, transformation, and infectivity. In the present study, we established parasitic strains expressing a dominant negative form of TcIP_3R, named DN-TcIP_3R, to further investigate the physiological role(s) of TcIP_3R. We found that the growth of epimastigotes expressing DN-TcIP_3R was significantly slower than that of parasites with TcIP_3R expression levels that were approximately 65% of wild-type levels. The expression of DN-TcIP_3R in epimastigotes induced metacyclogenesis even in the normal growth medium. Furthermore, these epimastigotes showed the presence of dense mitochondria under a transmission electron microscope. Our findings confirm that TcIP_3R is crucial for epimastigote growth, as previously reported. They also suggest that a strong inhibition of the IP_3R-mediated signaling induces metacyclogenesis and that mitochondrial integrity is closely associated with this signaling. - Highlights: • We established T. cruzi strains expressing a dominant negative form of the TcIP_3R. • DN-TcIP_3R expression inhibits epimastigote growth and induces metacyclogenesis. • Microscopic analysis indicated TcIP_3R role in maintaining mitochondrial integrity. • Growth, but not microbial density, was altered by mammalian IP_3R inhibitor (2-APB).

Dominant intrinsic acceptors in GaN and ZnO

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saarinen, K; Hautakangas, S; Tuomisto, F [Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, PO Box 1100, FI-02015 TKK (Finland)

2006-09-01

Positron annihilation measurements reveal negatively charged Ga vacancies in n-type GaN and Zn vacancies in n-type ZnO. Positron trapping at other negative defects is not observed, indicating that cation vacancies are the dominant acceptors in these materials. The vacancy concentrations are the same as the total acceptor densities determined in Hall experiments, confirming the dominant role of the vacancy defects. The Ga vacancy in GaN is found as the main compensating centre over the range of four orders of magnitude of intentional oxygen doping.

Dominant intrinsic acceptors in GaN and ZnO

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saarinen, K; Hautakangas, S; Tuomisto, F

2006-01-01

Positron annihilation measurements reveal negatively charged Ga vacancies in n-type GaN and Zn vacancies in n-type ZnO. Positron trapping at other negative defects is not observed, indicating that cation vacancies are the dominant acceptors in these materials. The vacancy concentrations are the same as the total acceptor densities determined in Hall experiments, confirming the dominant role of the vacancy defects. The Ga vacancy in GaN is found as the main compensating centre over the range of four orders of magnitude of intentional oxygen doping

Demonstration of differential quantitative requirements for NSF among multiple vesicle fusion pathways of GLUT4 using a dominant-negative ATPase-deficient NSF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Xiaoli; Matsumoto, Hideko; Hinck, Cynthia S.; Al-Hasani, Hadi; St-Denis, Jean-Francois; Whiteheart, Sidney W.; Cushman, Samuel W.

2005-01-01

In this study, we investigated the relative participation of N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) in vivo in a complex multistep vesicle trafficking system, the translocation response of GLUT4 to insulin in rat adipose cells. Transfections of rat adipose cells demonstrate that over-expression of wild-type NSF has no effect on total, or basal and insulin-stimulated cell-surface expression of HA-tagged GLUT4. In contrast, a dominant-negative NSF (NSF-D1EQ) can be expressed at a low enough level that it has little effect on total HA-GLUT4, but does reduce both basal and insulin-stimulated cell-surface HA-GLUT4 by ∼50% without affecting the GLUT4 fold-translocation response to insulin. However, high expression levels of NSF-D1EQ decrease total HA-GLUT4. The inhibitory effect of NSF-D1EQ on cell-surface HA-GLUT4 is reversed when endocytosis is inhibited by co-expression of a dominant-negative dynamin (dynamin-K44A). Moreover, NSF-D1EQ does not affect cell-surface levels of constitutively recycling GLUT1 and TfR, suggesting a predominant effect of low-level NSF-D1EQ on the trafficking of GLUT4 from the endocytic recycling compared to the intracellular GLUT4-specific compartment. Thus, our data demonstrate that the multiple fusion steps in GLUT4 trafficking have differential quantitative requirements for NSF activity. This indicates that the rates of plasma and intracellular membrane fusion reactions vary, leading to differential needs for the turnover of the SNARE proteins

Progranulin haploinsufficiency causes biphasic social dominance abnormalities in the tube test.

Science.gov (United States)

Arrant, A E; Filiano, A J; Warmus, B A; Hall, A M; Roberson, E D

2016-07-01

Loss-of-function mutations in progranulin (GRN) are a major autosomal dominant cause of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a neurodegenerative disorder in which social behavior is disrupted. Progranulin-insufficient mice, both Grn(+/-) and Grn(-/-) , are used as models of FTD due to GRN mutations, with Grn(+/-) mice mimicking the progranulin haploinsufficiency of FTD patients with GRN mutations. Grn(+/-) mice have increased social dominance in the tube test at 6 months of age, although this phenotype has not been reported in Grn(-/-) mice. In this study, we investigated how the tube test phenotype of progranulin-insufficient mice changes with age, determined its robustness under several testing conditions, and explored the associated cellular mechanisms. We observed biphasic social dominance abnormalities in Grn(+/-) mice: at 6-8 months, Grn(+/-) mice were more dominant than wild-type littermates, while after 9 months of age, Grn(+/-) mice were less dominant. In contrast, Grn(-/-) mice did not exhibit abnormal social dominance, suggesting that progranulin haploinsufficiency has distinct effects from complete progranulin deficiency. The biphasic tube test phenotype of Grn(+/-) mice was associated with abnormal cellular signaling and neuronal morphology in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. At 6-9 months, Grn(+/-) mice exhibited increased mTORC2/Akt signaling in the amygdala and enhanced dendritic arbors in the basomedial amygdala, and at 9-16 months Grn(+/-) mice exhibited diminished basal dendritic arbors in the prelimbic cortex. These data show a progressive change in tube test dominance in Grn(+/-) mice and highlight potential underlying mechanisms by which progranulin insufficiency may disrupt social behavior. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

Association between scalp hair-whorl direction and hemispheric language dominance.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weber, B.; Hoppe, C.; Faber, J.; Axmacher, N.; Fliessbach, K.; Mormann, F.; Weis, S.; Ruhlmann, J.; Elger, C.E.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

2006-01-01

Asymmetry is a common phenomenon in higher organisms. In humans, the cortical representation of language exhibits a high degree of asymmetry with a prevalence of about 90% of left hemispheric dominance, the underlying mechanisms of which are largely unknown. Another sign that exhibits a form of

Interaction of infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus ORF119L with PINCH leads to dominant-negative inhibition of integrin-linked kinase and cardiovascular defects in zebrafish.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Ji-Min; He, Bai-Liang; Yang, Lu-Yun; Guo, Chang-Jun; Weng, Shao-Ping; Li, Shengwen Calvin; He, Jian-Guo

2015-01-01

Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) is the type species of the Megalocytivirus genus, Iridoviridae family, causing a severe systemic disease with high mortality in mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi) in China and Southeast Asia. At present, the pathogenesis of ISKNV infection is still not fully understood. Based on a genome-wide bioinformatics analysis of ISKNV-encoded proteins, we found that ISKNV open reading frame 119L (ORF119L) is predicted to encode a three-ankyrin-repeat (3ANK)-domain-containing protein, which shows high similarity to the dominant negative form of integrin-linked kinase (ILK); i.e., viral ORF119L lacks the ILK kinase domain. Thus, we speculated that viral ORF119L might affect the host ILK complex. Here, we demonstrated that viral ORF119L directly interacts with particularly interesting Cys-His-rich protein (PINCH) and affects the host ILK-PINCH interaction in vitro in fathead minnow (FHM) cells. In vivo ORF119L overexpression in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos resulted in myocardial dysfunctions with disintegration of the sarcomeric Z disk. Importantly, ORF119L overexpression in zebrafish highly resembles the phenotype of endogenous ILK inhibition, either by overexpressing a dominant negative form of ILK or by injecting an ILK antisense morpholino oligonucleotide. Intriguingly, ISKNV-infected mandarin fish develop disorganized sarcomeric Z disks in cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, phosphorylation of AKT, a downstream effector of ILK, was remarkably decreased in ORF119L-overexpressing zebrafish embryos. With these results, we show that ISKNV ORF119L acts as a domain-negative inhibitor of the host ILK, providing a novel mechanism for the megalocytivirus pathogenesis. Our work is the first to show the role of a dominant negative inhibitor of the host ILK from ISKNV (an iridovirus). Mechanistically, the viral ORF119L directly binds to the host PINCH, attenuates the host PINCH-ILK interaction, and thus impairs ILK signaling. Intriguingly

On the Dominance of Attitude Emotionality.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocklage, Matthew D; Fazio, Russell H

2016-02-01

Many situations in our lives require us to make relatively quick decisions as whether to approach or avoid a person or object, buy or pass on a product, or accept or reject an offer. These decisions are particularly difficult when there are both positive and negative aspects to the object. How do people go about navigating this conflict to come to a summary judgment? Using the Evaluative Lexicon (EL), we demonstrate across three studies, 7,700 attitude expressions, and nearly 50 different attitude objects that when positivity and negativity conflict, the valence that is based more on emotion is more likely to dominate. Furthermore, individuals are also more consistent in the expression of their univalent summary judgments when they involve greater emotionality. In sum, valence that is based on emotion tends to dominate when resolving ambivalence and also helps individuals to remain consistent when offering quick judgments. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

AAV-dominant negative tumor necrosis factor (DN-TNF gene transfer to the striatum does not rescue medium spiny neurons in the YAC128 mouse model of Huntington's disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Taylor Alto

Full Text Available CNS inflammation is a hallmark of neurodegenerative disease, and recent studies suggest that the inflammatory response may contribute to neuronal demise. In particular, increased tumor necrosis factor (TNF signaling is implicated in the pathology of both Parkinson's disease (PD and Alzheimer's disease (AD. We have previously shown that localized gene delivery of dominant negative TNF to the degenerating brain region can limit pathology in animal models of PD and AD. TNF is upregulated in Huntington's disease (HD, like in PD and AD, but it is unknown whether TNF signaling contributes to neuronal degeneration in HD. We used in vivo gene delivery to test whether selective reduction of soluble TNF signaling could attenuate medium spiny neuron (MSN degeneration in the YAC128 transgenic (TG mouse model of Huntington's disease (HD. AAV vectors encoding cDNA for dominant-negative tumor necrosis factor (DN-TNF or GFP (control were injected into the striatum of young adult wild type WT and YAC128 TG mice and achieved 30-50% target coverage. Expression of dominant negative TNF protein was confirmed immunohistologically and biochemically and was maintained as mice aged to one year, but declined significantly over time. However, the extent of striatal DN-TNF gene transfer achieved in our studies was not sufficient to achieve robust effects on neuroinflammation, rescue degenerating MSNs or improve motor function in treated mice. Our findings suggest that alternative drug delivery strategies should be explored to determine whether greater target coverage by DN-TNF protein might afford some level of neuroprotection against HD-like pathology and/or that soluble TNF signaling may not be the primary driver of striatal neuroinflammation and MSN loss in YAC128 TG mice.

A dominant negative form of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor induces metacyclogenesis and increases mitochondrial density in Trypanosoma cruzi

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hashimoto, Muneaki, E-mail: muneaki@juntendo.ac.jp [Department of Molecular and Cellular Parasitology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421 (Japan); Nara, Takeshi, E-mail: tnara@juntendo.ac.jp [Department of Molecular and Cellular Parasitology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421 (Japan); Enomoto, Masahiro, E-mail: menomoto@uhnres.utoronto.ca [Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, M5G1L7, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Kurebayashi, Nagomi, E-mail: nagomik@juntendo.ac.jp [Department of Pharmacology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421 (Japan); Yoshida, Mitsutaka, E-mail: myoshida@juntendo.ac.jp [Laboratoly of Morphology and Image Analysis, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421 (Japan); Sakurai, Takashi, E-mail: tsakurai@juntendo.ac.jp [Department of Pharmacology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421 (Japan); Mita, Toshihiro, E-mail: tmita@juntendo.ac.jp [Department of Molecular and Cellular Parasitology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421 (Japan); Mikoshiba, Katsuhiko, E-mail: mikosiba@brain.riken.jp [Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Calcium Oscillation Project, International Cooperative Research Project and Solution-Oriented Research for Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012 (Japan)

2015-10-23

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP{sub 3}R) is a key regulator of intracellular Ca{sup 2+} concentration that release Ca{sup 2+} from Ca{sup 2+} stores in response to various external stimuli. IP{sub 3}R also works as a signal hub which form a platform for interacting with various proteins involved in diverse cell signaling. Previously, we have identified an IP{sub 3}R homolog in the parasitic protist, Trypanosoma cruzi (TcIP{sub 3}R). Parasites expressing reduced or increased levels of TcIP{sub 3}R displayed defects in growth, transformation, and infectivity. In the present study, we established parasitic strains expressing a dominant negative form of TcIP{sub 3}R, named DN-TcIP{sub 3}R, to further investigate the physiological role(s) of TcIP{sub 3}R. We found that the growth of epimastigotes expressing DN-TcIP{sub 3}R was significantly slower than that of parasites with TcIP{sub 3}R expression levels that were approximately 65% of wild-type levels. The expression of DN-TcIP{sub 3}R in epimastigotes induced metacyclogenesis even in the normal growth medium. Furthermore, these epimastigotes showed the presence of dense mitochondria under a transmission electron microscope. Our findings confirm that TcIP{sub 3}R is crucial for epimastigote growth, as previously reported. They also suggest that a strong inhibition of the IP{sub 3}R-mediated signaling induces metacyclogenesis and that mitochondrial integrity is closely associated with this signaling. - Highlights: • We established T. cruzi strains expressing a dominant negative form of the TcIP{sub 3}R. • DN-TcIP{sub 3}R expression inhibits epimastigote growth and induces metacyclogenesis. • Microscopic analysis indicated TcIP{sub 3}R role in maintaining mitochondrial integrity. • Growth, but not microbial density, was altered by mammalian IP{sub 3}R inhibitor (2-APB).

The correlation between subordinate fish eye colour and received attacks: a negative social feedback mechanism for the reduction of aggression during the formation of dominance hierarchies.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyai, Caio A; Carretero Sanches, Fábio H; Costa, Tânia M; Colpo, Karine Delevati; Volpato, Gilson L; Barreto, Rodrigo E

2011-12-01

Eye darkening has been linked to social status in fish. The subordinate's eyes darken, while the eyes of the dominant fish become pale. Although this phenomenon has been described in salmonid fishes and in the African cichlid Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, it is unclear whether eye darkening correlates with a reduction in aggressive behaviour. Thus, we evaluated the link between social status and eye darkening. We evaluated whether the eye colours of subordinate fish correlate with the frequency of received attacks in a neotropical fish, the pearl cichlid Geophagus brasiliensis. We paired pearl cichlids and quantified both the aggressive behaviour and the eye darkening of each fish. As has been described for Nile tilapia and Atlantic salmon, a clear-cut hierarchical relationship formed, where dominance and subordination were associated with pale and dark eye colours, respectively. Initially, eye colour darkening was positively correlated with the frequency of received attacks; however, a negative association occurred following eye darkening, in which the intensity of aggressive interactions decreased. Thus, fish that initially received a high number of attacks signalled subordination more rapidly and intensely (rapid and dramatic eye darkening), thereby inducing a negative social feedback mechanism that led to reduced aggression. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

A Tubular Biomaterial Construct Exhibiting a Negative Poisson's Ratio.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Woo Lee

Full Text Available Developing functional small-diameter vascular grafts is an important objective in tissue engineering research. In this study, we address the problem of compliance mismatch by designing and developing a 3D tubular construct that has a negative Poisson's ratio νxy (NPR. NPR constructs have the unique ability to expand transversely when pulled axially, thereby resulting in a highly-compliant tubular construct. In this work, we used projection stereolithography to 3D-print a planar NPR sheet composed of photosensitive poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate biomaterial. We used a step-lithography exposure and a stitch process to scale up the projection printing process, and used the cut-missing rib unit design to develop a centimeter-scale NPR sheet, which was rolled up to form a tubular construct. The constructs had Poisson's ratios of -0.6 ≤ νxy ≤ -0.1. The NPR construct also supports higher cellular adhesion than does the construct that has positive νxy. Our NPR design offers a significant advance in the development of highly-compliant vascular grafts.

Chemosensitizing tumor cells by targeting the Fanconi anemia pathway with an adenovirus overexpressing dominant-negative FANCA.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrer, Miriam; de Winter, Johan P; Mastenbroek, D C Jeroen; Curiel, David T; Gerritsen, Winald R; Giaccone, Giuseppe; Kruyt, Frank A E

2004-08-01

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by bone-marrow failure and cellular hypersensitivity to crosslinking agents, including cisplatin. Here, we studied the use of the FA pathway as a possible target for cancer gene therapy with the aim to sensitize tumor cells for cisplatin by interfering with the FA pathway. As proof-of-principle, FA and non-FA lymphoblast-derived tumors were grown subcutaneously in scid mice and treated with two different concentrations of cisplatin. As predicted, the antitumor response was considerably improved in FA tumors. An adenoviral vector encoding a dominant-negative form of FANCA, FANCA600DN, was generated that interfered with endogenous FANCA-FANCG interaction resulting in the disruption of the FA pathway as illustrated by disturbed FANCD2 monoubiquitination. A panel of cell lines, including non-small-cell lung cancer cells, could be sensitized approximately two- to three-fold for cisplatin after Ad.CMV.FANCA600DN infection that may increase upon enhanced infection efficiency. In conclusion, targeting the FA pathway may provide a novel strategy for the sensitization of solid tumors for cisplatin and, in addition, provides a tool for examining the role of the FA pathway in determining chemoresistance in different tumor types.

Inflation in a shear-or curvature-dominated universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steigman, G.; Turner, M.S.

1983-01-01

We show that new inflation occurs even if the universe is shear-or (negative) curvature-dominated when the phase transition begins. In such situations the size of a causally coherent region, after inflation, is only slightly smaller (by powers, but not by exponential factors) than the usual result. The creation and evolution of density perturbations is unaffected. This result is marked contrast to 'old' inflation, where shear- or curvature-domination could quench inflation. (orig.)

Exhibition: Dialogue between Science and religion

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

Can the theory of the Big Bang reached by physicists and the concept of creation beloved of religion ever be reconciled? The two approaches have at least one point in common: they do not provide a final answer to the mysteries of the birth of the Universe. And this means that dialogue is alays possible between the two. It is to show the potential of such an exchange that Geneva's Société Evangélique organization is opening an exhibition under the title 'Big Bang and Creation', at the Planète Charmilles shopping centre, to run from 19 to 30 March. View of the 'Big Bang and Creation' exhibition. The exhibition is divided into three sections, showing the views of the scientist and those of the believer without setting them up in opposition to one another. In the first section, under a representation of the vault of heaven, the visitor will discover the different ideas explaining the birth of the Universe: Genesis and the Big Bang, and the different dominant theories ...

Transcriptome analysis of skin fibroblasts with dominant negative COL3A1 mutations provides molecular insights into the etiopathology of vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiarelli, Nicola; Carini, Giulia; Zoppi, Nicoletta; Ritelli, Marco; Colombi, Marina

2018-01-01

Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS) is a dominantly inherited connective tissue disorder caused by mutations in the COL3A1 gene that encodes type III collagen (COLLIII), which is the major expressed collagen in blood vessels and hollow organs. The majority of disease-causing variants in COL3A1 are glycine substitutions and in-frame splice mutations in the triple helix domain that through a dominant negative effect are associated with the severe clinical spectrum potentially lethal of vEDS, characterized by fragility of soft connective tissues with arterial and organ ruptures. To shed lights into molecular mechanisms underlying vEDS, we performed gene expression profiling in cultured skin fibroblasts from three patients with different structural COL3A1 mutations. Transcriptome analysis revealed significant changes in the expression levels of several genes involved in maintenance of cell redox and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis, COLLs folding and extracellular matrix (ECM) organization, formation of the proteasome complex, and cell cycle regulation. Protein analyses showed that aberrant COLLIII expression is associated with the disassembly of many structural ECM constituents, such as fibrillins, EMILINs, and elastin, as well as with the reduction of the proteoglycans perlecan, decorin, and versican, all playing an important role in the vascular system. Furthermore, the altered distribution of the ER marker protein disulfide isomerase PDI and the strong reduction of the COLLs-modifying enzyme FKBP22 are consistent with the disturbance of ER-related homeostasis and COLLs biosynthesis and post-translational modifications, indicated by microarray analysis. Our findings add new insights into the pathophysiology of this severe vascular disorder, since they provide a picture of the gene expression changes in vEDS skin fibroblasts and highlight that dominant negative mutations in COL3A1 also affect post-translational modifications and deposition into the ECM of

Transcriptome analysis of skin fibroblasts with dominant negative COL3A1 mutations provides molecular insights into the etiopathology of vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicola Chiarelli

Full Text Available Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS is a dominantly inherited connective tissue disorder caused by mutations in the COL3A1 gene that encodes type III collagen (COLLIII, which is the major expressed collagen in blood vessels and hollow organs. The majority of disease-causing variants in COL3A1 are glycine substitutions and in-frame splice mutations in the triple helix domain that through a dominant negative effect are associated with the severe clinical spectrum potentially lethal of vEDS, characterized by fragility of soft connective tissues with arterial and organ ruptures. To shed lights into molecular mechanisms underlying vEDS, we performed gene expression profiling in cultured skin fibroblasts from three patients with different structural COL3A1 mutations. Transcriptome analysis revealed significant changes in the expression levels of several genes involved in maintenance of cell redox and endoplasmic reticulum (ER homeostasis, COLLs folding and extracellular matrix (ECM organization, formation of the proteasome complex, and cell cycle regulation. Protein analyses showed that aberrant COLLIII expression is associated with the disassembly of many structural ECM constituents, such as fibrillins, EMILINs, and elastin, as well as with the reduction of the proteoglycans perlecan, decorin, and versican, all playing an important role in the vascular system. Furthermore, the altered distribution of the ER marker protein disulfide isomerase PDI and the strong reduction of the COLLs-modifying enzyme FKBP22 are consistent with the disturbance of ER-related homeostasis and COLLs biosynthesis and post-translational modifications, indicated by microarray analysis. Our findings add new insights into the pathophysiology of this severe vascular disorder, since they provide a picture of the gene expression changes in vEDS skin fibroblasts and highlight that dominant negative mutations in COL3A1 also affect post-translational modifications and deposition

Clinical and Radiological Findings of Autosomal Dominant Osteopetrosis Type II: A Case Report

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Priyanka Kant

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Osteopetrosis is a rare inherited genetic disease characterized by sclerosis of the skeleton caused by the absence or malfunction of osteoclasts. Three distinct forms of the disease have been recognized, autosomal dominant osteopetrosis being the most common. Autosomal dominant osteopetrosis exhibits a heterogeneous trait with milder symptoms, often at later childhood or adulthood. The aim of this case report is to present the clinical and radiographic features of a 35-year-old female patient with autosomal dominant osteopetrosis type II who exhibited features of chronic generalised periodontitis, and the radiographs revealed generalised osteosclerosis and hallmark radiographic features of ADO type II, that is, “bone-within-bone appearance” and “Erlenmeyer-flask deformity.”

Limited importance of the dominant-negative effect of TP53 missense mutations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoczynska-Fidelus, Ewelina; Liberski, Pawel P; Rieske, Piotr; Szybka, Malgorzata; Piaskowski, Sylwester; Bienkowski, Michal; Hulas-Bigoszewska, Krystyna; Banaszczyk, Mateusz; Zawlik, Izabela; Jesionek-Kupnicka, Dorota; Kordek, Radzislaw

2011-01-01

Heterozygosity of TP53 missense mutations is related to the phenomenon of the dominant-negative effect (DNE). To estimate the importance of the DNE of TP53 mutations, we analysed the percentage of cancer cases showing a single heterozygous mutation of TP53 and searched for a cell line with a single heterozygous mutation of this gene. This approach was based on the knowledge that genes with evident DNE, such as EGFR and IDH1, represent nearly 100% of single heterozygous mutations in tumour specimens and cell lines. Genetic analyses (LOH and sequencing) performed for early and late passages of several cell lines originally described as showing single heterozygous TP53 mutations (H-318, G-16, PF-382, MOLT-13, ST-486 and LS-123). Statistical analysis of IARC TP53 and SANGER databases. Genetic analyses of N-RAS, FBXW7, PTEN and STR markers to test cross-contamination and cell line identity. Cell cloning, fluorescence-activated cell sorting and SSCP performed for the PF-382 cell line. A database study revealed TP53 single heterozygous mutations in 35% of in vivo (surgical and biopsy) samples and only 10% of cultured cells (in vitro), although those numbers appeared to be overestimated. We deem that published in vivo TP53 mutation analyses are not as rigorous as studies in vitro, and we did not find any cell line showing a stable, single heterozygous mutation. G16, PF-382 and MOLT-13 cells harboured single heterozygous mutations temporarily. ST-486, H-318 and LS-123 cell lines were misclassified. Specific mutations, such as R175H, R273H, R273L or R273P, which are reported in the literature to exert a DNE, showed the lowest percentage of single heterozygous mutations in vitro (about 5%). We suggest that the currently reported percentage of TP53 single heterozygous mutations in tumour samples and cancer cell lines is overestimated. Thus, the magnitude of the DNE of TP53 mutations is questionable. This scepticism is supported by database investigations showing that retention

Domination, Eternal Domination, and Clique Covering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klostermeyer William F.

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Eternal and m-eternal domination are concerned with using mobile guards to protect a graph against infinite sequences of attacks at vertices. Eternal domination allows one guard to move per attack, whereas more than one guard may move per attack in the m-eternal domination model. Inequality chains consisting of the domination, eternal domination, m-eternal domination, independence, and clique covering numbers of graph are explored in this paper.

DA-Raf, a dominant-negative antagonist of the Ras-ERK pathway, is a putative tumor suppressor.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanno, Emiri; Kawasaki, Osamu; Takahashi, Kazuya; Takano, Kazunori; Endo, Takeshi

2018-01-01

Activating mutations of RAS genes, particularly KRAS, are detected with high frequency in human tumors. Mutated Ras proteins constitutively activate the ERK pathway (Raf-MEK-ERK phosphorylation cascade), leading to cellular transformation and tumorigenesis. DA-Raf1 (DA-Raf) is a splicing variant of A-Raf and contains the Ras-binding domain (RBD) but lacks the kinase domain. Accordingly, DA-Raf antagonizes the Ras-ERK pathway in a dominant-negative fashion and suppresses constitutively activated K-Ras-induced cellular transformation. Thus, we have addressed whether DA-Raf serves as a tumor suppressor of Ras-induced tumorigenesis. DA-Raf(R52Q), which is generated from a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the RBD, and DA-Raf(R52W), a mutant detected in a lung cancer, neither bound to active K-Ras nor interfered with the activation of the ERK pathway. They were incapable of suppressing activated K-Ras-induced cellular transformation and tumorigenesis in mice, in which K-Ras-transformed cells were transplanted. Furthermore, although DA-Raf was highly expressed in lung alveolar epithelial type 2 (AE2) cells, its expression was silenced in AE2-derived lung adenocarcinoma cell lines with oncogenic KRAS mutations. These results suggest that DA-Raf represents a tumor suppressor protein against Ras-induced tumorigenesis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Contributes to Impaired Insulin Secretion in INS-1 Cells with Dominant-negative Mutations of HNF-1α and in HNF-1α-deficient Islets*

OpenAIRE

Pongratz, Rebecca L.; Kibbey, Richard G.; Kirkpatrick, Clare L.; Zhao, Xiaojian; Pontoglio, Marco; Yaniv, Moshe; Wollheim, Claes B.; Shulman, Gerald I.; Cline, Gary W.

2009-01-01

Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young-type 3 (MODY-3) has been linked to mutations in the transcription factor hepatic nuclear factor (HNF)-1α, resulting in deficiency in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In INS-1 cells overexpressing doxycycline-inducible HNF-1α dominant-negative (DN-) gene mutations, and islets from Hnf-1α knock-out mice, insulin secretion was impaired in response to glucose (15 mm) and other nutrient secretagogues. Decreased rates of insulin secretion in response to glu...

Critical significance of the region between Helix 1 and 2 for efficient dominant-negative inhibition by conversion-incompetent prion protein.

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Yuzuru Taguchi

Full Text Available Prion diseases are fatal infectious neurodegenerative disorders in man and animals associated with the accumulation of the pathogenic isoform PrP(Sc of the host-encoded prion protein (PrP(c. A profound conformational change of PrP(c underlies formation of PrP(Sc and prion propagation involves conversion of PrP(c substrate by direct interaction with PrP(Sc template. Identifying the interfaces and modalities of inter-molecular interactions of PrPs will highly advance our understanding of prion propagation in particular and of prion-like mechanisms in general. To identify the region critical for inter-molecular interactions of PrP, we exploited here dominant-negative inhibition (DNI effects of conversion-incompetent, internally-deleted PrP (ΔPrP on co-expressed conversion-competent PrP. We created a series of ΔPrPs with different lengths of deletions in the region between first and second α-helix (H1∼H2 which was recently postulated to be of importance in prion species barrier and PrP fibril formation. As previously reported, ΔPrPs uniformly exhibited aberrant properties including detergent insolubility, limited protease digestion resistance, high-mannose type N-linked glycans, and intracellular localization. Although formerly controversial, we demonstrate here that ΔPrPs have a GPI anchor attached. Surprisingly, despite very similar biochemical and cell-biological properties, DNI efficiencies of ΔPrPs varied significantly, dependant on location and inversely correlated with the size of deletion. This data demonstrates that H1∼H2 and the region C-terminal to it are critically important for efficient DNI. It also suggests that this region is involved in PrP-PrP interaction and conversion of PrP(C into PrP(Sc. To reconcile the paradox of how an intracellular PrP can exert DNI, we demonstrate that ΔPrPs are subject to both proteasomal and lysosomal/autophagic degradation pathways. Using autophagy pathways ΔPrPs obtain access to the locale

Human Colon Tumors Express a Dominant-Negative Form of SIGIRR That Promotes Inflammation and Colitis-Associated Colon Cancer in Mice.

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Zhao, Junjie; Bulek, Katarzyna; Gulen, Muhammet F; Zepp, Jarod A; Karagkounis, Georgio; Martin, Bradley N; Zhou, Hao; Yu, Minjia; Liu, Xiuli; Huang, Emina; Fox, Paul L; Kalady, Matthew F; Markowitz, Sanford D; Li, Xiaoxia

2015-12-01

Single immunoglobulin and toll-interleukin 1 receptor (SIGIRR), a negative regulator of the Toll-like and interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) signaling pathways, controls intestinal inflammation and suppresses colon tumorigenesis in mice. However, the importance of SIGIRR in human colorectal cancer development has not been determined. We investigated the role of SIGIRR in development of human colorectal cancer. We performed RNA sequence analyses of pairs of colon tumor and nontumor tissues, each collected from 68 patients. Immunoblot and immunofluorescence analyses were used to determine levels of SIGIRR protein in primary human colonic epithelial cells, tumor tissues, and colon cancer cell lines. We expressed SIGIRR and mutant forms of the protein in Vaco cell lines. We created and analyzed mice that expressed full-length (control) or a mutant form of Sigirr (encoding SIGIRR(N86/102S), which is not glycosylated) specifically in the intestinal epithelium. Some mice were given azoxymethane (AOM) and dextran sulfate sodium to induce colitis-associated cancer. Intestinal tissues were collected and analyzed by immunohistochemical and gene expression profile analyses. RNA sequence analyses revealed increased expression of a SIGIRR mRNA isoform, SIGIRR(ΔE8), in colorectal cancer tissues compared to paired nontumor tissues. SIGIRR(ΔE8) is not modified by complex glycans and is therefore retained in the cytoplasm-it cannot localize to the cell membrane or reduce IL1R signaling. SIGIRR(ΔE8) interacts with and has a dominant-negative effect on SIGIRR, reducing its glycosylation, localization to the cell surface, and function. Most SIGIRR detected in human colon cancer tissues was cytoplasmic, whereas in nontumor tissues it was found at the cell membrane. Mice that expressed SIGIRR(N86/102S) developed more inflammation and formed larger tumors after administration of azoxymethane and dextran sulfate sodium than control mice; colon tissues from these mutant mice expressed

Effects of leg dominance on performance of ballet turns (pirouettes) by experienced and novice dancers.

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Lin, Chia-Wei; Su, Fong-Chin; Wu, Hong-Wen; Lin, Cheng-Feng

2013-01-01

Turns (pirouettes) are an important movement in ballet and may be affected by "lateral bias". This study investigated physiological differences exhibited by experienced and novice dancers, respectively, when performing pirouette with dominant and non-dominant leg supports, respectively. Thirteen novice and 13 experienced dancers performed turns on dominant or non-dominant legs. The maximum ankle plantarflexion, knee extension and hip extension were measured during the single-leg support phase. The inclination angle of rotation axis is the angle between instantaneous rotation axis and global vertical axis in the early single-leg support phase. Both groups exhibited a greater hip extension, knee extension, and ankle plantarflexion when performing a turn on the non-dominant leg. For experienced dancers, the inclination angle of rotation axis during the pre-swing phase was generally smaller for dominant leg support than non-dominant leg. However, no significant difference was found in inclination angle of rotation axis of novice dancers. For experienced dancers, an improved performance is obtained when using the dominant leg for support. By contrast, for novice dancers, the performance is independent of choice of support leg. The significant lateral bias in experienced dancers indicates the possible influence of training. That is, repetitive rehearsal on the preferred leg strengthens the impact of side dominance in experienced dancers.

Conditional expression of the dominant-negative TGF-β receptor type II elicits lingual epithelial hyperplasia in transgenic mice.

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Li, Feng; Zhou, Mingliang

2013-05-01

The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway is generally believed to be a potent inhibitor of proliferation. However, many epithelia lacking the essential Tgfbr2 gene still maintain normal tissue homeostasis. Here, transgenic mice expressing rtTA from the human keratin 14 (K14) promoter were used to generate an inducible dominant-negative TGF-β receptor type II (Tgfbr2) mutant model, which allowed us to distinguish between the primary and secondary effects of TGF-β signaling disruption by Doxycycline treatment in K14+ epithelial stem cells. We showed that in mice lacking TGF-β signaling in K14+ cells, invasive carcinomas developed on the ventral surface of the tip of the tongue, while filiform papillae on the dorsal surface showed different pathological changes from the tip to the posterior of the tongue. In addition, acetylation levels of histone H4 and histone H3 rapidly increased, while pMAPK activity was enhanced and Jagged2 inactivated in lingual epithelia after disruption of TGF-β signaling. Our results contribute to the understanding of TGF-β signaling in regulating homeostasis and carcinogenesis in lingual epithelia. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A modified screening system for loss-of-function and dominant negative alleles of essential MCMV genes.

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Madlen Pogoda

Full Text Available Inactivation of gene products by dominant negative mutants is a valuable tool to assign functions to yet uncharacterized proteins, to map protein-protein interactions or to dissect physiological pathways. Detailed functional and structural knowledge about the target protein would allow the construction of inhibitory mutants by targeted mutagenesis. Yet, such data are limited for the majority of viral proteins, so that the target gene needs to be subjected to random mutagenesis to identify suitable mutants. However, for cytomegaloviruses this requires a two-step screening approach, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Here, we report the establishment of a high-throughput suitable screening system for the identification of inhibitory alleles of essential genes of the murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV. In this screen, the site-specific recombination of a specifically modified MCMV genome was transferred from the bacterial background to permissive host cells, thereby combining the genetic engineering and the rescue test in one step. Using a reference set of characterized pM53 mutants it was shown that the novel system is applicable to identify non-complementing as well as inhibitory mutants in a high-throughput suitable setup. The new cis-complementation assay was also applied to a basic genetic characterization of pM99, which was identified as essential for MCMV growth. We believe that the here described novel genetic screening approach can be adapted for the genetic characterization of essential genes of any large DNA viruses.

Hair penalties: The negative influence of Afrocentric hair on ratings of Black women's dominance and professionalism.

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Tina R. Opie

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Women are penalized if they do not behave in a stereotype-congruent manner (Eagly & Carli, 2007; Heilman, 1983; 2001. For example, because women are not expected to be agentic they incur an agency penalty for expressing anger, dominance or assertiveness (Brescoll & Uhlmann, 2008; Eagly & Karau, 2002; Livingston, Rosette, & Washington, 2012; Rudman, 1998; Rudman & Fairchild, 2004; Rudman & Glick, 1999, 2001. Yet, all women are not equally penalized (Livingston, Rosette, & Washington, 2012. We make a novel contribution by examining how both White and Black evaluators respond to Black women’s dominance, in this case, whether Black women choose to wear Afrocentric or Eurocentric hairstyles. Design/methodology/approach: We conducted three experimental studies to examine the influence of target hairstyle and participant race on ratings of the target’s professionalism (Studies 1, 2 and 3 and dominance (Study 2. Study 1 was an online experimental study with 200 participants (112 females, 87 males, 1 missing gender; 160 Whites, 19 Blacks, 11 Latinos, 7 Asian Americans and 3 who identify as other; Mage= 35.5, SD = 11.4. Study 2 was an online experimental study with 510 participants (276 women, 234 males; 256 Blacks, 254 Whites; Mage = 41.25 years, SD = 12.21. Study 3 was an online experimental study with 291 participants (141 Blacks, 150 Whites, Mage= 47.5 years, SD = 11.66. Findings: Black, as compared to White, evaluators gave higher agency penalties to Black employment candidates when they donned Afrocentric versus Eurocentric hair, rating them as more dominant and less professional. Implications: The present research illustrates the significance of considering both target and evaluator race when examining the influence of agency, and specifically dominance, on ratings of professionalism.

Domination versus disjunctive domination in graphs | Henning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Domination versus disjunctive domination in graphs. Michael A Henning, Sinclair A Marcon. Abstract. A dominating set in a graph G is a set S of vertices of G such that every vertex not in S is adjacent to a vertex of S. The domination number of G is the minimum cardinality of a dominating set of G. For a positive integer b, ...

Hand Dominance and Age Have Interactive Effects on Motor Cortical Representations

OpenAIRE

Bernard, Jessica A.; Seidler, Rachael D.

2012-01-01

Older adults exhibit more bilateral motor cortical activity during unimanual task performance than young adults. Interestingly, a similar pattern is seen in young adults with reduced hand dominance. However, older adults report stronger hand dominance than young adults, making it unclear how handedness is manifested in the aging motor cortex. Here, we investigated age differences in the relationships between handedness, motor cortical organization, and interhemispheric communication speed. We...

Influence of dominance status on adrenal activity and ovarian cyclicity status in captive African elephants.

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Proctor, Christine M; Freeman, Elizabeth W; Brown, Janine L

2010-01-01

The North American African (Loxodonta africana) elephant population is not self-sustaining, in part because of a high rate of abnormal ovarian activity. About 12% of adult females exhibit irregular cycles and 31% do not cycle at all. Our earlier work revealed a relationship between dominance status and ovarian acyclicity, with dominant females being more likely to not cycle normally. One theory is that dominant females may be expending more energy to maintaining peace within the captive herd than for supporting reproduction. The goal of this study was to determine if there was a relationship among dominance status, serum cortisol concentrations, and ovarian acyclicity. We hypothesized that adrenal glucocorticoid activity would be increased in dominant, noncycling elephants as compared with subdominant individuals. Blood samples were collected weekly over a 2-year period in 81 females of known dominance and cyclicity status, and analyzed for cortisol. Based on a path analysis model (Reticular Action Model Or Near Approximation [RAMONA]), noncycling, dominant African elephant females did not have higher mean serum cortisol concentrations, or exhibit more variability (i.e., coefficient of variation, standard deviation) in cortisol secretion. This study suggests that alterations in adrenal activity are not related to dominance status nor contribute directly to acyclicity in captive African elephants.

A Dominant-Negative PPARγ Mutant Promotes Cell Cycle Progression and Cell Growth in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

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Joey Z. Liu

2009-01-01

Full Text Available PPARγ ligands have been shown to have antiproliferative effects on many cell types. We herein report that a synthetic dominant-negative (DN PPARγ mutant functions like a growth factor to promote cell cycle progression and cell proliferation in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells (CASMCs. In quiescent CASMCs, adenovirus-expressed DN-PPARγ promoted G1→S cell cycle progression, enhanced BrdU incorporation, and increased cell proliferation. DN-PPARγ expression also markedly enhanced positive regulators of the cell cycle, increasing Rb and CDC2 phosphorylation and the expression of cyclin A, B1, D1, and MCM7. Conversely, overexpression of wild-type (WT or constitutively-active (CA PPARγ inhibited cell cycle progression and the activity and expression of positive regulators of the cell cycle. DN-PPARγ expression, however, did not up-regulate positive cell cycle regulators in PPARγ-deficient cells, strongly suggesting that DN-PPARγ effects on cell cycle result from blocking the function of endogenous wild-type PPARγ. DN-PPARγ expression enhanced phosphorylation of ERK MAPKs. Furthermore, the ERK specific-inhibitor PD98059 blocked DN-PPARγ-induced phosphorylation of Rb and expression of cyclin A and MCM7. Our data thus suggest that DN-PPARγ promotes cell cycle progression and cell growth in CASMCs by modulating fundamental cell cycle regulatory proteins and MAPK mitogenic signaling pathways in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs.

Bulk viscous matter-dominated Universes: asymptotic properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Avelino, Arturo [Departamento de Física, Campus León, Universidad de Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato (Mexico); García-Salcedo, Ricardo [Centro de Investigacion en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada - Legaria del IPN, México D.F. (Mexico); Gonzalez, Tame [Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, División de Ingeniería, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato (Mexico); Nucamendi, Ulises [Instituto de Física y Matemáticas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edificio C-3, Ciudad Universitaria, CP. 58040 Morelia, Michoacán (Mexico); Quiros, Israel, E-mail: avelino@fisica.ugto.mx, E-mail: rigarcias@ipn.mx, E-mail: tamegc72@gmail.com, E-mail: ulises@ifm.umich.mx, E-mail: iquiros6403@gmail.com [Departamento de Matemáticas, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingenierías (CUCEI), Corregidora 500 S.R., Universidad de Guadalajara, 44420 Guadalajara, Jalisco (Mexico)

2013-08-01

By means of a combined use of the type Ia supernovae and H(z) data tests, together with the study of the asymptotic properties in the equivalent phase space — through the use of the dynamical systems tools — we demonstrate that the bulk viscous matter-dominated scenario is not a good model to explain the accepted cosmological paradigm, at least, under the parametrization of bulk viscosity considered in this paper. The main objection against such scenarios is the absence of conventional radiation and matter-dominated critical points in the phase space of the model. This entails that radiation and matter dominance are not generic solutions of the cosmological equations, so that these stages can be implemented only by means of unique and very specific initial conditions, i. e., of very unstable particular solutions. Such a behavior is in marked contradiction with the accepted cosmological paradigm which requires of an earlier stage dominated by relativistic species, followed by a period of conventional non-relativistic matter domination, during which the cosmic structure we see was formed. Also, we found that the bulk viscosity is positive just until very late times in the cosmic evolution, around z < 1. For earlier epochs it is negative, been in tension with the local second law of thermodynamics.

Ethnic Forces in Collective Action: Diversity, Dominance, and Irrigation in Tamil Nadu

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Timothy M. Waring

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Mounting evidence suggests that ethnic interactions damage cooperation in the provision of public goods, yet very few studies of collective action in common pool resource management have found strong evidence for the effects of ethnic diversity. Research on both public goods and common pool resource management that does find negative ethnic effects on cooperation tend to ignore the importance of interethnic relationships, particularly ethnic inequality, stratification, or dominance. This study presents data from agricultural villages in Tamil Nadu's Palani Hills to test the importance of a range of ethnic effects using caste interactions in a traditional irrigation system. I provide corroborating evidence of a negative cooperative effect of ethnic diversity, but also demonstrate that factors of ethnic dominance such as hierarchical stratification and demographic dominance strongly determine outcomes in collective irrigation management. I argue that the most important measure of equity, irrigation access, is socially, technologically, and institutionally embedded, and demonstrate that the distribution of irrigation channels is explained by measures of inequality, such as wealth inequality, Dalit status, and demographic dominance.

Intensifying the Dominant Response II: Nonconscious Negative Affect, Cognitive Demand, and Conversations.

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Monahan, Jennifer L.; Laliker, Melanie

2002-01-01

Examines mechanisms that may account for why evaluations made by participants involved in conversations are more influenced by subliminal negative cues than are evaluations made by observers. Explains three studies in which subliminal priming tasks were used with differing cognitive loads and self-preservation concerns among a group of…

Junction region of EWS-FLI1 fusion protein has a dominant negative effect in Ewing's sarcoma in vitro.

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Jully, Babu; Vijayalakshmi, Ramshankar; Gopal, Gopisetty; Sabitha, Kesavan; Rajkumar, Thangarajan

2012-11-12

Ewing's sarcoma is a malignancy characterized by a specific 11:22 chromosomal translocation which generates a novel EWS-FLI1 fusion protein functioning as an aberrant transcription factor. In the present study, we have further characterized the junction region of the EWS-FLI1 fusion protein. In-silico model of EWS-FLI1 fusion protein was analysed for ligand binding sites, and a putative region (amino acid (aa) 251-343 of the type 1 fusion protein) in the vicinity of the fusion junction was cloned and expressed using bacterial expression. The recombinant protein was characterized by Circular Dichroism (CD). We then expressed aa 251-280 ectopically in Ewing's sarcoma cell-line and its effect on cell proliferation, tumorigenicity and expression of EWS-FLI1 target genes were analysed. Our modelling analysis indicated that Junction region (aa 251-343) encompasses potential ligand biding sites in the EWS-FLI1 protein and when expressed in bacteria was present as soluble form. Ectopically expressing this region in Ewing's sarcoma cells inhibited tumorigenicity, and EWS-FLI1 target genes indicating a dominant negative biological effect. Junction region can be exploited further as target for drug development in future to specifically target EWS-FLI1 in Ewing's Sarcoma.

Dominance-Popularity Status, Behavior, and the Emergence of Sexual Activity in Young Adolescents

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Eddy H. de Bruyn

2012-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we investigated the sexual activity levels of several subtypes of middle adolescents (age 14–15 years. The subtype profiles were based on dominance-popularity status and a range of behaviors associated with dominance and popularity. In addition, gender differences in behavioral profiles were examined among dominant-popular, sexually active young adolescents. Results showed that socially dominant and popular young adolescent boys who exhibited a highly aggressive profile were more sexually active than their low-status and non-aggressive male peers; dominant-popular girls who were very attractive and gossips were more sexually active than their female peers. The results are discussed from an evolutionary psychological framework.

Diffuse glomerular nodular lesions in diabetic pigs carrying a dominant-negative mutant hepatocyte nuclear factor 1-alpha, an inheritant diabetic gene in humans.

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Satoshi Hara

Full Text Available Glomerular nodular lesions, known as Kimmelstiel-Wilson nodules, are a pathological hallmark of progressive human diabetic nephropathy. We have induced severe diabetes in pigs carrying a dominant-negative mutant hepatocyte nuclear factor 1-alpha (HNF1α P291fsinsC, a maturity-onset diabetes of the young type-3 (MODY3 gene in humans. In this model, glomerular pathology revealed that formation of diffuse glomerular nodules commenced as young as 1 month of age and increased in size and incidence until the age of 10 months, the end of the study period. Immunohistochemistry showed that the nodules consisted of various collagen types (I, III, IV, V and VI with advanced glycation end-product (AGE and Nε-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML deposition, similar to those in human diabetic nodules, except for collagen type I. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β was also expressed exclusively in the nodules. The ultrastructure of the nodules comprised predominant interstitial-type collagen deposition arising from the mesangial matrices. Curiously, these nodules were found predominantly in the deep cortex. However, diabetic pigs failed to show any of the features characteristic of human diabetic nephropathy; e.g., proteinuria, glomerular basement membrane thickening, exudative lesions, mesangiolysis, tubular atrophy, interstitial fibrosis, and vascular hyalinosis. The pigs showed only Armanni-Ebstein lesions, a characteristic tubular manifestation in human diabetes. RT-PCR analysis showed that glomeruli in wild-type pigs did not express endogenous HNF1α and HNF1β, indicating that mutant HNF1α did not directly contribute to glomerular nodular formation in diabetic pigs. In conclusion, pigs harboring the dominant-negative mutant human MODY3 gene showed reproducible and distinct glomerular nodules, possibly due to AGE- and CML-based collagen accumulation. Although the pathology differed in several respects from that of human glomerular nodular lesions, the

A preliminary look at negative constructions in South African Sign ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

How negation is expressed by means of manual and/or non-manual markers has been described in a wide range of sign languages. This work has suggested a split between sign languages requiring a manual negative element in negative clauses (manual dominant sign languages) and those where a non-manual marker ...

Dominating biological networks.

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Tijana Milenković

Full Text Available Proteins are essential macromolecules of life that carry out most cellular processes. Since proteins aggregate to perform function, and since protein-protein interaction (PPI networks model these aggregations, one would expect to uncover new biology from PPI network topology. Hence, using PPI networks to predict protein function and role of protein pathways in disease has received attention. A debate remains open about whether network properties of "biologically central (BC" genes (i.e., their protein products, such as those involved in aging, cancer, infectious diseases, or signaling and drug-targeted pathways, exhibit some topological centrality compared to the rest of the proteins in the human PPI network.To help resolve this debate, we design new network-based approaches and apply them to get new insight into biological function and disease. We hypothesize that BC genes have a topologically central (TC role in the human PPI network. We propose two different concepts of topological centrality. We design a new centrality measure to capture complex wirings of proteins in the network that identifies as TC those proteins that reside in dense extended network neighborhoods. Also, we use the notion of domination and find dominating sets (DSs in the PPI network, i.e., sets of proteins such that every protein is either in the DS or is a neighbor of the DS. Clearly, a DS has a TC role, as it enables efficient communication between different network parts. We find statistically significant enrichment in BC genes of TC nodes and outperform the existing methods indicating that genes involved in key biological processes occupy topologically complex and dense regions of the network and correspond to its "spine" that connects all other network parts and can thus pass cellular signals efficiently throughout the network. To our knowledge, this is the first study that explores domination in the context of PPI networks.

Neural correlates of the eye dominance effect in human face perception: the left-visual-field superiority for faces revisited.

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Jung, Wookyoung; Kang, Joong-Gu; Jeon, Hyeonjin; Shim, Miseon; Sun Kim, Ji; Leem, Hyun-Sung; Lee, Seung-Hwan

2017-08-01

Faces are processed best when they are presented in the left visual field (LVF), a phenomenon known as LVF superiority. Although one eye contributes more when perceiving faces, it is unclear how the dominant eye (DE), the eye we unconsciously use when performing a monocular task, affects face processing. Here, we examined the influence of the DE on the LVF superiority for faces using event-related potentials. Twenty left-eye-dominant (LDE group) and 23 right-eye-dominant (RDE group) participants performed the experiments. Face stimuli were randomly presented in the LVF or right visual field (RVF). The RDE group exhibited significantly larger N170 amplitudes compared with the LDE group. Faces presented in the LVF elicited N170 amplitudes that were significantly more negative in the RDE group than they were in the LDE group, whereas the amplitudes elicited by stimuli presented in the RVF were equivalent between the groups. The LVF superiority was maintained in the RDE group but not in the LDE group. Our results provide the first neural evidence of the DE's effects on the LVF superiority for faces. We propose that the RDE may be more biologically specialized for face processing. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

The morphological classification of heartbeats as dominant and non-dominant in ECG signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiarugi, Franco; Emmanouilidou, Dimitra; Tsamardinos, Ioannis

2010-01-01

Surface electrocardiography (ECG) is the art of analyzing the heart's electrical activity by applying electrodes to certain positions on the body and measuring potentials at the body surface resulting from this electrical activity. Usually, significant clinical information can be obtained from analysis of the dominant beat morphology. In this respect, identification of the dominant beats and their averaging can be very helpful, allowing clinicians to carry out the measurement of amplitudes and intervals on a beat much cleaner from noise than a generic beat selected from the entire ECG recording. In this paper a standard clustering algorithm for the morphological grouping of heartbeats has been analyzed based on K-means, different signal representations, distance metrics and validity indices. The algorithm has been tested on all the records of the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database (MIT-BIH AD) obtaining satisfying performances in terms of averaged dominant beat estimation, but the results have not been fully satisfactory in terms of sensitivity and specificity. In order to improve the clustering accuracy, an ad hoc algorithm based on a two-phase decision tree, which integrates additional specific knowledge related to the ECG domain, has been implemented. Similarity features extracted from every beat have been used in the decision trees for the identification of different morphological classes of ECG beats. The results, in terms of dominant beat discrimination, have been evaluated on all annotated beats of the MIT-BIH AD with sensitivity = 99.05%, specificity = 93.94%, positive predictive value = 99.32% and negative predictive value = 91.69%. Further tests have shown a very slight decrement of the performances on all detected beats of the same database using an already published QRS detector, demonstrating the validity of the algorithm in real unsupervised clustering situations where annotated beat positions are not available but beats are detected with a high

Negative thermal expansion materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, J.S.O.

1997-01-01

The recent discovery of negative thermal expansion over an unprecedented temperature range in ZrW 2 O 8 (which contracts continuously on warming from below 2 K to above 1000 K) has stimulated considerable interest in this unusual phenomenon. Negative and low thermal expansion materials have a number of important potential uses in ceramic, optical and electronic applications. We have now found negative thermal expansion in a large new family of materials with the general formula A 2 (MO 4 ) 3 . Chemical substitution dramatically influences the thermal expansion properties of these materials allowing the production of ceramics with negative, positive or zero coefficients of thermal expansion, with the potential to control other important materials properties such as refractive index and dielectric constant. The mechanism of negative thermal expansion and the phase transitions exhibited by this important new class of low-expansion materials will be discussed. (orig.)

Differences in xylogenesis between dominant and suppressed trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shushan; Li, Xiaoxia; Rossi, Sergio; Wang, Lily; Li, Wei; Liang, Eryuan; Leavitt, Steven W

2018-05-01

Most dendroecological studies focus on dominant trees, but little is known about the growing season of trees belonging to different size classes and their sensitivity to biotic factors. The objective of this study was to compare the dynamics of xylem formation between dominant and suppressed trees of Abies fabri of similar age growing in the Gongga Mountains, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, and to identify the association between xylem growth and climate. The timing and duration of xylogenesis in histological sections were investigated weekly during the 2013-2015 growing seasons. Our investigation found that timing and duration of xylogenesis varied with canopy position and its associated tree size. Xylogenesis started 6-14 days earlier, and ended 5-11 days later in dominant trees than in suppressed trees, resulting in a significantly longer growing season. Dominant trees also exhibited higher temperature sensitivity of tracheid production rate than suppressed trees. The observed differences in xylogenesis among trees suggested that competition affects tree growth by reducing the growing period in suppressed trees. Representative climate-growth relationships should involve trees of all size classes when evaluating the effects of the environment on forest dynamics. © 2018 Botanical Society of America.

Glassy-state stabilization of a dominant negative inhibitor anthrax vaccine containing aluminum hydroxide and glycopyranoside lipid A adjuvants.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassett, Kimberly J; Vance, David J; Jain, Nishant K; Sahni, Neha; Rabia, Lilia A; Cousins, Megan C; Joshi, Sangeeta; Volkin, David B; Middaugh, C Russell; Mantis, Nicholas J; Carpenter, John F; Randolph, Theodore W

2015-02-01

During transport and storage, vaccines may be exposed to temperatures outside of the range recommended for storage, potentially causing efficacy losses. To better understand and prevent such losses, dominant negative inhibitor (DNI), a recombinant protein antigen for a candidate vaccine against anthrax, was formulated as a liquid and as a glassy lyophilized powder with the adjuvants aluminum hydroxide and glycopyranoside lipid A (GLA). Freeze-thawing of the liquid vaccine caused the adjuvants to aggregate and decreased its immunogenicity in mice. Immunogenicity of liquid vaccines also decreased when stored at 40°C for 8 weeks, as measured by decreases in neutralizing antibody titers in vaccinated mice. Concomitant with efficacy losses at elevated temperatures, changes in DNI structure were detected by fluorescence spectroscopy and increased deamidation was observed by capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) after only 1 week of storage of the liquid formulation at 40°C. In contrast, upon lyophilization, no additional deamidation after 4 weeks at 40°C and no detectable changes in DNI structure or reduction in immunogenicity after 16 weeks at 40°C were observed. Vaccines containing aluminum hydroxide and GLA elicited higher immune responses than vaccines adjuvanted with only aluminum hydroxide, with more mice responding to a single dose. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.

Total Domination Versus Paired-Domination in Regular Graphs

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Cyman Joanna

2018-05-01

Full Text Available A subset S of vertices of a graph G is a dominating set of G if every vertex not in S has a neighbor in S, while S is a total dominating set of G if every vertex has a neighbor in S. If S is a dominating set with the additional property that the subgraph induced by S contains a perfect matching, then S is a paired-dominating set. The domination number, denoted γ(G, is the minimum cardinality of a dominating set of G, while the minimum cardinalities of a total dominating set and paired-dominating set are the total domination number, γt(G, and the paired-domination number, γpr(G, respectively. For k ≥ 2, let G be a connected k-regular graph. It is known [Schaudt, Total domination versus paired domination, Discuss. Math. Graph Theory 32 (2012 435–447] that γpr(G/γt(G ≤ (2k/(k+1. In the special case when k = 2, we observe that γpr(G/γt(G ≤ 4/3, with equality if and only if G ≅ C5. When k = 3, we show that γpr(G/γt(G ≤ 3/2, with equality if and only if G is the Petersen graph. More generally for k ≥ 2, if G has girth at least 5 and satisfies γpr(G/γt(G = (2k/(k + 1, then we show that G is a diameter-2 Moore graph. As a consequence of this result, we prove that for k ≥ 2 and k ≠ 57, if G has girth at least 5, then γpr(G/γt(G ≤ (2k/(k +1, with equality if and only if k = 2 and G ≅ C5 or k = 3 and G is the Petersen graph.

Diffraction by a grating made of a uniaxial dielectric-magnetic medium exhibiting negative refraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Depine, Ricardo A [Grupo de Electromagnetismo Aplicado, Departamento de FIsica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellon I, 1428 Buenos Aires (Argentina); Lakhtakia, Akhlesh [CATMAS-Computational and Theoretical Materials Sciences Group, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-6812 (United States); Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom)

2005-08-01

Diffraction of linearly polarized plane electromagnetic waves at the periodically corrugated boundary of vacuum and a linear, homogeneous, uniaxial, dielectric-magnetic medium is formulated as a boundary-value problem and solved using the Rayleigh method. The focus is on situations where the diffracted fields maintain the same polarization state as the s- or p-polarized incident plane wave. Attention is paid to two classes of diffracting media: those with negative definite permittivity and permeability tensors, and those with indefinite permittivity and permeability tensors. For the situations investigated, whereas the dispersion equations in the diffracting medium turn out to be elliptic for the first class of diffracting media, they are hyperbolic for the second class. Examples are reported with the first class of diffracting media of instances when the grating acts either as a positively refracting interface or as a negatively refracting interface. For the second class of diffracting media, hyperbolic dispersion equations imply the possibility of an infinite number of refraction channels.

Diffraction by a grating made of a uniaxial dielectric-magnetic medium exhibiting negative refraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Depine, Ricardo A; Lakhtakia, Akhlesh

2005-01-01

Diffraction of linearly polarized plane electromagnetic waves at the periodically corrugated boundary of vacuum and a linear, homogeneous, uniaxial, dielectric-magnetic medium is formulated as a boundary-value problem and solved using the Rayleigh method. The focus is on situations where the diffracted fields maintain the same polarization state as the s- or p-polarized incident plane wave. Attention is paid to two classes of diffracting media: those with negative definite permittivity and permeability tensors, and those with indefinite permittivity and permeability tensors. For the situations investigated, whereas the dispersion equations in the diffracting medium turn out to be elliptic for the first class of diffracting media, they are hyperbolic for the second class. Examples are reported with the first class of diffracting media of instances when the grating acts either as a positively refracting interface or as a negatively refracting interface. For the second class of diffracting media, hyperbolic dispersion equations imply the possibility of an infinite number of refraction channels

Junction region of EWS-FLI1 fusion protein has a dominant negative effect in Ewing’s Sarcoma in vitro

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jully, Babu; Vijayalakshmi, Ramshankar; Gopal, Gopisetty; Sabitha, Kesavan; Rajkumar, Thangarajan

2012-01-01

Ewing’s sarcoma is a malignancy characterized by a specific 11:22 chromosomal translocation which generates a novel EWS-FLI1 fusion protein functioning as an aberrant transcription factor. In the present study, we have further characterized the junction region of the EWS-FLI1 fusion protein. In-silico model of EWS-FLI1 fusion protein was analysed for ligand binding sites, and a putative region (amino acid (aa) 251–343 of the type 1 fusion protein) in the vicinity of the fusion junction was cloned and expressed using bacterial expression. The recombinant protein was characterized by Circular Dichroism (CD). We then expressed aa 251–280 ectopically in Ewing’s sarcoma cell-line and its effect on cell proliferation, tumorigenicity and expression of EWS-FLI1 target genes were analysed. Our modelling analysis indicated that Junction region (aa 251–343) encompasses potential ligand biding sites in the EWS-FLI1 protein and when expressed in bacteria was present as soluble form. Ectopically expressing this region in Ewing’s sarcoma cells inhibited tumorigenicity, and EWS-FLI1 target genes indicating a dominant negative biological effect. Junction region can be exploited further as target for drug development in future to specifically target EWS-FLI1 in Ewing’s Sarcoma

Increased adipogenesis in cultured embryonic chondrocytes and in adult bone marrow of dominant negative Erg transgenic mice.

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Sébastien Flajollet

Full Text Available In monolayer culture, primary articular chondrocytes have an intrinsic tendency to lose their phenotype during expansion. The molecular events underlying this chondrocyte dedifferentiation are still largely unknown. Several transcription factors are important for chondrocyte differentiation. The Ets transcription factor family may be involved in skeletal development. One family member, the Erg gene, is mainly expressed during cartilage formation. To further investigate the potential role of Erg in the maintenance of the chondrocyte phenotype, we isolated and cultured chondrocytes from the rib cartilage of embryos of transgenic mice that express a dominant negative form of Erg (DN-Erg during cartilage formation. DN-Erg expression in chondrocytes cultured for up to 20 days did not affect the early dedifferentiation usually observed in cultured chondrocytes. However, lipid droplets accumulated in DN-Erg chondrocytes, suggesting adipocyte emergence. Transcriptomic analysis using a DNA microarray, validated by quantitative RT-PCR, revealed strong differential gene expression, with a decrease in chondrogenesis-related markers and an increase in adipogenesis-related gene expression in cultured DN-Erg chondrocytes. These results indicate that Erg is involved in either maintaining the chondrogenic phenotype in vitro or in cell fate orientation. Along with the in vitro studies, we compared adipocyte presence in wild-type and transgenic mice skeletons. Histological investigations revealed an increase in the number of adipocytes in the bone marrow of adult DN-Erg mice even though no adipocytes were detected in embryonic cartilage or bone. These findings suggest that the Ets transcription factor family may contribute to the homeostatic balance in skeleton cell plasticity.

Diversity and biomass of native macrophytes are negatively related to dominance of an invasive Poaceae in Brazilian sub-tropical streams

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Luiz Felipe Gonçalves Fernandes

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Besides exacerbated exploitation, pollution, flow alteration and habitats degradation, freshwater biodiversity is also threatened by biological invasions. This paper addresses how native aquatic macrophyte communities are affected by the non-native species Urochloa arrecta, a current successful invader in Brazilian freshwater systems. We compared the native macrophytes colonizing patches dominated and non-dominated by this invader species. We surveyed eight streams in Northwest Paraná State (Brazil. In each stream, we recorded native macrophytes' richness and biomass in sites where U. arrecta was dominant and in sites where it was not dominant or absent. No native species were found in seven, out of the eight investigated sites where U. arrecta was dominant. Thus, we found higher native species richness, Shannon index and native biomass values in sites without dominance of U. arrecta than in sites dominated by this invader. Although difficult to conclude about causes of such differences, we infer that the elevated biomass production by this grass might be the primary reason for alterations in invaded environments and for the consequent impacts on macrophytes' native communities. However, biotic resistance offered by native richer sites could be an alternative explanation for our results. To mitigate potential impacts and to prevent future environmental perturbations, we propose mechanical removal of the invasive species and maintenance or restoration of riparian vegetation, for freshwater ecosystems have vital importance for the maintenance of ecological services and biodiversity and should be preserved.

Primary somatosensory/motor cortical thickness distinguishes paresthesia-dominant from pain-dominant carpal tunnel syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Maeda, Yumi; Kettner, Norman; Kim, Jieun; Kim, Hyungjun; Cina, Stephen; Malatesta, Cristina; Gerber, Jessica; McManus, Claire; Libby, Alexandra; Mezzacappa, Pia; Mawla, Ishtiaq; Morse, Leslie R; Audette, Joseph; Napadow, Vitaly

2016-05-01

Paresthesia-dominant and pain-dominant subgroups have been noted in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a peripheral neuropathic disorder characterized by altered primary somatosensory/motor (S1/M1) physiology. We aimed to investigate whether brain morphometry dissociates these subgroups. Subjects with CTS were evaluated with nerve conduction studies, whereas symptom severity ratings were used to allocate subjects into paresthesia-dominant (CTS-paresthesia), pain-dominant (CTS-pain), and pain/paresthesia nondominant (not included in further analysis) subgroups. Structural brain magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired at 3T using a multiecho MPRAGE T1-weighted pulse sequence, and gray matter cortical thickness was calculated across the entire brain using validated, automated methods. CTS-paresthesia subjects demonstrated reduced median sensory nerve conduction velocity (P = 0.05) compared with CTS-pain subjects. In addition, cortical thickness in precentral and postcentral gyri (S1/M1 hand area) contralateral to the more affected hand was significantly reduced in CTS-paresthesia subgroup compared with CTS-pain subgroup. Moreover, in CTS-paresthesia subjects, precentral cortical thickness was negatively correlated with paresthesia severity (r(34) = -0.40, P = 0.016) and positively correlated with median nerve sensory velocity (r(36) = 0.51, P = 0.001), but not with pain severity. Conversely, in CTS-pain subjects, contralesional S1 (r(9) = 0.62, P = 0.042) and M1 (r(9) = 0.61, P = 0.046) cortical thickness were correlated with pain severity, but not median nerve velocity or paresthesia severity. This double dissociation in somatotopically specific S1/M1 areas suggests a neuroanatomical substrate for symptom-based CTS subgroups. Such fine-grained subgrouping of CTS may lead to improved personalized therapeutic approaches, based on superior characterization of the linkage between peripheral and central neuroplasticity.

Negativity Bias in Dangerous Drivers.

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Jing Chai

Full Text Available The behavioral and cognitive characteristics of dangerous drivers differ significantly from those of safe drivers. However, differences in emotional information processing have seldom been investigated. Previous studies have revealed that drivers with higher anger/anxiety trait scores are more likely to be involved in crashes and that individuals with higher anger traits exhibit stronger negativity biases when processing emotions compared with control groups. However, researchers have not explored the relationship between emotional information processing and driving behavior. In this study, we examined the emotional information processing differences between dangerous drivers and safe drivers. Thirty-eight non-professional drivers were divided into two groups according to the penalty points that they had accrued for traffic violations: 15 drivers with 6 or more points were included in the dangerous driver group, and 23 drivers with 3 or fewer points were included in the safe driver group. The emotional Stroop task was used to measure negativity biases, and both behavioral and electroencephalograph data were recorded. The behavioral results revealed stronger negativity biases in the dangerous drivers than in the safe drivers. The bias score was correlated with self-reported dangerous driving behavior. Drivers with strong negativity biases reported having been involved in mores crashes compared with the less-biased drivers. The event-related potentials (ERPs revealed that the dangerous drivers exhibited reduced P3 components when responding to negative stimuli, suggesting decreased inhibitory control of information that is task-irrelevant but emotionally salient. The influence of negativity bias provides one possible explanation of the effects of individual differences on dangerous driving behavior and traffic crashes.

A dominant-negative mutation of mouse Lmx1b causes glaucoma and is semi-lethal via LDB1-mediated dimerization [corrected].

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Sally H Cross

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Mutations in the LIM-homeodomain transcription factor LMX1B cause nail-patella syndrome, an autosomal dominant pleiotrophic human disorder in which nail, patella and elbow dysplasia is associated with other skeletal abnormalities and variably nephropathy and glaucoma. It is thought to be a haploinsufficient disorder. Studies in the mouse have shown that during development Lmx1b controls limb dorsal-ventral patterning and is also required for kidney and eye development, midbrain-hindbrain boundary establishment and the specification of specific neuronal subtypes. Mice completely deficient for Lmx1b die at birth. In contrast to the situation in humans, heterozygous null mice do not have a mutant phenotype. Here we report a novel mouse mutant Icst, an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced missense substitution, V265D, in the homeodomain of LMX1B that abolishes DNA binding and thereby the ability to transactivate other genes. Although the homozygous phenotypic consequences of Icst and the null allele of Lmx1b are the same, heterozygous Icst elicits a phenotype whilst the null allele does not. Heterozygous Icst causes glaucomatous eye defects and is semi-lethal, probably due to kidney failure. We show that the null phenotype is rescued more effectively by an Lmx1b transgene than is Icst. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments show that both wild-type and Icst LMX1B are found in complexes with LIM domain binding protein 1 (LDB1, resulting in lower levels of functional LMX1B in Icst heterozygotes than null heterozygotes. We conclude that Icst is a dominant-negative allele of Lmx1b. These findings indicate a reassessment of whether nail-patella syndrome is always haploinsufficient. Furthermore, Icst is a rare example of a model of human glaucoma caused by mutation of the same gene in humans and mice.

Divergent clonal selection dominates medulloblastoma at recurrence

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Morrissy, A. Sorana; Garzia, Livia; Shih, David J. H.; Zuyderduyn, Scott; Huang, Xi; Skowron, Patryk; Remke, Marc; Cavalli, Florence M. G.; Ramaswamy, Vijay; Lindsay, Patricia E.; Jelveh, Salomeh; Donovan, Laura K.; Wang, Xin; Luu, Betty; Zayne, Kory; Li, Yisu; Mayoh, Chelsea; Thiessen, Nina; Mercier, Eloi; Mungall, Karen L.; Ma, Yusanne; Tse, Kane; Zeng, Thomas; Shumansky, Karey; Roth, Andrew J. L.; Shah, Sohrab; Farooq, Hamza; Kijima, Noriyuki; Holgado, Borja L.; Lee, John J. Y.; Matan-Lithwick, Stuart; Liu, Jessica; Mack, Stephen C.; Manno, Alex; Michealraj, K. A.; Nor, Carolina; Peacock, John; Qin, Lei; Reimand, Juri; Rolider, Adi; Thompson, Yuan Y.; Wu, Xiaochong; Pugh, Trevor; Ally, Adrian; Bilenky, Mikhail; Butterfield, Yaron S. N.; Carlsen, Rebecca; Cheng, Young; Chuah, Eric; Corbett, Richard D.; Dhalla, Noreen; He, An; Lee, Darlene; Li, Haiyan I.; Long, William; Mayo, Michael; Plettner, Patrick; Qian, Jenny Q.; Schein, Jacqueline E.; Tam, Angela; Wong, Tina; Birol, Inanc; Zhao, Yongjun; Faria, Claudia C.; Pimentel, José; Nunes, Sofia; Shalaby, Tarek; Grotzer, Michael; Pollack, Ian F.; Hamilton, Ronald L.; Li, Xiao-Nan; Bendel, Anne E.; Fults, Daniel W.; Walter, Andrew W.; Kumabe, Toshihiro; Tominaga, Teiji; Collins, V. Peter; Cho, Yoon-Jae; Hoffman, Caitlin; Lyden, David; Wisoff, Jeffrey H.; Garvin, James H.; Stearns, Duncan S.; Massimi, Luca; Schüller, Ulrich; Sterba, Jaroslav; Zitterbart, Karel; Puget, Stephanie; Ayrault, Olivier; Dunn, Sandra E.; Tirapelli, Daniela P. C.; Carlotti, Carlos G.; Wheeler, Helen; Hallahan, Andrew R.; Ingram, Wendy; MacDonald, Tobey J.; Olson, Jeffrey J.; Van Meir, Erwin G.; Lee, Ji-Yeoun; Wang, Kyu-Chang; Kim, Seung-Ki; Cho, Byung-Kyu; Pietsch, Torsten; Fleischhack, Gudrun; Tippelt, Stephan; Ra, Young Shin; Bailey, Simon; Lindsey, Janet C.; Clifford, Steven C.; Eberhart, Charles G.; Cooper, Michael K.; Packer, Roger J.; Massimino, Maura; Garre, Maria Luisa; Bartels, Ute; Tabori, Uri; Hawkins, Cynthia E.; Dirks, Peter; Bouffet, Eric; Rutka, James T.; Wechsler-Reya, Robert J.; Weiss, William A.; Collier, Lara S.; Dupuy, Adam J.; Korshunov, Andrey; Jones, David T. W.; Kool, Marcel; Northcott, Paul A.; Pfister, Stefan M.; Largaespada, David A.; Mungall, Andrew J.; Moore, Richard A.; Jabado, Nada; Bader, Gary D.; Jones, Steven J. M.; Malkin, David; Marra, Marco A.; Taylor, Michael D.

2016-01-01

The development of targeted anti-cancer therapies through the study of cancer genomes is intended to increase survival rates and decrease treatment-related toxicity. We treated a transposon–driven, functional genomic mouse model of medulloblastoma with ‘humanized’ in vivo therapy (microneurosurgical tumour resection followed by multi-fractionated, image-guided radiotherapy). Genetic events in recurrent murine medulloblastoma exhibit a very poor overlap with those in matched murine diagnostic samples (sequencing of 33 pairs of human diagnostic and post-therapy medulloblastomas demonstrated substantial genetic divergence of the dominant clone after therapy (recurrence). In both mice and humans, the dominant clone at recurrence arose through clonal selection of a pre-existing minor clone present at diagnosis. Targeted therapy is unlikely to be effective in the absence of the target, therefore our results offer a simple, proximal, and remediable explanation for the failure of prior clinical trials of targeted therapy. PMID:26760213

Mutant human torsinA, responsible for early-onset dystonia, dominantly suppresses GTPCH expression, dopamine levels and locomotion in Drosophila melanogaster

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Noriko Wakabayashi-Ito

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Dystonia represents the third most common movement disorder in humans with over 20 genetic loci identified. TOR1A (DYT1, the gene responsible for the most common primary hereditary dystonia, encodes torsinA, an AAA ATPase family protein. Most cases of DYT1 dystonia are caused by a 3 bp (ΔGAG deletion that results in the loss of a glutamic acid residue (ΔE302/303 in the carboxyl terminal region of torsinA. This torsinAΔE mutant protein has been speculated to act in a dominant-negative manner to decrease activity of wild type torsinA. Drosophila melanogaster has a single torsin-related gene, dtorsin. Null mutants of dtorsin exhibited locomotion defects in third instar larvae. Levels of dopamine and GTP cyclohydrolase (GTPCH proteins were severely reduced in dtorsin-null brains. Further, the locomotion defect was rescued by the expression of human torsinA or feeding with dopamine. Here, we demonstrate that human torsinAΔE dominantly inhibited locomotion in larvae and adults when expressed in neurons using a pan-neuronal promoter Elav. Dopamine and tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4 levels were significantly reduced in larval brains and the expression level of GTPCH protein was severely impaired in adult and larval brains. When human torsinA and torsinAΔE were co-expressed in neurons in dtorsin-null larvae and adults, the locomotion rates and the expression levels of GTPCH protein were severely reduced. These results support the hypothesis that torsinAΔE inhibits wild type torsinA activity. Similarly, neuronal expression of a Drosophila DtorsinΔE equivalent mutation dominantly inhibited larval locomotion and GTPCH protein expression. These results indicate that both torsinAΔE and DtorsinΔE act in a dominant-negative manner. We also demonstrate that Dtorsin regulates GTPCH expression at the post-transcriptional level. This Drosophila model of DYT1 dystonia provides an important tool for studying the differences in the molecular function between the

The (Biological or Cultural) Essence of Essentialism: Implications for Policy Support among Dominant and Subordinated Groups.

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Soylu Yalcinkaya, Nur; Estrada-Villalta, Sara; Adams, Glenn

2017-01-01

Most research links (racial) essentialism to negative intergroup outcomes. We propose that this conclusion reflects both a narrow conceptual focus on biological/genetic essence and a narrow research focus from the perspective of racially dominant groups. We distinguished between beliefs in biological and cultural essences, and we investigated the implications of this distinction for support of social justice policies (e.g., affirmative action) among people with dominant (White) and subordinated (e.g., Black, Latino) racial identities in the United States. Whereas, endorsement of biological essentialism may have similarly negative implications for social justice policies across racial categories, we investigated the hypothesis that endorsement of cultural essentialism would have different implications across racial categories. In Studies 1a and 1b, we assessed the properties of a cultural essentialism measure we developed using two samples with different racial/ethnic compositions. In Study 2, we collected data from 170 participants using an online questionnaire to test the implications of essentialist beliefs for policy support. Consistent with previous research, we found that belief in biological essentialism was negatively related to policy support for participants from both dominant and subordinated categories. In contrast, the relationship between cultural essentialism and policy support varied across identity categories in the hypothesized way: negative for participants from the dominant category but positive for participants from subordinated categories. Results suggest that cultural essentialism may provide a way of identification that subordinated communities use to mobilize support for social justice.

The (Biological or Cultural Essence of Essentialism: Implications for Policy Support among Dominant and Subordinated Groups

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Nur Soylu Yalcinkaya

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Most research links (racial essentialism to negative intergroup outcomes. We propose that this conclusion reflects both a narrow conceptual focus on biological/genetic essence and a narrow research focus from the perspective of racially dominant groups. We distinguished between beliefs in biological and cultural essences, and we investigated the implications of this distinction for support of social justice policies (e.g., affirmative action among people with dominant (White and subordinated (e.g., Black, Latino racial identities in the United States. Whereas, endorsement of biological essentialism may have similarly negative implications for social justice policies across racial categories, we investigated the hypothesis that endorsement of cultural essentialism would have different implications across racial categories. In Studies 1a and 1b, we assessed the properties of a cultural essentialism measure we developed using two samples with different racial/ethnic compositions. In Study 2, we collected data from 170 participants using an online questionnaire to test the implications of essentialist beliefs for policy support. Consistent with previous research, we found that belief in biological essentialism was negatively related to policy support for participants from both dominant and subordinated categories. In contrast, the relationship between cultural essentialism and policy support varied across identity categories in the hypothesized way: negative for participants from the dominant category but positive for participants from subordinated categories. Results suggest that cultural essentialism may provide a way of identification that subordinated communities use to mobilize support for social justice.

Negative frequency-dependent selection between Pasteuria penetrans and its host Meloidogyne arenaria

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In negative frequency-dependant selection (NFDS), parasite genotypes capable of infecting the numerically dominant host genotype are favored, while host genotypes resistant to the dominant parasite genotype are favored, creating a cyclical pattern of resistant genotypes in the host population and, a...

Conditional inactivation of p53 in mouse ovarian surface epithelium does not alter MIS driven Smad2-dominant negative epithelium-lined inclusion cysts or teratomas.

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Suzanne M Quartuccio

Full Text Available Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological malignancy among US women. The etiology of this disease, although poorly understood, may involve the ovarian surface epithelium or the epithelium of the fallopian tube fimbriae as the progenitor cell. Disruptions in the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ pathway and p53 are frequently found in chemotherapy-resistant serous ovarian tumors. Transgenic mice expressing a dominant negative form of Smad2 (Smad2DN, a downstream transcription factor of the TGFβ signaling pathway, targeted to tissues of the reproductive tract were created on a FVB background. These mice developed epithelium-lined inclusion cysts, a potential precursor lesion to ovarian cancer, which morphologically resembled oviductal epithelium but exhibited protein expression more closely resembling the ovarian surface epithelium. An additional genetic "hit" of p53 deletion was predicted to result in ovarian tumors. Tissue specific deletion of p53 in the ovaries and oviducts alone was attempted through intrabursal or intraoviductal injection of Cre-recombinase expressing adenovirus (AdCreGFP into p53 (flox/flox mice. Ovarian bursal cysts were detected in some mice 6 months after intrabursal injection. No pathological abnormalities were detected in mice with intraoviductal injections, which may be related to decreased infectivity of the oviductal epithelium with adenovirus as compared to the ovarian surface epithelium. Bitransgenic mice, expressing both the Smad2DN transgene and p53 (flox/flox, were then exposed to AdCreGFP in the bursa and oviductal lumen. These mice did not develop any additional phenotypes. Exposure to AdCreGFP is not an effective methodology for conditional deletion of floxed genes in oviductal epithelium and tissue specific promoters should be employed in future mouse models of the disease. In addition, a novel phenotype was observed in mice with high expression of the Smad2DN transgene as validated

Fish and phytoplankton exhibit contrasting temporal species abundance patterns in a dynamic north temperate lake.

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Gretchen J A Hansen

Full Text Available Temporal patterns of species abundance, although less well-studied than spatial patterns, provide valuable insight to the processes governing community assembly. We compared temporal abundance distributions of two communities, phytoplankton and fish, in a north temperate lake. We used both 17 years of observed relative abundance data as well as resampled data from Monte Carlo simulations to account for the possible effects of non-detection of rare species. Similar to what has been found in other communities, phytoplankton and fish species that appeared more frequently were generally more abundant than rare species. However, neither community exhibited two distinct groups of "core" (common occurrence and high abundance and "occasional" (rare occurrence and low abundance species. Both observed and resampled data show that the phytoplankton community was dominated by occasional species appearing in only one year that exhibited large variation in their abundances, while the fish community was dominated by core species occurring in all 17 years at high abundances. We hypothesize that the life-history traits that enable phytoplankton to persist in highly dynamic environments may result in communities dominated by occasional species capable of reaching high abundances when conditions allow. Conversely, longer turnover times and broad environmental tolerances of fish may result in communities dominated by core species structured primarily by competitive interactions.

Fish and Phytoplankton Exhibit Contrasting Temporal Species Abundance Patterns in a Dynamic North Temperate Lake

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Gretchen J. A.; Carey, Cayelan C.

2015-01-01

Temporal patterns of species abundance, although less well-studied than spatial patterns, provide valuable insight to the processes governing community assembly. We compared temporal abundance distributions of two communities, phytoplankton and fish, in a north temperate lake. We used both 17 years of observed relative abundance data as well as resampled data from Monte Carlo simulations to account for the possible effects of non-detection of rare species. Similar to what has been found in other communities, phytoplankton and fish species that appeared more frequently were generally more abundant than rare species. However, neither community exhibited two distinct groups of “core” (common occurrence and high abundance) and “occasional” (rare occurrence and low abundance) species. Both observed and resampled data show that the phytoplankton community was dominated by occasional species appearing in only one year that exhibited large variation in their abundances, while the fish community was dominated by core species occurring in all 17 years at high abundances. We hypothesize that the life-history traits that enable phytoplankton to persist in highly dynamic environments may result in communities dominated by occasional species capable of reaching high abundances when conditions allow. Conversely, longer turnover times and broad environmental tolerances of fish may result in communities dominated by core species structured primarily by competitive interactions. PMID:25651399

Immersive Exhibitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Achiam, Marianne

2015-01-01

The immersive exhibition is a specialized exhibition genre in museums, which creates the illusion of time and place by representing key characteristics of a reference world and by integrating the visitor in this three-dimensionally reconstructed world (Mortensen 2010). A successful representation...... of the reference world depends on three criteria: whether the exhibition is staged as a coherent whole with all the displayed objects supporting the representation, whether the visitor is integrated as a component of the exhibition, and whether the content and message of the exhibition become dramatized...

Female dominance over males in primates: self-organisation and sexual dimorphism.

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Charlotte K Hemelrijk

Full Text Available The processes that underlie the formation of the dominance hierarchy in a group are since long under debate. Models of self-organisation suggest that dominance hierarchies develop by the self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing fights (the so-called winner-loser effect, but according to 'the prior attribute hypothesis', dominance hierarchies develop from pre-existing individual differences, such as in body mass. In the present paper, we investigate the relevance of each of these two theories for the degree of female dominance over males. We investigate this in a correlative study in which we compare female dominance between groups of 22 species throughout the primate order. In our study female dominance may range from 0 (no female dominance to 1 (complete female dominance. As regards 'the prior attribute hypothesis', we expected a negative correlation between female dominance over males and species-specific sexual dimorphism in body mass. However, to our surprise we found none (we use the method of independent contrasts. Instead, we confirm the self-organisation hypothesis: our model based on the winner-loser effect predicts that female dominance over males increases with the percentage of males in the group. We confirm this pattern at several levels in empirical data (among groups of a single species and between species of the same genus and of different ones. Since the winner-loser effect has been shown to work in many taxa including humans, these results may have broad implications.

You never think about my feelings: interpersonal dominance as a predictor of emotion decoding accuracy.

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Moeller, Sara K; Lee, Elizabeth A Ewing; Robinson, Michael D

2011-08-01

Dominance and submission constitute fundamentally different social interaction strategies that may be enacted most effectively to the extent that the emotions of others are relatively ignored (dominance) versus noticed (submission). On the basis of such considerations, we hypothesized a systematic relationship between chronic tendencies toward high versus low levels of interpersonal dominance and emotion decoding accuracy in objective tasks. In two studies (total N = 232), interpersonally dominant individuals exhibited poorer levels of emotion recognition in response to audio and video clips (Study 1) and facial expressions of emotion (Study 2). The results provide a novel perspective on interpersonal dominance, suggest its strategic nature (Study 2), and are discussed in relation to Fiske's (1993) social-cognitive theory of power. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Genomic Model with Correlation Between Additive and Dominance Effects.

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Xiang, Tao; Christensen, Ole Fredslund; Vitezica, Zulma Gladis; Legarra, Andres

2018-05-09

Dominance genetic effects are rarely included in pedigree-based genetic evaluation. With the availability of single nucleotide polymorphism markers and the development of genomic evaluation, estimates of dominance genetic effects have become feasible using genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP). Usually, studies involving additive and dominance genetic effects ignore possible relationships between them. It has been often suggested that the magnitude of functional additive and dominance effects at the quantitative trait loci are related, but there is no existing GBLUP-like approach accounting for such correlation. Wellmann and Bennewitz showed two ways of considering directional relationships between additive and dominance effects, which they estimated in a Bayesian framework. However, these relationships cannot be fitted at the level of individuals instead of loci in a mixed model and are not compatible with standard animal or plant breeding software. This comes from a fundamental ambiguity in assigning the reference allele at a given locus. We show that, if there has been selection, assigning the most frequent as the reference allele orients the correlation between functional additive and dominance effects. As a consequence, the most frequent reference allele is expected to have a positive value. We also demonstrate that selection creates negative covariance between genotypic additive and dominance genetic values. For parameter estimation, it is possible to use a combined additive and dominance relationship matrix computed from marker genotypes, and to use standard restricted maximum likelihood (REML) algorithms based on an equivalent model. Through a simulation study, we show that such correlations can easily be estimated by mixed model software and accuracy of prediction for genetic values is slightly improved if such correlations are used in GBLUP. However, a model assuming uncorrelated effects and fitting orthogonal breeding values and dominant

Cyanobacteria dominance influences resource use efficiency and community turnover in phytoplankton and zooplankton communities.

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Filstrup, Christopher T; Hillebrand, Helmut; Heathcote, Adam J; Harpole, W Stanley; Downing, John A

2014-04-01

Freshwater biodiversity loss potentially disrupts ecosystem services related to water quality and may negatively impact ecosystem functioning and temporal community turnover. We analysed a data set containing phytoplankton and zooplankton community data from 131 lakes through 9 years in an agricultural region to test predictions that plankton communities with low biodiversity are less efficient in their use of limiting resources and display greater community turnover (measured as community dissimilarity). Phytoplankton resource use efficiency (RUE = biomass per unit resource) was negatively related to phytoplankton evenness (measured as Pielou's evenness), whereas zooplankton RUE was positively related to phytoplankton evenness. Phytoplankton and zooplankton RUE were high and low, respectively, when Cyanobacteria, especially Microcystis sp., dominated. Phytoplankton communities displayed slower community turnover rates when dominated by few genera. Our findings, which counter findings of many terrestrial studies, suggest that Cyanobacteria dominance may play important roles in ecosystem functioning and community turnover in nutrient-enriched lakes. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Dominant negative RPW8.2 fusion proteins reveal the importance of haustorium-oriented protein trafficking for resistance against powdery mildew in Arabidopsis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiong; Berkey, Robert; Pan, Zhiyong; Wang, Wenming; Zhang, Yi; Ma, Xianfeng; King, Harlan; Xiao, Shunyuan

2015-01-01

Powdery mildew fungi form feeding structures called haustoria inside epidermal cells of host plants to extract photosynthates for their epiphytic growth and reproduction. The haustorium is encased by an interfacial membrane termed the extrahaustorial membrane (EHM). The atypical resistance protein RPW8.2 from Arabidopsis is specifically targeted to the EHM where RPW8.2 activates haustorium-targeted (thus broad-spectrum) resistance against powdery mildew fungi. EHM-specific localization of RPW8.2 suggests the existence of an EHM-oriented protein/membrane trafficking pathway during EHM biogenesis. However, the importance of this specific trafficking pathway for host defense has not been evaluated via a genetic approach without affecting other trafficking pathways. Here, we report that expression of EHM-oriented, nonfunctional RPW8.2 chimeric proteins exerts dominant negative effect over functional RPW8.2 and potentially over other EHM-localized defense proteins, thereby compromising both RPW8.2-mediated and basal resistance to powdery mildew. Thus, our results highlight the importance of the EHM-oriented protein/membrane trafficking pathway for host resistance against haustorium-forming pathogens such as powdery mildew fungi.

Numerical renormalization group method for entanglement negativity at finite temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Shim, Jeongmin; Sim, H.-S.; Lee, Seung-Sup B.

2018-04-01

We develop a numerical method to compute the negativity, an entanglement measure for mixed states, between the impurity and the bath in quantum impurity systems at finite temperature. We construct a thermal density matrix by using the numerical renormalization group (NRG), and evaluate the negativity by implementing the NRG approximation that reduces computational cost exponentially. We apply the method to the single-impurity Kondo model and the single-impurity Anderson model. In the Kondo model, the negativity exhibits a power-law scaling at temperature much lower than the Kondo temperature and a sudden death at high temperature. In the Anderson model, the charge fluctuation of the impurity contributes to the negativity even at zero temperature when the on-site Coulomb repulsion of the impurity is finite, while at low temperature the negativity between the impurity spin and the bath exhibits the same power-law scaling behavior as in the Kondo model.

A preliminary look at negative constructions in South African Sign ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Huddlestone, Kate, Dr

requiring a manual negative element in negative clauses (manual dominant sign languages) and ... initial transcription of the data and assisting in the analysis of the SASL ... In this section, I first provide a description of the data ..... course, and as such the observations which inform this paper are a by-product of the original.

Immunization with a dominant-negative recombinant Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV type 1 protects against HSV-2 genital disease in guinea pigs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brans Richard

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background CJ9-gD is a novel dominant-negative recombinant herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1 that is completely replication-defective, cannot establish detectable latent infection in vivo, and expresses high levels of the major HSV-1 antigen glycoprotein D immediately following infection. In the present study, CJ9-gD was evaluated as a vaccine against HSV-2 genital infection in guinea pigs. Results Animals immunized with CJ9-gD developed at least 700-fold higher titers of HSV-2-specific neutralization antibodies than mock-immunized controls. After challenge with wild-type HSV-2, all 10 control guinea pigs developed multiple genital lesions with an average of 21 lesions per animal. In contrast, only 2 minor lesions were found in 2 of 8 CJ9-gD-immunized animals, representing a 40-fold reduction on the incidence of primary genital lesions in immunized animals (p Conclusions Collectively, we demonstrate that vaccination with the HSV-1 recombinant CJ9-gD elicits strong and protective immune responses against primary and recurrent HSV-2 genital disease and significantly reduces the extent of latent infection.

Ice nucleation triggered by negative pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcolli, Claudia

2017-11-30

Homogeneous ice nucleation needs supercooling of more than 35 K to become effective. When pressure is applied to water, the melting and the freezing points both decrease. Conversely, melting and freezing temperatures increase under negative pressure, i.e. when water is stretched. This study presents an extrapolation of homogeneous ice nucleation temperatures from positive to negative pressures as a basis for further exploration of ice nucleation under negative pressure. It predicts that increasing negative pressure at temperatures below about 262 K eventually results in homogeneous ice nucleation while at warmer temperature homogeneous cavitation, i. e. bubble nucleation, dominates. Negative pressure occurs locally and briefly when water is stretched due to mechanical shock, sonic waves, or fragmentation. The occurrence of such transient negative pressure should suffice to trigger homogeneous ice nucleation at large supercooling in the absence of ice-nucleating surfaces. In addition, negative pressure can act together with ice-inducing surfaces to enhance their intrinsic ice nucleation efficiency. Dynamic ice nucleation can be used to improve properties and uniformity of frozen products by applying ultrasonic fields and might also be relevant for the freezing of large drops in rainclouds.

Social Dominance Orientation Relates to Believing Men Should Dominate Sexually, Sexual Self-Efficacy, and Taking Free Female Condoms Among Undergraduate Women and Men.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenthal, Lisa; Levy, Sheri R; Earnshaw, Valerie A

2012-12-01

Gendered-based power affects heterosexual relationships, with beliefs in the U.S. prescribing that men dominate women sexually. We draw on social dominance theory to examine whether women's and men's level of support for group-based hierarchy (i.e., social dominance orientation; SDO) helps explain gender-based power beliefs and dynamics in heterosexual relationships. We conducted a laboratory study at a Northeastern U.S. university among 357 women and 126 men undergraduates who reported being heterosexual and sexually active, testing three sets of hypotheses. First, as hypothesized, women endorsed SDO and the belief that men should dominate sexually less than men did. Second, as hypothesized, among women and men, SDO was positively correlated with the belief that men should dominate sexually, and negatively correlated with sexual self-efficacy (confidence in sexual situations) and number of female condoms (a woman-controlled source of protection) taken. Third, structural equation modeling, controlling for age, family income, number of sexual partners in the past month, and perceived HIV/AIDS risk, supported the hypothesis that among women and men, the belief that men should dominate sexually mediates SDO's association with sexual self-efficacy. The hypothesis that the belief that men should dominate sexually mediates SDO's association with number of female condoms taken was supported for women only. The hypothesis that sexual self-efficacy mediates SDO's association with number of female condoms taken was not supported. Results suggest SDO influences power beliefs and dynamics in heterosexual relationships. Although female condoms are an important woman-controlled source of protection, power-related beliefs may pose a challenge to their use.

Critiquing Human Resource Development's Dominant Masculine Rationality and Evaluating Its Impact

Science.gov (United States)

Bierema, Laura L.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this article is to critique human resource development's (HRD) dominant philosophy, practices, and research; illustrate how they negatively affect women HRD practitioners and recipients; and recommend alternative conceptualizations of the field. This article is grounded in a critical feminist theoretical framework, draws on critical…

A complex dominance hierarchy is controlled by polymorphism of small RNAs and their targets.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasuda, Shinsuke; Wada, Yuko; Kakizaki, Tomohiro; Tarutani, Yoshiaki; Miura-Uno, Eiko; Murase, Kohji; Fujii, Sota; Hioki, Tomoya; Shimoda, Taiki; Takada, Yoshinobu; Shiba, Hiroshi; Takasaki-Yasuda, Takeshi; Suzuki, Go; Watanabe, Masao; Takayama, Seiji

2016-12-22

In diploid organisms, phenotypic traits are often biased by effects known as Mendelian dominant-recessive interactions between inherited alleles. Phenotypic expression of SP11 alleles, which encodes the male determinants of self-incompatibility in Brassica rapa, is governed by a complex dominance hierarchy 1-3 . Here, we show that a single polymorphic 24 nucleotide small RNA, named SP11 methylation inducer 2 (Smi2), controls the linear dominance hierarchy of the four SP11 alleles (S 44 > S 60 > S 40 > S 29 ). In all dominant-recessive interactions, small RNA variants derived from the linked region of dominant SP11 alleles exhibited high sequence similarity to the promoter regions of recessive SP11 alleles and acted in trans to epigenetically silence their expression. Together with our previous study 4 , we propose a new model: sequence similarity between polymorphic small RNAs and their target regulates mono-allelic gene expression, which explains the entire five-phased linear dominance hierarchy of the SP11 phenotypic expression in Brassica.

Dominant ultraviolet-blue photoluminescence of ZnO embedded into synthetic opal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abrarov, S.M.; Yuldashev, Sh.U.; Kim, T.W.; Lee, S.B.; Kwon, H.Y.; Kang, T.W.

2005-01-01

The temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of zinc oxide (ZnO) embedded into the voids of synthetic opal were studied. ZnO was infiltrated into opal from aqueous solution with zinc nitrate precursor followed by thermal annealing. The PL spectra of the ZnO powder exhibit very high and broad emission peaks in the green region due to crystal defects, such as oxygen vacancies and zinc ion interstitials. In contrast to the PL spectra of ZnO powder, nanocrystals of ZnO embedded into the voids of FCC packed opal matrix exhibit dominant ultraviolet (UV)-blue and rapidly decreasing green PL emissions with decreasing temperature. The temperature-dependent PL characteristics show that the green band suppression in the ZnO nanocrystals is due to the influence of photonic crystal. The infiltration of nanoparticles into synthetic opal may be used for the fabrication of polycrystalline ZnO with dominant UV-blue PL. These results indicate that the luminescent materials embedded into photonic crystal may be promising for the fabrication of the RGB pixels in full-color displays

Exhibiting the past: Caspar Reuvens and the museums of antiquities in Europe, 1800-1840

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoijtink, M.

2012-01-01

In the first decades of the 19th century the exhibition of antiquity in museums reflected a universal history of civilization, in which the idea of cross-cultural influences dominated. Hindu-buddhist civilization of 13th century Java was easily connected to that of classical Greece, and Indian

Sex-linked dominant

Science.gov (United States)

Inheritance - sex-linked dominant; Genetics - sex-linked dominant; X-linked dominant; Y-linked dominant ... can be either an autosomal chromosome or a sex chromosome. It also depends on whether the trait ...

Negative stiffness and modulated states in active nematics.

Science.gov (United States)

Srivastava, Pragya; Mishra, Prashant; Marchetti, M Cristina

2016-10-04

We examine the dynamics of an active nematic liquid crystal on a frictional substrate. When frictional damping dominates over viscous dissipation, we eliminate flow in favor of active stresses to obtain a minimal dynamical model for the nematic order parameter, with elastic constants renormalized by activity. The renormalized elastic constants can become negative at large activity, leading to the selection of spatially inhomogeneous patterns via a mechanism analogous to that responsible for modulated phases arising at an equilibrium Lifshitz point. Tuning activity and the degree of nematic order in the passive system, we obtain a linear stability phase diagram that exhibits a nonequilibrium tricritical point where ordered, modulated and disordered phases meet. Numerical solution of the nonlinear equations yields a succession of spatial structures of increasing complexity with increasing activity, including kink walls and active turbulence, as observed in experiments on microtubule bundles confined at an oil-water interface. Our work provides a minimal model for an overdamped active nematic that reproduces all the nonequilibrium structures seen in simulations of the full active nematic hydrodynamics and provides a framework for understanding some of the mechanisms for selection of the nonequilibrium patterns in the language of equilibrium critical phenomena.

Site-specific genome editing for correction of induced pluripotent stem cells derived from dominant dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Shinkuma, Satoru; Guo, Zongyou; Christiano, Angela M

2016-05-17

Genome editing with engineered site-specific endonucleases involves nonhomologous end-joining, leading to reading frame disruption. The approach is applicable to dominant negative disorders, which can be treated simply by knocking out the mutant allele, while leaving the normal allele intact. We applied this strategy to dominant dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DDEB), which is caused by a dominant negative mutation in the COL7A1 gene encoding type VII collagen (COL7). We performed genome editing with TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 targeting the mutation, c.8068_8084delinsGA. We then cotransfected Cas9 and guide RNA expression vectors expressed with GFP and DsRed, respectively, into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from DDEB fibroblasts. After sorting, 90% of the iPSCs were edited, and we selected four gene-edited iPSC lines for further study. These iPSCs were differentiated into keratinocytes and fibroblasts secreting COL7. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses revealed gene-edited COL7 with frameshift mutations degraded at the protein level. In addition, we confirmed that the gene-edited truncated COL7 could neither associate with normal COL7 nor undergo triple helix formation. Our data establish the feasibility of mutation site-specific genome editing in dominant negative disorders.

Predicting hemispheric dominance for language production in healthy individuals using support vector machine.

Science.gov (United States)

Zago, Laure; Hervé, Pierre-Yves; Genuer, Robin; Laurent, Alexandre; Mazoyer, Bernard; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Joliot, Marc

2017-12-01

We used a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to assess hemispheric pattern of language dominance of 47 individuals categorized as non-typical for language from their hemispheric functional laterality index (HFLI) measured on a sentence minus word-list production fMRI-BOLD contrast map. The SVM classifier was trained at discriminating between Dominant and Non-Dominant hemispheric language production activation pattern on a group of 250 participants previously identified as Typicals (HFLI strongly leftward). Then, SVM was applied to each hemispheric language activation pattern of 47 non-typical individuals. The results showed that at least one hemisphere (left or right) was found to be Dominant in every, except 3 individuals, indicating that the "dominant" type of functional organization is the most frequent in non-typicals. Specifically, left hemisphere dominance was predicted in all non-typical right-handers (RH) and in 57.4% of non-typical left-handers (LH). When both hemisphere classifications were jointly considered, four types of brain patterns were observed. The most often predicted pattern (51%) was left-dominant (Dominant left-hemisphere and Non-Dominant right-hemisphere), followed by right-dominant (23%, Dominant right-hemisphere and Non-Dominant left-hemisphere) and co-dominant (19%, 2 Dominant hemispheres) patterns. Co-non-dominant was rare (6%, 2 Non-Dominant hemispheres), but was normal variants of hemispheric specialization. In RH, only left-dominant (72%) and co-dominant patterns were detected, while for LH, all types were found, although with different occurrences. Among the 10 LH with a strong rightward HFLI, 8 had a right-dominant brain pattern. Whole-brain analysis of the right-dominant pattern group confirmed that it exhibited a functional organization strictly mirroring that of left-dominant pattern group. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5871-5889, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Size- and food-dependent growth drives patterns of competitive dominance along productivity gradients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huss, M.; Gårdmark, A.; van Leeuwen, A.; de Roos, A.M.

2012-01-01

Patterns of coexistence among competing species exhibiting size- and food-dependent growth remain largely unexplored. Here we studied mechanisms behind coexistence and shifts in competitive dominance in a size-structured fish guild, representing sprat and herring stocks in the Baltic Sea, using a

Exhibit Engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Marianne Foss

Science museums define the objectives of their exhibitions in terms of visitor learning outcomes. Yet, exhibit designers lack theoretical and empirical research findings on which to base the creation of such educational environments. Here, this shortcoming is addressed through the development...... of tools and processes to guide the design of educational science exhibits. The guiding paradigm for this development is design-based research, which is characterised by an iterative cycle of design, enactment, and analysis. In the design phase, an educational intervention is planned and carried out based...... on the generation of theoretical ideas for exhibit design is offered in a fourth and parallel research undertaking, namely the application of the notion of cultural border-crossing to a hypothetical case of exhibit design....

Dominance relationships in Syrian hamsters modulate neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to social stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Dulka, Brooke N; Koul-Tiwari, Richa; Grizzell, J Alex; Harvey, Marquinta L; Datta, Subimal; Cooper, Matthew A

2018-06-22

Stress is a well-known risk factor for psychopathology and rodent models of social defeat have strong face, etiological, construct and predictive validity for these conditions. Syrian hamsters are highly aggressive and territorial, but after an acute social defeat experience they become submissive and no longer defend their home territory, even from a smaller, non-aggressive intruder. This defeat-induced change in social behavior is called conditioned defeat (CD). We have shown that dominant hamsters show increased neural activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) following social defeat stress and exhibit a reduced CD response at social interaction testing compared to subordinates. Although the vmPFC can inhibit the neuroendocrine stress response, it is unknown whether dominants and subordinates differ in stress-induced activity of the extended hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Here, we show that, following acute social defeat, dominants exhibit decreased submissive and defensive behavior compared to subordinates but do not differ from subordinates or social status controls (SSCs) in defeat-induced cortisol concentrations. Furthermore, both dominants and SSCs show greater corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) mRNA expression in the basolateral/central amygdala compared to subordinates, while there was no effect of social status on CRH mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus or bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Overall, status-dependent differences in the CD response do not appear linked to changes in stress-induced cortisol concentrations or CRH gene expression, which is consistent with the view that stress resilience is not a lack of a physiological stress response but the addition of stress coping mechanisms. Lay summary Dominant hamsters show resistance to the behavioral effects of acute social defeat compared to subordinates, but it is unclear whether social status modulates the neuroendocrine stress response

Shot Noise in Negative-Differential-Conductance Devices

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Song, W

2003-01-01

The authors have compared the shot-noise properties at T = 4.2 K of a double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode and a superlattice tunnel diode, both of which exhibit negative differential-conductance (NDC...

The dominance behavioral system and manic temperament: motivation for dominance, self-perceptions of power, and socially dominant behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Sheri L; Carver, Charles S

2012-12-15

The dominance behavioral system has been conceptualized as a biologically based system comprising motivation to achieve social power and self-perceptions of power. Biological, behavioral, and social correlates of dominance motivation and self-perceived power have been related to a range of psychopathological tendencies. Preliminary evidence suggests that mania and risk for mania (manic temperament) relate to the dominance system. Four studies examine whether manic temperament, measured with the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS), is related to elevations in dominance motivation, self-perceptions of power, and engagement in socially dominant behavior across multiple measures. In Study 1, the HPS correlated with measures of dominance motivation and the pursuit of extrinsically-oriented ambitions for fame and wealth among 454 undergraduates. In Study 2, the HPS correlated with perceptions of power and extrinsically-oriented lifetime ambitions among 780 undergraduates. In Study 3, the HPS was related to trait-like tendencies to experience hubristic (dominance-related) pride, as well as dominance motivation and pursuit of extrinsically-oriented ambitions. In Study 4, we developed the Socially Dominant Behavior Scale to capture behaviors reflecting high power. The scale correlated highly with the HPS among 514 undergraduates. The studies rely on self-ratings of manic temperament and dominance constructs, and findings have not yet been generalized to a clinical sample. Taken together, results support the hypothesis that manic temperament is related to a focus on achieving social dominance, ambitions related to achieving social recognition, perceptions of having achieved power, tendencies to experience dominance-related pride, and engagement in social behaviors consistent with this elevated sense of power. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The 1902 exhibition, Les Primitifs flamands: scholarly fallout and art historical reflections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrée Hayum

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This essay focuses on the exhibition, Les Primitifs Flamands, which took place in Bruges in 1902. One of the earliest temporary loan exhibitions to have had international impact, it stimulated the first wave of scholarly interest in northern painting. Indeed, though early Netherlandish painters, such as Jan van Eyck and Roger van der Weyden, had been lauded during their own lifetimes, a classical and Italian Renaissance ideal came to dominate the artistic canon of the academy as well as the historical narrative proposed with the emergence of the public museum. The many reviews of this exhibition allow us to track changing attitudes toward style and authorship while the taste for northern art in the broad sense was coming to the fore. Also important are issues of nationalism and nomenclature as the Flamands and the Primitifs of the exhibition’s title are further explored.

Technology Exhibition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

1979-09-15

Linked to the 25th Anniversary celebrations, an exhibition of some of CERN's technological achievements was opened on 22 June. Set up in a new 600 m{sup 2} Exhibition Hall on the CERN site, the exhibition is divided into eight technology areas — magnets, vacuum, computers and data handling, survey and alignment, radiation protection, beam monitoring and handling, detectors, and workshop techniques.

Experimental study of negative corona discharge in pure carbon dioxide and its mixtures with oxygen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikoviny, T; Kocan, M; Matejcik, S; Mason, N J; Skalny, J D

2004-01-01

The products of a negative corona discharge in both pure CO 2 and mixtures of CO 2 + O 2 have been studied using a coaxial cylindrical electrode geometry with particular emphasis on the production of ozone. The discharge current in pure CO 2 was found to be highly sensitive to the presence of trace concentrations of molecular oxygen and to changes in the flow speed through the discharge. The effect of dissociative electron attachment to ozone on the discharge current was studied by measurements of ozone and CO production. The ozone concentration increases monotonically with increasing content of oxygen in the mixture with carbon dioxide, whereas the CO concentration exhibits a flat maximum for oxygen concentrations of around 4%. A simple kinetic model of the dominant chemical processes is described and compared with the experimental results

Asymmetric dominance and asymmetric mate choice oppose premating isolation after allopatric divergence.

Science.gov (United States)

Sefc, Kristina M; Hermann, Caroline M; Steinwender, Bernd; Brindl, Hanna; Zimmermann, Holger; Mattersdorfer, Karin; Postl, Lisbeth; Makasa, Lawrence; Sturmbauer, Christian; Koblmüller, Stephan

2015-04-01

Assortative mating promotes reproductive isolation and allows allopatric speciation processes to continue in secondary contact. As mating patterns are determined by mate preferences and intrasexual competition, we investigated male-male competition and behavioral isolation in simulated secondary contact among allopatric populations. Three allopatric color morphs of the cichlid fish Tropheus were tested against each other. Dyadic male-male contests revealed dominance of red males over bluish and yellow-blotch males. Reproductive isolation in the presence of male-male competition was assessed from genetic parentage in experimental ponds and was highly asymmetric among pairs of color morphs. Red females mated only with red males, whereas the other females performed variable degrees of heteromorphic mating. Discrepancies between mating patterns in ponds and female preferences in a competition-free, two-way choice paradigm suggested that the dominance of red males interfered with positive assortative mating of females of the subordinate morphs and provoked asymmetric hybridization. Between the nonred morphs, a significant excess of negative assortative mating by yellow-blotch females with bluish males did not coincide with asymmetric dominance among males. Hence, both negative assortative mating preferences and interference of male-male competition with positive assortative preferences forestall premating isolation, the latter especially in environments unsupportive of competition-driven spatial segregation.

Social dominance, values and ideological positioning in college students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Zubieta

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999 stress that systematic inter group discrimination is related to social ideologies that contribute to coordinate institutions and individuals behaviors. The acceptance of inequity legitimating ideologies is partially determined for individuals general desire of group based domination. This desire is captured by Social Orientation Domination construct -SDO. Pursuing the objective of exploring SDO levels and its relationship with variables such ideological positioning and values, a descriptive correlation study, with a non experimental design, was carried out based on a convenience sample composed by 254 college students from Buenos Aires city surroundings . Results show that SDO is positively associated with Power and Achievement values and negatively with Benevolence and Universalism. SDO is stronger in participants right side ideologically positioned. Participants show a low SDO, emphasize self- trascendence and openness to change values and tend to a left side ideological positioning. Age, participant’s quality of “students” and prevailed career orientation can be seen as factors conditioning a more hierarchies attenuating believes and behaviors. 

On the contrast between Germanic and Romance negated quantifiers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Cirillo

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Universal quantifiers can be stranded in the manner described by Sportiche (1988, Giusti (1990 and Shlonsky (1991 in both the Romance and Germanic languages, but a negated universal quantifier can only be stranded in the Germanic languages. The goal of this paper is to show that this contrast between the Romance and the Germanic languages can be explained if one adapts the theory of sentential negation in Zeijlstra (2004 to constituent (quantifier negation. According to Zeijlstra’s theory, a negation marker in the Romance languages is the head of a NegP that dominates vP, whereas in the Germanic languages a negation marker is a maximal projection that occupies the specifier position of a verbal phrase. I will show that the non-occurrence of stranded negated quantifiers in the Romance languages follows from the fact that negation markers in the Romance languages are highly positioned syntactic heads.

Cracked rocks with positive and negative Poisson's ratio: real-crack properties extracted from pressure dependence of elastic-wave velocities

Science.gov (United States)

Zaitsev, Vladimir Y.; Radostin, Andrey V.; Dyskin, Arcady V.; Pasternak, Elena

2017-04-01

We report results of analysis of literature data on P- and S-wave velocities of rocks subjected to variable hydrostatic pressure. Out of about 90 examined samples, in more than 40% of the samples the reconstructed Poisson's ratios are negative for lowest confining pressure with gradual transition to the conventional positive values at higher pressure. The portion of rocks exhibiting negative Poisson's ratio appeared to be unexpectedly high. To understand the mechanism of negative Poisson's ratio, pressure dependences of P- and S-wave velocities were analyzed using the effective medium model in which the reduction in the elastic moduli due to cracks is described in terms of compliances with respect to shear and normal loading that are imparted to the rock by the presence of cracks. This is in contrast to widely used descriptions of effective cracked medium based on a specific crack model (e.g., penny-shape crack) in which the ratio between normal and shear compliances of such a crack is strictly predetermined. The analysis of pressure-dependences of the elastic wave velocities makes it possible to reveal the ratio between pure normal and shear compliances (called q-ratio below) for real defects and quantify their integral content in the rock. The examination performed demonstrates that a significant portion (over 50%) of cracks exhibit q-ratio several times higher than that assumed for the conventional penny-shape cracks. This leads to faster reduction of the Poisson's ratio with increasing the crack concentration. Samples with negative Poisson's ratio are characterized by elevated q-ratio and simultaneously crack concentration. Our results clearly indicate that the traditional crack model is not adequate for a significant portion of rocks and that the interaction between the opposite crack faces leading to domination of the normal compliance and reduced shear displacement discontinuity can play an important role in the mechanical behavior of rocks.

Spectral evolution of GRBs with negative spectral lag using Fermi GBM observations

Science.gov (United States)

Chakrabarti, Arundhati; Chaudhury, Kishor; Sarkar, Samir K.; Bhadra, Arunava

2018-06-01

The positive spectral lag of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) is often explained in terms of hard-to-soft spectral evolution of GRB pulses. While positive lags of GRBs is very common, there are few GRB pulses that exhibits negative spectral lags. In the present work we examine whether negative lags of GRBs also can be interpreted in terms of spectral evolution of GRB pulses or not. Using Fermi-GBM data, we identify two GRBs, GRB 090426C and GRB 150213A, with clean pulses that exhibit negative spectral lag. An indication of soft to hard transition has been noticed for the negative spectral lag events from the spectral evolution study. The implication of the present findings on the models of GRB spectral lags are discussed.

Social network and dominance hierarchy analyses at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jake A Funkhouser

Full Text Available Different aspects of sociality bear considerable weight on the individual- and group-level welfare of captive nonhuman primates. Social Network Analysis (SNA is a useful tool for gaining a holistic understanding of the dynamic social relationships of captive primate groups. Gaining a greater understanding of captive chimpanzees through investigations of centrality, preferred and avoided relationships, dominance hierarchy, and social network diagrams can be useful in advising current management practices in sanctuaries and other captive settings. In this study, we investigated the dyadic social relationships, group-level social networks, and dominance hierarchy of seven chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We used focal-animal and instantaneous scan sampling to collect 106.75 total hours of associative, affiliative, and agonistic data from June to September 2016. We analyzed our data using SOCPROG to derive dominance hierarchies and network statistics, and we diagrammed the group's social networks in NetDraw. Three individuals were most central in the grooming network, while two others had little connection. Through agonistic networks, we found that group members reciprocally exhibited agonism, and the group's dominance hierarchy was statistically non-linear. One chimpanzee emerged as the most dominant through agonism but was least connected to other group members across affiliative networks. Our results indicate that the conventional methods used to calculate individuals' dominance rank may be inadequate to wholly depict a group's social relationships in captive sanctuary populations. Our results have an applied component that can aid sanctuary staff in a variety of ways to best ensure the improvement of group welfare.

Social network and dominance hierarchy analyses at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Science.gov (United States)

Funkhouser, Jake A; Mayhew, Jessica A; Mulcahy, John B

2018-01-01

Different aspects of sociality bear considerable weight on the individual- and group-level welfare of captive nonhuman primates. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a useful tool for gaining a holistic understanding of the dynamic social relationships of captive primate groups. Gaining a greater understanding of captive chimpanzees through investigations of centrality, preferred and avoided relationships, dominance hierarchy, and social network diagrams can be useful in advising current management practices in sanctuaries and other captive settings. In this study, we investigated the dyadic social relationships, group-level social networks, and dominance hierarchy of seven chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We used focal-animal and instantaneous scan sampling to collect 106.75 total hours of associative, affiliative, and agonistic data from June to September 2016. We analyzed our data using SOCPROG to derive dominance hierarchies and network statistics, and we diagrammed the group's social networks in NetDraw. Three individuals were most central in the grooming network, while two others had little connection. Through agonistic networks, we found that group members reciprocally exhibited agonism, and the group's dominance hierarchy was statistically non-linear. One chimpanzee emerged as the most dominant through agonism but was least connected to other group members across affiliative networks. Our results indicate that the conventional methods used to calculate individuals' dominance rank may be inadequate to wholly depict a group's social relationships in captive sanctuary populations. Our results have an applied component that can aid sanctuary staff in a variety of ways to best ensure the improvement of group welfare.

A novel OPA1 mutation in a Chinese family with autosomal dominant optic atrophy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Juanjuan; Yuan, Yimin; Lin, Bing; Feng, Hao; Li, Yan; Dai, Xianning; Zhou, Huihui; Dong, Xujie; Liu, Xiao-Ling; Guan, Min-Xin

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We report the characterization of a four-generation large Chinese family with ADOA. ► We find a new heterozygous mutation c.C1198G in OPA1 gene which may be a novel pathogenic mutation in this pedigree. ► We do not find any mitochondrial DNA mutations associated with optic atrophy. ► Other factors may also contribute to the phenotypic variability of ADOA in this pedigree. -- Abstract: A large four-generation Chinese family with autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) was investigated in the present study. Eight of the family members were affected in this pedigree. The affected family members exhibited early-onset and progressive visual impairment, resulting in mild to profound loss of visual acuity. The average age-at-onset was 15.9 years. A new heterozygous mutation c.C1198G was identified by sequence analysis of the 12th exon of the OPA1 gene. This mutation resulted in a proline to alanine substitution at codon 400, which was located in an evolutionarily conserved region. This missense mutation in the GTPase domain was supposed to result in a loss of function for the encoded protein and act through a dominant negative effect. No other mutations associated with optic atrophy were found in our present study. The c.C1198G heterozygous mutation in the OPA1 gene may be a novel key pathogenic mutation in this pedigree with ADOA. Furthermore, additional nuclear modifier genes, environmental factors, and psychological factors may also contribute to the phenotypic variability of ADOA in this pedigree.

Topics on domination

CERN Document Server

Hedetniemi, ST

1991-01-01

The contributions in this volume are divided into three sections: theoretical, new models and algorithmic. The first section focuses on properties of the standard domination number &ggr;(G), the second section is concerned with new variations on the domination theme, and the third is primarily concerned with finding classes of graphs for which the domination number (and several other domination-related parameters) can be computed in polynomial time.

The paired-domination and the upper paired-domination numbers of graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Włodzimierz Ulatowski

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we continue the study of paired-domination in graphs. A paired-dominating set, abbreviated PDS, of a graph \\(G\\ with no isolated vertex is a dominating set of vertices whose induced subgraph has a perfect matching. The paired-domination number of \\(G\\, denoted by \\(\\gamma_{p}(G\\, is the minimum cardinality of a PDS of \\(G\\. The upper paired-domination number of \\(G\\, denoted by \\(\\Gamma_{p}(G\\, is the maximum cardinality of a minimal PDS of \\(G\\. Let \\(G\\ be a connected graph of order \\(n\\geq 3\\. Haynes and Slater in [Paired-domination in graphs, Networks 32 (1998, 199-206], showed that \\(\\gamma_{p}(G\\leq n-1\\ and they determine the extremal graphs \\(G\\ achieving this bound. In this paper we obtain analogous results for \\(\\Gamma_{p}(G\\. Dorbec, Henning and McCoy in [Upper total domination versus upper paired-domination, Questiones Mathematicae 30 (2007, 1-12] determine \\(\\Gamma_{p}(P_n\\, instead in this paper we determine \\(\\Gamma_{p}(C_n\\. Moreover, we describe some families of graphs \\(G\\ for which the equality \\(\\gamma_{p}(G=\\Gamma_{p}(G\\ holds.

Enhanced brain susceptibility to negative stimuli in adolescents: ERP evidences

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Jiajin eYuan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Background: previous studies investigated neural substrates of emotional face processing in adolescents and its comparison with adults. As emotional faces elicit more of emotional expression recognition rather than direct emotional responding, it remains undetermined how adolescents are different from adults in brain susceptibility to emotionally stressful stimuli. Methods: Event-Related Potentials were recorded for highly negative (HN, moderately negative (MN and Neutral pictures in 20 adolescents and 20 adults while subjects performed a standard/deviant distinction task by pressing different keys, irrespective of the emotionality of deviant stimuli. Results: Adolescents exhibited more negative amplitudes for HN versus neutral pictures in N1 (100-150ms, P2 (130-190ms, N2 (210-290ms and P3 (360-440ms components. In addition, adolescents showed more negative amplitudes for MN compared to neutral pictures in N1, P2 and N2 components. By contrast, adults exhibited significant emotion effects for HN stimuli in N2 and P3 amplitudes but not in N1 and P2 amplitudes, and they did not exhibit a significant emotion effect for MN stimuli at all these components. In the 210-290ms time interval, the emotion effect for HN stimuli was significant across frontal and central regions in adolescents, while this emotion effect was noticeable only in the central region for adults. Conclusions: Adolescents are more emotionally sensitive to negative stimuli compared to adults, regardless of the emotional intensity of the stimuli, possibly due to the immature prefrontal control system over the limbic emotional inputs during adolescence. Keywords: Event-Related Potentials (ERPs; Adolescence; Emotion intensity; Negative pictures; Emotional Susceptibility

Managing discrimination in selection: the influence of directives from an authority and social dominance orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Umphress, Elizabeth E; Simmons, Aneika L; Boswell, Wendy R; Triana, María del Carmen

2008-09-01

The authors examined one manner in which to decrease the negative impact of social dominance orientation (SDO), an individual difference variable that indicates support for the "domination of 'inferior' groups by 'superior' groups" (J. Sidanius & F. Pratto, 1999, p. 48), on the selection of candidates from low-status groups within society. Consistent with the tenets of social dominance theory, in 2 studies we found that those high in SDO reported that they were less likely to select a potential team member who is a member of a low-status group (i.e., a White female in Study 1 and a Black male in Study 2) than those low in SDO. However, explicit directives from an authority moderated this effect such that those high in SDO were more likely to select both candidates when authority figures clearly communicated that job performance indicators should be used when choosing team members. Thus, our studies suggest that the negative effects of SDO may be attenuated if those high in SDO are instructed by superiors to use legitimate performance criteria to evaluate job candidates.

Exogenous testosterone enhances cortisol and affective responses to social-evaluative stress in dominant men.

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Erik L; Christian, Colton B; Morales, Pablo J; Harbaugh, William T; Mayr, Ulrich; Mehta, Pranjal H

2017-11-01

Stress often precedes the onset of mental health disorders and is linked to negative impacts on physical health as well. Prior research indicates that testosterone levels are related to reduced stress reactivity in some cases but correlate with increased stress responses in other cases. To resolve these inconsistencies, we tested the causal influence of testosterone on stress reactivity to a social-evaluative stressor. Further, prior work has failed to consider status-relevant individual differences such as trait dominance that may modulate the influence of testosterone on responses to stressors. Participants (n=120 males) were randomly assigned to receive exogenous testosterone or placebo (n=60 testosterone treatment group) via topical gel prior to a well-validated social-evaluative stressor. Compared to placebo, testosterone significantly increased cortisol and negative affect in response to the stressor, especially for men high in trait dominance (95% confidence intervals did not contain zero). The findings suggest that the combination of high testosterone and exposure to status-relevant social stress may confer increased risk for stress-mediated disorders, particularly for individuals high in trait dominance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Praise for regret: People value regret above other negative emotions

OpenAIRE

Saffrey, Colleen; Summerville, Amy; Roese, Neal J.

2008-01-01

What do people think about the emotion of regret? Recent demonstrations of the psychological benefits of regret have been framed against an assumption that most people find regret to be aversive, both when experienced but also when recalled later. Two studies explored lay evaluations of regret experiences, revealing them to be largely favorable rather than unfavorable. Study 1 demonstrated that regret, but not other negative emotions, was dominated by positive more than negative evaluations. ...

Describing the organization of dominance relationships by dominance-directed tree method.

Science.gov (United States)

Izar, Patrícia; Ferreira, Renata G; Sato, Takechi

2006-02-01

Methods to describe dominance hierarchies are a key tool in primatology studies. Most current methods are appropriate for analyzing linear and near-linear hierarchies; however, more complex structures are common in primate groups. We propose a method termed "dominance-directed tree." This method is based on graph theory and set theory to analyze dominance relationships in social groups. The method constructs a transitive matrix by imposing transitivity to the dominance matrix and produces a graphical representation of the dominance relationships, which allows an easy visualization of the hierarchical position of the individuals, or subsets of individuals. The method is also able to detect partial and complete hierarchies, and to describe situations in which hierarchical and nonhierarchical principles operate. To illustrate the method, we apply a dominance tree analysis to artificial data and empirical data from a group of Cebus apella. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Elevated endogenous expression of the dominant negative basic helix-loop-helix protein ID1 correlates with significant centrosome abnormalities in human tumor cells

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Gutmann Anja

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background ID proteins are dominant negative inhibitors of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors that have multiple functions during development and cellular differentiation. Ectopic (over-expression of ID1 extends the lifespan of primary human epithelial cells. High expression levels of ID1 have been detected in multiple human malignancies, and in some have been correlated with unfavorable clinical prognosis. ID1 protein is localized at the centrosomes and forced (over-expression of ID1 results in errors during centrosome duplication. Results Here we analyzed the steady state expression levels of the four ID-proteins in 18 tumor cell lines and assessed the number of centrosome abnormalities. While expression of ID1, ID2, and ID3 was detected, we failed to detect protein expression of ID4. Expression of ID1 correlated with increased supernumerary centrosomes in most cell lines analyzed. Conclusions This is the first report that shows that not only ectopic expression in tissue culture but endogenous levels of ID1 modulate centrosome numbers. Thus, our findings support the hypothesis that ID1 interferes with centrosome homeostasis, most likely contributing to genomic instability and associated tumor aggressiveness.

The direct effect of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK, dominant-negative FAK, FAK-CD and FAK siRNA on gene expression and human MCF-7 breast cancer cell tumorigenesis

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Zhang Li

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Focal adhesion kinase (FAK is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that plays an important role in survival signaling. FAK has been shown to be overexpressed in breast cancer tumors at early stages of tumorigenesis. Methods To study the direct effect of FAK on breast tumorigenesis, we developed Tet-ON (tetracycline-inducible system of MCF-7 breast cancer cells stably transfected with FAK or dominant-negative, C-terminal domain of FAK (FAK-CD, and also FAKsiRNA with silenced FAK MCF-7 stable cell line. Increased expression of FAK in isogenic Tet-inducible MCF-7 cells caused increased cell growth, adhesion and soft agar colony formation in vitro, while expression of dominant-negative FAK inhibitor caused inhibition of these cellular processes. To study the role of induced FAK and FAK-CD in vivo, we inoculated these Tet-inducible cells in nude mice to generate tumors in the presence or absence of doxycycline in the drinking water. FAKsiRNA-MCF-7 cells were also injected into nude mice to generate xenograft tumors. Results Induction of FAK resulted in significant increased tumorigenesis, while induced FAK-CD resulted in decreased tumorigenesis. Taq Man Low Density Array assay demonstrated specific induction of FAKmRNA in MCF-7-Tet-ON-FAK cells. DMP1, encoding cyclin D binding myb-like protein 1 was one of the genes specifically affected by Tet-inducible FAK or FAK-CD in breast xenograft tumors. In addition, silencing of FAK in MCF-7 cells with FAK siRNA caused increased cell rounding, decreased cell viability in vitro and inhibited tumorigenesis in vivo. Importantly, Affymetrix microarray gene profiling analysis using Human Genome U133A GeneChips revealed >4300 genes, known to be involved in apoptosis, cell cycle, and adhesion that were significantly down- or up-regulated (p Conclusion Thus, these data for the first time demonstrate the direct effect of FAK expression and function on MCF-7 breast cancer tumorigenesis in vivo and reveal

Exhibition

CERN Document Server

Staff Association

2017-01-01

A Look of Hope Islam Mahmoud Sweity From 19 to 30 June 2017 CERN Meyrin, Main Building Islam Mahmoud Sweity Islam Mahmoud Sweity was born in 1997 at Beit Awwa, Palestine. She is currently following a course to get an Art diploma of Painting at the college of Fine Arts at An-Najah National University under the supervision of Esmat Al As'aad. Her portraits, landscapes and still life paintings are full of life and shining colours. Charged of emotional empathy they catch the attention of the viewer and are reminding us that life is beautiful and worth living in spite of all difficulties we have to go through. She participated in many exhibitions and has exposed her drawings in 2015 at CERN and in France in the framework of the exhibition "The Origin“, and in 2017 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Palestina and Jordan. In this exhibition the oil paintings made in the past year will be presented. For more information : staff.association@cern.ch | T&eacu...

Complete Genome Sequence of Bacillus velezensis CN026 Exhibiting Antagonistic Activity against Gram-Negative Foodborne Pathogens

OpenAIRE

Nannan, Catherine; Gillis, Annika; Caulier, Simon; Mahillon, Jacques

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT We report here the complete genome sequence of Bacillus velezensis strain CN026, a member of the B. subtilis group, which is known for its many industrial applications. The genome contains 3,995,812 bp and displays six gene clusters potentially involved in strain CN026’s activity against Gram-negative foodborne pathogens.

The dominance behavioral system and manic temperament: Motivation for dominance, self-perceptions of power, and socially dominant behaviors

OpenAIRE

Johnson, Sheri L.; Carver, Charles S.

2012-01-01

The dominance behavioral system has been conceptualized as a biologically based system comprising motivation to achieve social power and self-perceptions of power. Biological, behavioral, and social correlates of dominance motivation and self-perceived power have been related to a range of psychopathological tendencies. Preliminary evidence suggests that mania and risk for mania (manic temperament) relate to the dominance system.

Ion pair formation in the vacuum ultraviolet region of NO studied by negative ion imaging spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hikosaka, Y.; Kaneyasu, T.; Shigemasa, E.

2007-01-01

The pair formation of positive and negative fragment ions has been studied in the vacuum ultraviolet region of NO, with negative ion imaging spectroscopy. The negative ion yield curve obtained in the photon energy region of 19-25 eV exhibits many structures which are absent from the photoabsorption spectrum in the same region. The partial yields and asymmetry parameters associated with the dissociations into individual ion pair limits have been extracted from the negative ion images observed. On the basis of these quantities, the assignments for the structures exhibited on the negative ion yield curve are given and the dynamical properties on the ion pair dissociation are discussed

Hand dominance and age have interactive effects on motor cortical representations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica A Bernard

Full Text Available Older adults exhibit more bilateral motor cortical activity during unimanual task performance than young adults. Interestingly, a similar pattern is seen in young adults with reduced hand dominance. However, older adults report stronger hand dominance than young adults, making it unclear how handedness is manifested in the aging motor cortex. Here, we investigated age differences in the relationships between handedness, motor cortical organization, and interhemispheric communication speed. We hypothesized that relationships between these variables would differ for young and older adults, consistent with our recent proposal of an age-related shift in interhemispheric interactions. We mapped motor cortical representations of the right and left first dorsal interosseous muscles using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS in young and older adults recruited to represent a broad range of the handedness spectrum. We also measured interhemispheric communication speed and bimanual coordination. We observed that more strongly handed older adults exhibited more ipsilateral motor activity in response to TMS; this effect was not present in young adults. Furthermore, we found opposing relationships between interhemispheric communication speed and bimanual performance in the two age groups. Thus, handedness manifests itself differently in the motor cortices of young and older adults and has interactive effects with age.

Complete Genome Sequence of Bacillus velezensis CN026 Exhibiting Antagonistic Activity against Gram-Negative Foodborne Pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Nannan, Catherine; Gillis, Annika; Caulier, Simon; Mahillon, Jacques

2018-01-25

We report here the complete genome sequence of Bacillus velezensis strain CN026, a member of the B. subtilis group, which is known for its many industrial applications. The genome contains 3,995,812 bp and displays six gene clusters potentially involved in strain CN026's activity against Gram-negative foodborne pathogens. Copyright © 2018 Nannan et al.

A New Algorithm Using the Non-Dominated Tree to Improve Non-Dominated Sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Gustavsson, Patrik; Syberfeldt, Anna

2018-01-01

Non-dominated sorting is a technique often used in evolutionary algorithms to determine the quality of solutions in a population. The most common algorithm is the Fast Non-dominated Sort (FNS). This algorithm, however, has the drawback that its performance deteriorates when the population size grows. The same drawback applies also to other non-dominating sorting algorithms such as the Efficient Non-dominated Sort with Binary Strategy (ENS-BS). An algorithm suggested to overcome this drawback is the Divide-and-Conquer Non-dominated Sort (DCNS) which works well on a limited number of objectives but deteriorates when the number of objectives grows. This article presents a new, more efficient algorithm called the Efficient Non-dominated Sort with Non-Dominated Tree (ENS-NDT). ENS-NDT is an extension of the ENS-BS algorithm and uses a novel Non-Dominated Tree (NDTree) to speed up the non-dominated sorting. ENS-NDT is able to handle large population sizes and a large number of objectives more efficiently than existing algorithms for non-dominated sorting. In the article, it is shown that with ENS-NDT the runtime of multi-objective optimization algorithms such as the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) can be substantially reduced.

Molecular correlates of social dominance: a novel role for ependymin in aggression.

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Lynne U Sneddon

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Theoretical and empirical studies have sought to explain the formation and maintenance of social relationships within groups. The resulting dominance hierarchies have significant fitness and survival consequences dependent upon social status. We hypothesised that each position or rank within a group has a distinctive brain gene expression profile that correlates with behavioural phenotype. Furthermore, transitions in rank position should determine which genes shift in expression concurrent with the new dominance status. We used a custom cDNA microarray to profile brain transcript expression in a model species, the rainbow trout, which forms tractable linear hierarchies. Dominant, subdominant and submissive individuals had distinctive transcript profiles with 110 gene probes identified using conservative statistical analyses. By removing the dominant, we characterised the changes in transcript expression in sub-dominant individuals that became dominant demonstrating that the molecular transition occurred within 48 hours. A strong, novel candidate gene, ependymin, which was highly expressed in both the transcript and protein in subdominants relative to dominants, was tested further. Using antibody injection to inactivate ependymin in pairs of dominant and subdominant zebrafish, the subdominant fish exhibited a substantial increase in aggression in parallel with an enhanced competitive ability. This is the first study to characterise the molecular signatures of dominance status within groups and the first to implicate ependymin in control of aggressive behaviour. It also provides evidence for indirect genetic effect models in which genotype/phenotype of an individual is influenced by conspecific interactions within a group. The variation in the molecular profile of each individual within a group may offer a new explanation of intraspecific variation in gene expression within undefined groups of animals and provides new candidates for empirical

Exhibiting Epistemic Objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tybjerg, Karin

2017-01-01

of exhibiting epistemic objects that utilize their knowledge-generating potential and allow them to continue to stimulate curiosity and generate knowledge in the exhibition. The epistemic potential of the objects can then be made to work together with the function of the exhibition as a knowledge-generating set...

The social dominance paradox.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Jennifer Louise; den Ouden, Hanneke E M; Heyes, Cecilia M; Cools, Roshan

2014-12-01

Dominant individuals report high levels of self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and authoritarianism. The lay stereotype suggests that such individuals ignore information from others, preferring to make their own choices. However, the nonhuman animal literature presents a conflicting view, suggesting that dominant individuals are avid social learners, whereas subordinates focus on learning from private experience. Whether dominant humans are best characterized by the lay stereotype or the animal view is currently unknown. Here, we present a "social dominance paradox": using self-report scales and computerized tasks, we demonstrate that socially dominant people explicitly value independence, but, paradoxically, in a complex decision-making task, they show an enhanced reliance (relative to subordinate individuals) on social learning. More specifically, socially dominant people employed a strategy of copying other agents when the agents' responses had a history of being correct. However, in humans, two subtypes of dominance have been identified: aggressive and social. Aggressively dominant individuals, who are as likely to "get their own way" as socially dominant individuals but who do so through the use of aggressive or Machiavellian tactics, did not use social information, even when it was beneficial to do so. This paper presents the first study of dominance and social learning in humans and challenges the lay stereotype in which all dominant individuals ignore others' views. The more subtle perspective we offer could have important implications for decision making in both the boardroom and the classroom. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nested structures approach in designing an isotropic negative-index material for infrared

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andryieuski, Andrei; Malureanu, Radu; Lavrinenko, Andrei

2009-01-01

We propose a new generic approach for designing isotropic metamaterial with nested cubic structures. As an example, a three-dimensional isotropic unit cell design "Split Cube in Cage" (SCiC) is shown to exhibit an effective negative refractive index on infrared wavelengths. We report on the refra......We propose a new generic approach for designing isotropic metamaterial with nested cubic structures. As an example, a three-dimensional isotropic unit cell design "Split Cube in Cage" (SCiC) is shown to exhibit an effective negative refractive index on infrared wavelengths. We report...

Veillonella, Firmicutes: Microbes disguised as Gram negatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vesth, Tammi Camilla; Ozen, Asli; Andersen, Sandra Christine

2013-01-01

Negativicutes, including the genus Veillonella, stain Gram negative. Veillonella are among the most abundant organisms of the oral and intestinal microflora of animals and humans, in spite of being strict anaerobes. In this work, the genomes of 24 Negativicutes, including eight Veillonella spp., are compared......, with the exception of a shared LPS biosynthesis pathway. The clade within the class Negativicutes to which the genus Veillonella belongs exhibits unique properties, most of which are in common with Gram-positives and some with Gram negatives. They are only distantly related to Clostridia, but are even less closely...... related to Gram-negative species. Though the Negativicutes stain Gram-negative and possess two membranes, the genome and proteome analysis presented here confirm their place within the (mainly) Gram positive phylum of the Firmicutes. Further studies are required to unveil the evolutionary history...

Entanglement versus negative domains of Wigner functions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Jens Peder; Mack, H.; Wolf, A.

2006-01-01

We show that s waves, that is wave functions that only depend on a hyperradius, are entangled if and only if the corresponding Wigner functions exhibit negative domains. We illustrate this feature using a special class of s waves which allows us to perform the calculations analytically. This class...

A novel OPA1 mutation in a Chinese family with autosomal dominant optic atrophy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Juanjuan; Yuan, Yimin; Lin, Bing; Feng, Hao; Li, Yan [School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325027, Zhejiang (China); Dai, Xianning; Zhou, Huihui [Attardi Institute of Mitochondrial Biomedicine and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325035, Zhejiang (China); Dong, Xujie [School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325027, Zhejiang (China); Liu, Xiao-Ling, E-mail: lxl@mail.eye.ac.cn [School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325027, Zhejiang (China); Guan, Min-Xin, E-mail: min-xin.guan@cchmc.org [Attardi Institute of Mitochondrial Biomedicine and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325035, Zhejiang (China); Institute of Genetics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012 (China); Division of Human Genetics, Cincinnati Children' s Hospital Medical Center, OH 45229 (United States)

2012-03-23

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We report the characterization of a four-generation large Chinese family with ADOA. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We find a new heterozygous mutation c.C1198G in OPA1 gene which may be a novel pathogenic mutation in this pedigree. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We do not find any mitochondrial DNA mutations associated with optic atrophy. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Other factors may also contribute to the phenotypic variability of ADOA in this pedigree. -- Abstract: A large four-generation Chinese family with autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) was investigated in the present study. Eight of the family members were affected in this pedigree. The affected family members exhibited early-onset and progressive visual impairment, resulting in mild to profound loss of visual acuity. The average age-at-onset was 15.9 years. A new heterozygous mutation c.C1198G was identified by sequence analysis of the 12th exon of the OPA1 gene. This mutation resulted in a proline to alanine substitution at codon 400, which was located in an evolutionarily conserved region. This missense mutation in the GTPase domain was supposed to result in a loss of function for the encoded protein and act through a dominant negative effect. No other mutations associated with optic atrophy were found in our present study. The c.C1198G heterozygous mutation in the OPA1 gene may be a novel key pathogenic mutation in this pedigree with ADOA. Furthermore, additional nuclear modifier genes, environmental factors, and psychological factors may also contribute to the phenotypic variability of ADOA in this pedigree.

The Inability to Screen Exhibition Swine for Influenza A Virus Using Body Temperature.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowman, A S; Nolting, J M; Workman, J D; Cooper, M; Fisher, A E; Marsh, B; Forshey, T

2016-02-01

Agricultural fairs create an unconventional animal-human interface that has been associated with swine-to-human transmission of influenza A virus (IAV) in recent years. Early detection of IAV-infected pigs at agricultural fairs would allow veterinarians to better protect swine and human health during these swine exhibitions. This study assessed the use of swine body temperature measurement, recorded by infrared and rectal thermometers, as a practical method to detect IAV-infected swine at agricultural fairs. In our first objective, infrared thermometers were used to record the body surface temperature of 1,092 pigs at the time of IAV nasal swab collection at the end of the exhibition period of 55 agricultural fairs. IAV was recovered from 212 (19.4%) pigs, and the difference in mean infrared body temperature measurement of IAV-positive and IAV-negative pigs was 0.83°C. In a second objective, snout wipes were collected from 1,948 pigs immediately prior to the unloading of the animals at a single large swine exhibition. Concurrent to the snout wipe collection, owners took the rectal temperatures of his/her pigs. In this case, 47 (2.4%) pigs tested positive for IAV before they entered the swine barn. The mean rectal temperatures differed by only 0.19°C between IAV-positive and IAV-negative pigs. The low prevalence of IAV among the pigs upon entry to the fair in the second objective provides evidence that limiting intraspecies spread of IAV during the fairs will likely have significant impacts on the zoonotic transmission. However, in both objectives, the high degree of similarity in the body temperature measurements between the IAV-positive and IAV-negative pigs made it impossible to set a diagnostically meaningful cut point to differentiate IAV status of the individual animals. Unfortunately, body temperature measurement cannot be used to accurately screen exhibition swine for IAV. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Genotyping of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman reveals the dominance of Panton–Valentine leucocidin-negative ST6-IV/t304 clone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E.E. Udo

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and distribution of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA genotypes circulating at a tertiary hospital in the Sultanate of Oman. A total of 79 MRSA isolates were obtained from different clinical samples and investigated using antibiogram, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE, staphylococcal chromosome cassette mec (SCCmec, Spa typing and multilocus sequence typing (MLST. The isolates were susceptible to linezolid, vancomycin, teicoplanin, tigecycline and mupirocin but were resistant to tetracycline (30.4%, erythromycin (26.6%, clindamycin (24.1%, trimethoprim (19.0%, ciprofloxacin (17.7%, fusidic acid (15.2% and gentamicin (12.7%. Molecular typing revealed 19 PFGE patterns, 26 Spa types and 21 sequence types. SCCmec-IV (86.0% was the dominant SCCmec type, followed by SCCmec-V (10.1%. SCCmec-III (2.5% and SCCmec-II (1.3% were less common. ST6-IV/t304 (n = 30 and ST1295-IV/t690 (n = 12 were the dominant genotypes followed by ST772-V/t657 (n = 5, ST30-IV/t019/t021 (n = 5, ST22-IV/t852 (n = 4, ST80-IV/t044 (n = 3 and 18 single genotypes that were isolated sporadically. On the basis of SCCmec typing and MLST, 91.2% of the isolates were classified as community-associated MRSA and 8.8% of the isolates (consisting of four ST22-IV/t852, one ST239-III/t632, one ST5-III/t311 and one ST5-II/t003 were classified as healthcare-associated MRSA. The study has revealed the dominance of a Panton–Valentine leucocidin-negative ST6-IV/t304 clone and provided insights into the distribution of antibiotic resistance in MRSA at the tertiary hospital in Oman. It also highlights the importance of surveillance in detecting the emergence of new MRSA clones in a healthcare facility.

MgO-templated carbon as a negative electrode material for Na-ion capacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Kado, Yuya; Soneda, Yasushi

2016-12-01

In this study, MgO-templated carbon with different pore structures was investigated as a negative electrode material for Na-ion capacitors. With increasing the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, the irreversible capacity increased, and the coulombic efficiency of the 1st cycle decreased because of the formation of solid electrolyte interface layers. MgO-templated carbon annealed at 1000 °C exhibited the highest capacity and best rate performance, suggesting that an appropriate balance between surface area and crystallinity is imperative for fast Na-ion storage, attributed to the storage mechanism: combination of non-faradaic electric double-layer capacitance and faradaic Na intercalation in the carbon layers. Finally, a Na-ion capacitor cell using MgO-templated carbon and activated carbon as the negative and positive electrodes, respectively, exhibited an energy density at high power density significantly greater than that exhibited by the cell using a commercial hard carbon negative electrode.

A spontaneous dominant-negative mutation within a 35S::AtMYB90 transgene inhibits flower pigment production in tobacco.

Science.gov (United States)

Velten, Jeff; Cakir, Cahid; Cazzonelli, Christopher I

2010-03-29

In part due to the ease of visual detection of phenotypic changes, anthocyanin pigment production has long been the target of genetic and molecular research in plants. Specific members of the large family of plant myb transcription factors have been found to play critical roles in regulating expression of anthocyanin biosynthetic genes and these genes continue to serve as important tools in dissecting the molecular mechanisms of plant gene regulation. A spontaneous mutation within the coding region of an Arabidopsis 35S::AtMYB90 transgene converted the activator of plant-wide anthocyanin production to a dominant-negative allele (PG-1) that inhibits normal pigment production within tobacco petals. Sequence analysis identified a single base change that created a premature nonsense codon, truncating the encoded myb protein. The resulting mutant protein lacks 78 amino acids from the wild type C-terminus and was confirmed as the source of the white-flower phenotype. A putative tobacco homolog of AtMYB90 (NtAN2) was isolated and found to be expressed in flower petals but not leaves of all tobacco plants tested. Using transgenic tobacco constitutively expressing the NtAN2 gene confirmed the NtAN2 protein as the likely target of PG-1-based inhibition of tobacco pigment production. Messenger RNA and anthocyanin analysis of PG-1Sh transgenic lines (and PG-1Sh x purple 35S::NtAN2 seedlings) support a model in which the mutant myb transgene product acts as a competitive inhibitor of the native tobacco NtAN2 protein. This finding is important to researchers in the field of plant transcription factor analysis, representing a potential outcome for experiments analyzing in vivo protein function in test transgenic systems that over-express or mutate plant transcription factors.

Polarization spectroscopy of positive and negative trions in an InAs quantum dot

Science.gov (United States)

Ware, Morgan E.; Bracker, Allan S.; Stinaff, Eric; Gammon, Daniel; Gershoni, David; Korenev, Vladimir L.

2005-02-01

Using polarization-sensitive photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, we study single InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots. The dots were embedded in an n-type, Schottky diode structure allowing for control of the charge state. We present here the exciton, singly charged exciton (positive and negative trions), and the twice negatively charged exciton. For non-resonant excitation below the wetting layer, we observed a large degree of polarization memory from the radiative recombination of both the positive and negative trions. In excitation spectra, through the p-shell, we have found several sharp resonances in the emission from the s-shell recombination of the dot in all charged states. Some of these excitation resonances exhibit strong coulomb shifts upon addition of charges into the quantum dot. One particular resonance of the negatively charged trion was found to exhibit a fine structure doublet under circular polarization. This observation is explained in terms of resonant absorption into the triplet states of the negative trion.

Surface expression and limited proteolysis of ADAM10 are increased by a dominant negative inhibitor of dynamin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slack Barbara E

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The amyloid precursor protein (APP is cleaved by β- and γ-secretases to generate toxic amyloid β (Aβ peptides. Alternatively, α-secretases cleave APP within the Aβ domain, precluding Aβ formation and releasing the soluble ectodomain, sAPPα. We previously showed that inhibition of the GTPase dynamin reduced APP internalization and increased release of sAPPα, apparently by prolonging the interaction between APP and α-secretases at the plasma membrane. This was accompanied by a reduction in Aβ generation. In the present study, we investigated whether surface expression of the α-secretase ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease10 is also regulated by dynamin-dependent endocytosis. Results Transfection of human embryonic kidney (HEK cells stably expressing M3 muscarinic receptors with a dominant negative dynamin I mutant (dyn I K44A, increased surface expression of both immature, and mature, catalytically active forms of co-expressed ADAM10. Surface levels of ADAM10 were unaffected by activation of protein kinase C (PKC or M3 receptors, indicating that receptor-coupled shedding of the ADAM substrate APP is unlikely to be mediated by inhibition of ADAM10 endocytosis in this cell line. Dyn I K44A strongly increased the formation of a C-terminal fragment of ADAM10, consistent with earlier reports that the ADAM10 ectodomain is itself a target for sheddases. The abundance of this fragment was increased in the presence of a γ-secretase inhibitor, but was not affected by M3 receptor activation. The dynamin mutant did not affect the distribution of ADAM10 and its C-terminal fragment between raft and non-raft membrane compartments. Conclusions Surface expression and limited proteolysis of ADAM10 are regulated by dynamin-dependent endocytosis, but are unaffected by activation of signaling pathways that upregulate shedding of ADAM substrates such as APP. Modulation of ADAM10 internalization could affect cellular behavior in two

Dominant shareholders, board structure and bank performance: Evidence from Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stančić Predrag

2012-06-01

Full Text Available We investigate relation between board structure (size and composition and bank performance in 18 Serbian commercial banks with a dominant shareholder in 2006-2010. We analyze this relation using OLS regression analysis on an unbalanced panel dataset of 75 observations. We find no significant relation between proportion of independent directors on the board and bank performance. We also find no significant relation between bank market performance and board size. We find that bank profitability, measured by ROA and ROE, increase as the number of directors on the board decreases. This result is statistically significant after controlling for endogenous variables and unobserved macroeconomic effects. We conclude that Serbian banks with dominant shareholder should put limits on board size. The relation between bank performance and ownership concentration ratio is always negative, but significant only in case of ROA and ROE.

Negative-assortative mating for color in wolves.

Science.gov (United States)

Hedrick, Philip W; Smith, Douglas W; Stahler, Daniel R

2016-04-01

There is strong negative-assortative mating for gray and black pelage color in the iconic wolves in Yellowstone National Park. This is the first documented case of significant negative-assortative mating in mammals and one of only a very few cases in vertebrates. Of 261 matings documented from 1995 to 2015, 63.6% were between gray and black wolves and the correlation between mates for color was -0.266. There was a similar excess of matings of both gray males × black females and black males × gray females. Using the observed frequency of negative-assortative mating in a model with both random and negative-assortative mating, the estimated proportion of negative-assortative mating was 0.430. The estimated frequency of black wolves in the population from 1996 to 2014 was 0.452 and these frequencies appear stable over this 19-year period. Using the estimated level of negative-assortative mating, the predicted equilibrium frequency of the dominant allele was 0.278, very close to the mean value of 0.253 observed. In addition, the patterns of genotype frequencies, that is, the observed proportion of black homozygotes and the observed excess of black heterozygotes, are consistent with negative-assortative mating. Importantly these results demonstrate that negative-assortative mating could be entirely responsible for the maintenance of this well-known color polymorphism. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Subclinical primary psychopathy, but not physical formidability or attractiveness, predicts conversational dominance in a zero-acquaintance situation.

Science.gov (United States)

Manson, Joseph H; Gervais, Matthew M; Fessler, Daniel M T; Kline, Michelle A

2014-01-01

The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society.

Subclinical primary psychopathy, but not physical formidability or attractiveness, predicts conversational dominance in a zero-acquaintance situation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph H Manson

Full Text Available The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced, participatory (interruptions produced and sustained, and sequential (topic control dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society.

Subclinical Primary Psychopathy, but Not Physical Formidability or Attractiveness, Predicts Conversational Dominance in a Zero-Acquaintance Situation

Science.gov (United States)

Manson, Joseph H.; Gervais, Matthew M.; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Kline, Michelle A.

2014-01-01

The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society. PMID:25426962

Advection-dominated Inflow/Outflows from Evaporating Accretion Disks.

Science.gov (United States)

Turolla; Dullemond

2000-03-01

In this Letter we investigate the properties of advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) fed by the evaporation of a Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disk (SSD). In our picture, the ADAF fills the central cavity evacuated by the SSD and extends beyond the transition radius into a coronal region. We find that, because of global angular momentum conservation, a significant fraction of the hot gas flows away from the black hole, forming a transsonic wind, unless the injection rate depends only weakly on radius (if r2sigma&d2;~r-xi, xiBernoulli number of the inflowing gas is negative if the transition radius is less, similar100 Schwarzschild radii, so matter falling into the hole is gravitationally bound. The ratio of inflowing to outflowing mass is approximately 1/2, so in these solutions the accretion rate is of the same order as in standard ADAFs and much larger than in advection-dominated inflow/outflow models. The possible relevance of evaporation-fed solutions to accretion flows in black hole X-ray binaries is briefly discussed.

Carbon Dioxide Physiological Forcing Dominates Projected Eastern Amazonian Drying

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, T. B.; Forster, P. M.; Andrews, T.; Boucher, O.; Faluvegi, G.; Fläschner, D.; Kasoar, M.; Kirkevâg, A.; Lamarque, J.-F.; Myhre, G.; Olivié, D.; Samset, B. H.; Shawki, D.; Shindell, D.; Takemura, T.; Voulgarakis, A.

2018-03-01

Future projections of east Amazonian precipitation indicate drying, but they are uncertain and poorly understood. In this study we analyze the Amazonian precipitation response to individual atmospheric forcings using a number of global climate models. Black carbon is found to drive reduced precipitation over the Amazon due to temperature-driven circulation changes, but the magnitude is uncertain. CO2 drives reductions in precipitation concentrated in the east, mainly due to a robustly negative, but highly variable in magnitude, fast response. We find that the physiological effect of CO2 on plant stomata is the dominant driver of the fast response due to reduced latent heating and also contributes to the large model spread. Using a simple model, we show that CO2 physiological effects dominate future multimodel mean precipitation projections over the Amazon. However, in individual models temperature-driven changes can be large, but due to little agreement, they largely cancel out in the model mean.

Contingent negative variation of mood disorder patients

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yingzhi Lu; Wenbin Zong; Qingtao Ren; Jinyu Pu; Jun Chen; Juan Li; Xingshi Chen; Yong Wang

2011-01-01

Studies on brain-evoked potential and contingent negative variation (CNV) in mood disorder remain controversial. To date, no CNV difference between unipolar and bipolar depression has been reported. Brain-evoked potentials were measured in the present study to analyze CNV in three subtypes of mood disorder (mania, unipolar depression, and bipolar depression), and these results were compared with normal controls. In the mania group, CNV amplitude B was greater than in controls, and the depression group exhibited lower CNV amplitude B and smaller A-S'2 area, and prolonged post-imperative negative variation latency. The CNV comparison between unipolar and bipolar depression found that the prolonged post-imperative negative variation latency was only in unipolar depression. These results suggest that prolonged post-imperative negative variation latency is a characteristic of unipolar depression, and CNV amplitude change is a state characteristic of mood disorder patients.

Council Chamber exhibition

CERN Multimedia

CERN Bulletin

2010-01-01

To complete the revamp of CERN’s Council Chamber, a new exhibition is being installed just in time for the June Council meetings.   Panels will showcase highlights of CERN’s history, using some of the content prepared for the exhibitions marking 50 years of the PS, which were displayed in the main building last November. The previous photo exhibition in the Council Chamber stopped at the 1970s. To avoid the new panels becoming quickly out of date, photos are grouped together around specific infrastructures, rather than following a classic time-line. “We have put the focus on the accelerators – the world-class facilities that CERN has been offering researchers over the years, from the well-known large colliders to the lesser-known smaller facilities,” says Emma Sanders, who worked on the content. The new exhibition will be featured in a future issue of the Bulletin with photos and an interview with Fabienne Marcastel, designer of the exhibit...

Social dominance orientation and opinions about what is America's most serious social problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrod, Wendy J

2005-08-01

This study tested whether a measure of Social Dominance Orientation was associated with opinions about America's most serious social problem. 150 undergraduates enrolled in social problems classes responded to the 14-item scale and to an open-ended question, "In your opinion, what is the most serious social problem in our country today?". Analysis shows that mean scale scores differed significantly across social problem responses. Correspondence analysis, plotting association between scale scores and social problem responses, was interpreted as support for social dominance theory. Higher scale scores were associated with problems of crime and negative values and lower scores with problems of education and racism.

Negative binomial properties and clan structure in multiplicity distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giovannini, A.; Van Hove, L.

1988-01-01

We review the negative binomial properties measured recently for many multiplicity distributions of high energy hadronic, semi-leptonic reactions in selected rapidity intervals. We analyse them in terms of the ''clan'' structure which can be defined for any negative binomial distribution. By comparing reactions we exhibit a number of regularities for the average number N-bar of clans and the average charged multiplicity (n-bar) c per clan. 22 refs., 6 figs. (author)

Assessing the User Resistance to Recommender Systems in Exhibition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chulmo Koo

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Under the paradigm shift toward smart tourism, the exhibition industry is making efforts to introduce innovative technologies that can provide more diverse and valuable experiences to attendees. However, various new information technologies have failed in a market in practice due to the user’s resistance against it. Since innovative technology, such as booth recommender systems (BRS, is changing, creating uncertainty among consumers, consumer’s resistance to innovative technology can be considered a normal reaction. Therefore, it is important for a company to understand the psychological aspect of the consumer’s resistance and make measures to overcome the resistance. Accordingly, based on the model of Kim and Kankanhalli (2009, by applying the perceived value, the technology acceptance model, and the status quo bias theory, this study focused on the importance of self-efficacy and technical support in the context of using BRS. To do this purpose, a total of 455 survey data that was collected from “Korea franchise exhibition” attendees were used to analyze the proposed model. Structural equation modeling was applied for data analysis. The result shows that perceived value was affected by relative advantage and switching cost, also switching cost reduced the perceived value. However, self-efficacy reduced the switching cost, thereby decreasing the resistance of exhibition attendees. In addition, technical support increased the relative advantage switching cost and the perceived value. Exhibition attendee’s resistance was significantly negatively affected by perceived value, and positively affected by switching cost. The results will provide balanced viewpoints between the relative advantage and switching cost for exhibition marketers, helping to strengthen the competitiveness in terms of sustainable tourism of exhibition.

Negative quantum capacitance induced by midgap states in single-layer graphene.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lin; Wang, Yang; Chen, Xiaolong; Zhu, Wei; Zhu, Chao; Wu, Zefei; Han, Yu; Zhang, Mingwei; Li, Wei; He, Yuheng; Xiong, Wei; Law, Kam Tuen; Su, Dangsheng; Wang, Ning

2013-01-01

We demonstrate that single-layer graphene (SLG) decorated with a high density of Ag adatoms displays the unconventional phenomenon of negative quantum capacitance. The Ag adatoms act as resonant impurities and form nearly dispersionless resonant impurity bands near the charge neutrality point (CNP). Resonant impurities quench the kinetic energy and drive the electrons to the Coulomb energy dominated regime with negative compressibility. In the absence of a magnetic field, negative quantum capacitance is observed near the CNP. In the quantum Hall regime, negative quantum capacitance behavior at several Landau level positions is displayed, which is associated with the quenching of kinetic energy by the formation of Landau levels. The negative quantum capacitance effect near the CNP is further enhanced in the presence of Landau levels due to the magnetic-field-enhanced Coulomb interactions.

An engineered transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) monomer that functions as a dominant negative to block TGF-β signaling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Sun Kyung; Barron, Lindsey; Hinck, Cynthia S.; Petrunak, Elyse M.; Cano, Kristin E.; Thangirala, Avinash; Iskra, Brian; Brothers, Molly; Vonberg, Machell; Leal, Belinda; Richter, Blair; Kodali, Ravindra; Taylor, Alexander B.; Du, Shoucheng; Barnes, Christopher O.; Sulea, Traian; Calero, Guillermo; Hart, P. John; Hart, Matthew J.; Demeler, Borries; Hinck, Andrew P. (Texas-HSC); (NRCC); (Pitt)

2017-02-22

The transforming growth factor β isoforms, TGF-β1, -β2, and -β3, are small secreted homodimeric signaling proteins with essential roles in regulating the adaptive immune system and maintaining the extracellular matrix. However, dysregulation of the TGF-β pathway is responsible for promoting the progression of several human diseases, including cancer and fibrosis. Despite the known importance of TGF-βs in promoting disease progression, no inhibitors have been approved for use in humans. Herein, we describe an engineered TGF-β monomer, lacking the heel helix, a structural motif essential for binding the TGF-β type I receptor (TβRI) but dispensable for binding the other receptor required for TGF-β signaling, the TGF-β type II receptor (TβRII), as an alternative therapeutic modality for blocking TGF-β signaling in humans. As shown through binding studies and crystallography, the engineered monomer retained the same overall structure of native TGF-β monomers and bound TβRII in an identical manner. Cell-based luciferase assays showed that the engineered monomer functioned as a dominant negative to inhibit TGF-β signaling with a Ki of 20–70 nM. Investigation of the mechanism showed that the high affinity of the engineered monomer for TβRII, coupled with its reduced ability to non-covalently dimerize and its inability to bind and recruit TβRI, enabled it to bind endogenous TβRII but prevented it from binding and recruiting TβRI to form a signaling complex. Such engineered monomers provide a new avenue to probe and manipulate TGF-β signaling and may inform similar modifications of other TGF-β family members.

Parisian ruin probability for spectrally negative L\\'{e}vy processes

OpenAIRE

Ronnie Loeffen; Irmina Czarna; Zbigniew Palmowski

2011-01-01

In this note we give, for a spectrally negative Lévy process, a compact formula for the Parisian ruin probability, which is defined by the probability that the process exhibits an excursion below zero, with a length that exceeds a certain fixed period $r$. The formula involves only the scale function of the spectrally negative Lévy process and the distribution of the process at time $r$.

Language and music: differential hemispheric dominance in detecting unexpected errors in the lyrics and melody of memorized songs.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasui, Takuya; Kaga, Kimitaka; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

2009-02-01

Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we report here the hemispheric dominance of the auditory cortex that is selectively modulated by unexpected errors in the lyrics and melody of songs (lyrics and melody deviants), thereby elucidating under which conditions the lateralization of auditory processing changes. In experiment 1 using familiar songs, we found that the dipole strength of responses to the lyrics deviants was left-dominant at 140 ms (M140), whereas that of responses to the melody deviants was right-dominant at 130 ms (M130). In experiment 2 using familiar songs with a constant syllable or pitch, the dipole strength of frequency mismatch negativity elicited by oddballs was left-dominant. There were significant main effects of experiment (1 and 2) for the peak latencies and for the coordinates of the dipoles, indicating that the M140 and M130 were not the frequency mismatch negativity. In experiment 3 using newly memorized songs, the right-dominant M130 was observed only when the presented note was unexpected one, independent of perceiving unnatural pitch transitions (i.e., perceptual saliency) and of selective attention to the melody of songs. The consistent right-dominance of the M130 between experiments 1 and 3 suggests that the M130 in experiment 1 is due to unexpected notes deviating from well-memorized songs. On the other hand, the left-dominant M140 was elicited by lyrics deviants, suggesting the influence of top-down linguistic information and the memory of the familiar songs. We thus conclude that the left- lateralized M140 and right-lateralized M130 reflect the expectation based on top-down information of language and music, respectively.

From nature-dominated to human-dominated environmental changes

Science.gov (United States)

Messerli, Bruno; Grosjean, Martin; Hofer, Thomas; Núñez, Lautaro; Pfister, Christian

2000-01-01

To what extent is it realistic and useful to view human history as a sequence of changes from highly vulnerable societies of hunters and gatherers through periods with less vulnerable, well buffered and highly productive agrarian-urban societies to a world with regions of extreme overpopulation and overuse of life support systems, so that vulnerability to climatic-environmental changes and extreme events is again increasing? This question cannot be fully answered in our present state of knowledge, but at least we can try to illustrate, with three case studies from different continents, time periods and ecosystems, some fundamental changes in the relationship between natural processes and human activities that occur, as we pass from a nature-dominated to a human dominated environment. 1. Early-mid Holocene: Nature dominated environment — human adaptation, mitigation, and migration. In the central Andes, the Holocene climate changed from humid (10,800-8000 BP) to extreme arid (8000-3600 BP) conditions. Over the same period, prehistoric hunting communities adopted a more sedentary pattern of resource use by settling close to the few perennial water bodies, where they began the process of domesticating camelids around 5000 BP and irrigation from about 3100 BP. 2. Historical period: An agrarian society in transition from an "enduring" to an innovative human response. Detailed documentary evidence from Western Europe may be used to reconstruct quite precisely the impacts of climatic variations on agrarian societies. The period considered spans a major transition from an apparently passive response to the vagaries of the environment during the 16th century to an active and innovative attitude from the onset of the agrarian revolution in the late 18th century through to the present day. The associated changes in technology and in agricultural practices helped to create a society better able to survive the impact of climatic extremes. 3. The present day: A human dominated

A biomimetic collagen derived peptide exhibits anti-angiogenic activity in triple negative breast cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena V Rosca

Full Text Available We investigated the application of a mimetic 20 amino acid peptide derived from type IV collagen for treatment of breast cancer. We showed that the peptide induced a decrease of proliferation, adhesion, and migration of endothelial and tumor cells in vitro. We also observed an inhibition of triple negative MDA-MB-231 xenograft growth by 75% relative to control when administered intraperitoneally for 27 days at 10 mg/kg. We monitored in vivo the changes in vascular properties throughout the treatment using MRI and found that the vascular volume and permeability surface area product decreased significantly. The treatment also resulted in an increase of caspase-3 activity and in a reduction of microvascular density. The multiple mode of action of this peptide, i.e., anti-angiogenic, and anti-tumorigenic, makes it a viable candidate as a therapeutic agent as a monotherapy or in combination with other compounds.

Classical fluids of negative heat capacity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landsberg, P.T. [Southampton Univ., (United Kingdom). Faculty of Mathematical Studies; Woodard, R.P. [Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Physics

1992-06-01

It is shown that new parameters X can be defined such that the heat capacity C{sub X} {equivalent_to} T({partial_derivative}S/{partial_derivative}T)X is negative, even when the canonical ensemble (i.e. at fixed T = ({partial_derivative}U/{partial_derivative}S) and Y {ne} X) is stable. As examples we treat black body radiation and general gas systems with nonsingular {kappa}{sub T}. For the case of a simple ideal gas we even exhibit an apparatus which enforces a constraint X(p,V) = const. that makes C{sub X} < 0. Since it is possible to invent constraints for which canonically stable systems have negative heat capacity we speculate that it may also be possible to infer the statistical mechanics of canonically unstable systems - for which even the traditional heat capacities are negative - by imposing constraints that stabilize the associated, inoncanonical ensembles.

Classical fluids of negative heat capacity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landsberg, P.T. (Southampton Univ., (United Kingdom). Faculty of Mathematical Studies); Woodard, R.P. (Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Physics)

1992-06-01

It is shown that new parameters X can be defined such that the heat capacity C{sub X} {equivalent to} T({partial derivative}S/{partial derivative}T)X is negative, even when the canonical ensemble (i.e. at fixed T = ({partial derivative}U/{partial derivative}S) and Y {ne} X) is stable. As examples we treat black body radiation and general gas systems with nonsingular {kappa}{sub T}. For the case of a simple ideal gas we even exhibit an apparatus which enforces a constraint X(p,V) = const. that makes C{sub X} < 0. Since it is possible to invent constraints for which canonically stable systems have negative heat capacity we speculate that it may also be possible to infer the statistical mechanics of canonically unstable systems - for which even the traditional heat capacities are negative - by imposing constraints that stabilize the associated, inoncanonical ensembles.

Generalized Power Domination

OpenAIRE

Omerzel, Aleš

2014-01-01

The power domination problem is an optimization problem that has emerged together with the development of the power networks. It is important to control the voltage and current in all the nodes and links in a power network. Measuring devices are expensive, which is why there is a tendency to place a minimum number of devices in a power network so that the network remains fully supervised. The k-power domination is a generalization of the power domination. The thesis represents the rules of th...

EXHIBITION: Accelerated Particles

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

An exhibition of plastic arts and two evenings of performances by sound and visual artists as part of CERN's 50th anniversary celebrations. Fifty candles for CERN, an international laboratory renowned for fundamental research, is a cause for celebration. Since March this year, Geneva and neighbouring parts of France have been the venues for a wealth of small and large-scale events, which will continue until November. Given CERN's location in the commune of Meyrin, the ForuMeyrin is hosting exhibitions of plastic arts and performances entitled: Accelerated Particles. Several works will be exhibited and performed in two 'salons'. Salon des matières: An exhibition of plastic arts From Tues 12 October to Wed 3 November 2004 Tuesdays to Fridays: 16:00 to 19:00 Saturdays: 14:00 to 18:00 Exhibition open late on performance nights, entrance free Salon des particules: Musical and visual performances Tues 12 and Mon 25 October from 20:00 to 23:00 Preview evening for both events: Tues 12 October from 18:...

Stability of DIII-D high-performance, negative central shear discharges

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, J. M.; Berkery, J. W.; Bialek, J.; Clement, M.; Ferron, J. R.; Garofalo, A. M.; Holcomb, C. T.; La Haye, R. J.; Lanctot, M. J.; Luce, T. C.; Navratil, G. A.; Olofsson, K. E. J.; Strait, E. J.; Turco, F.; Turnbull, A. D.

2017-05-01

Tokamak plasma experiments on the DIII-D device (Luxon et al 2005 Fusion Sci. Tech. 48 807) demonstrate high-performance, negative central shear (NCS) equilibria with enhanced stability when the minimum safety factor {{q}\\text{min}} exceeds 2, qualitatively confirming theoretical predictions of favorable stability in the NCS regime. The discharges exhibit good confinement with an L-mode enhancement factor H 89  =  2.5, and are ultimately limited by the ideal-wall external kink stability boundary as predicted by ideal MHD theory, as long as tearing mode (TM) locking events, resistive wall modes (RWMs), and internal kink modes are properly avoided or controlled. Although the discharges exhibit rotating TMs, locking events are avoided as long as a threshold minimum safety factor value {{q}\\text{min}}>2 is maintained. Fast timescale magnetic feedback control ameliorates RWM activity, expanding the stable operating space and allowing access to {β\\text{N}} values approaching the ideal-wall limit. Quickly growing and rotating instabilities consistent with internal kink mode dynamics are encountered when the ideal-wall limit is reached. The RWM events largely occur between the no- and ideal-wall pressure limits predicted by ideal MHD. However, evaluating kinetic contributions to the RWM dispersion relation results in a prediction of passive stability in this regime due to high plasma rotation. In addition, the ideal MHD stability analysis predicts that the ideal-wall limit can be further increased to {β\\text{N}}>4 by broadening the current profile. This path toward improved stability has the potential advantage of being compatible with the bootstrap-dominated equilibria envisioned for advanced tokamak (AT) fusion reactors.

The expression of dominant negative TCF7L2 in pancreatic beta cells during the embryonic stage causes impaired glucose homeostasis.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Weijuan; Xiong, Xiaoquan; Ip, Wilfred; Xu, Fenghao; Song, Zhuolun; Zeng, Kejing; Hernandez, Marcela; Liang, Tao; Weng, Jianping; Gaisano, Herbert; Nostro, M Cristina; Jin, Tianru

2015-04-01

Disruption of TCF7L2 in mouse pancreatic β-cells has generated different outcomes in several investigations. Here we aim to clarify role of β-cell TCF7L2 and Wnt signaling using a functional-knockdown approach. Adenovirus-mediated dominant negative TCF7L2 (TCF7L2DN) expression was conducted in Ins-1 cells. The fusion gene in which TCF7L2DN expression is driven by P TRE3G was utilized to generate the transgenic mouse line TCF7L2DN Tet . The double transgenic line was created by mating TCF7L2DN Tet with Ins2-rtTA, designated as βTCFDN. β-cell specific TCF7L2DN expression was induced in βTCFDN by doxycycline feeding. TCF7L2DN expression in Ins-1 cells reduced GSIS, cell proliferation and expression of a battery of genes including incretin receptors and β-cell transcription factors. Inducing TCF7L2DN expression in βTCFDN during adulthood or immediately after weaning generated no or very modest metabolic defect, while its expression during embryonic development by doxycycline feeding in pregnant mothers resulted in significant glucose intolerance associated with altered β-cell gene expression and reduced β-cell mass. Our observations support a cell autonomous role for TCF7L2 in pancreatic β-cells suggested by most, though not all, investigations. βTCFDN is a novel model for further exploring the role of TCF7L2 in β-cell genesis and metabolic homeostasis.

Dominance hierarchy and social relationships in a group of captive black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti).

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Liang-Wei; Sun, Qing-Lei; Li, Bao-Guo

2014-05-01

Different types of dominance hierarchies reflect different social relationships in primates. In this study, we clarified the hierarchy and social relationships in a one-male unit of captive Rhinopithecus bieti observed between August 1998 and March 1999. Mean frequency of agonistic behaviour among adult females was 0.13 interactions per hour. Adult females exhibited a linear hierarchy with a reversal of 10.9%, indicating an unstable relationship; therefore, R. bieti appears to be a relaxed/tolerant species. The lack of a relationship between the agonistic ratio of the adult male towards adult females and their ranks indicated that males did not show increased aggression towards low-ranking females. Differentiated female affiliative relationships were loosely formed in terms of the male, and to some extent influenced by female estrus, implying that relationships between the male and females is influenced by estrus and not rank alone. A positive correlation between the agonistic ratio of adult females and their ranks showed that the degree to which one female negatively impacted others decreased with reduction in rank. Similarly, a positive correlation between the agonistic ratio of females and differences in rank suggests that a female had fewer negative effects on closely ranked individuals than distantly ranked ones. These data indicate that rank may influence relationships between females. A steeper slope of regression between the agonistic ratio and inter-female rank differences indicated that the extent of the power difference in high-ranking females exerting negative effects on low-ranking ones was larger during the mating season than the birth season, suggesting that rank may influence the mating success of females.

A new method for evaluating forest thinning: growth dominance in managed Pinus resinosa stands

Science.gov (United States)

John B. Bradford; Anthony W. D' Amato; Brian J. Palik; Shawn. Fraver

2010-01-01

Growth dominance is a relatively new, simple, quantitative metric of within-stand individual tree growth patterns, and is defined as positive when larger trees in the stand display proportionally greater growth than smaller trees, and negative when smaller trees display proportionally greater growth than larger trees. We examined long-term silvicultural experiments in...

Dominance in domestic dogs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Borg, Van Der J.A.M.; Schilder, M.B.H.; Vinke, C.M.; Vries, De Han; Petit, Odile

2015-01-01

A dominance hierarchy is an important feature of the social organisation of group living animals. Although formal and/or agonistic dominance has been found in captive wolves and free-ranging dogs, applicability of the dominance concept in domestic dogs is highly debated, and quantitative data are

Lossy effects on the lateral shifts in negative-phase-velocity medium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

You Yuan

2009-01-01

Theoretical investigations of the lateral shifts of the reflected and transmitted beams were performed, using the stationary-phase approach, for the planar interface of a conventional medium and a lossy negative-phase-velocity medium. The lateral shifts exhibit different behaviors beyond and below a certain angle, for both incident p-polarized and incident s-polarized plane waves. Loss in the negative-phase-velocity medium affects lateral shifts greatly, and may cause changes from negative to positive values for p-polarized incidence

Men's sex-dominance inhibition: do men automatically refrain from sexually dominant behavior?

Science.gov (United States)

Kiefer, Amy K; Sanchez, Diana T

2007-12-01

Men receive conflicting messages about their sexual roles in heterosexual relationships. Men are socialized to initiate and direct sexual activities with women; yet societal norms also proscribe the sexual domination and coercion of women. The authors test these competing hypotheses by assessing whether men inhibit the link between sex and dominance. In Studies 1a and b, using a subliminal priming procedure embedded in a lexical decision task, the authors demonstrate that men automatically suppress the concept of dominance following exposure to subliminal sex primes relative to neutral primes. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors show that men who are less likely to perceive sexual assertiveness as necessary, to refrain from dominant sexual behavior, and who do not invest in masculine gender ideals are more likely to inhibit dominant thoughts following sex primes. Implications for theories of automatic cognitive networks and gender-based sexual roles are discussed.

Total well dominated trees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Finbow, Arthur; Frendrup, Allan; Vestergaard, Preben D.

cardinality then G is a total well dominated graph. In this paper we study composition and decomposition of total well dominated trees. By a reversible process we prove that any total well dominated tree can both be reduced to and constructed from a family of three small trees....

Submitting to defeat: social anxiety, dominance threat, and decrements in testosterone.

Science.gov (United States)

Maner, Jon K; Miller, Saul L; Schmidt, Norman B; Eckel, Lisa A

2008-08-01

Although theory suggests a link between social anxiety and social dominance, direct empirical evidence for this link is limited. The present experiment tested the hypothesis that socially anxious individuals, particularly men, would respond to a social-dominance threat by exhibiting decrements in their testosterone levels, an endocrinological change that typically reflects pronounced social submission in humans and other animals. Participants were randomly assigned to either win or lose a rigged face-to-face competition with a confederate. Although no zero-order relationship between social anxiety and level of testosterone was observed, testosterone levels showed a pronounced drop among socially anxious men who lost the competition. No significant changes were observed in nonanxious men or in women. This research provides novel insight into the nature and consequences of social anxiety, and also illustrates the utility of integrating social psychological theory with endocrinological approaches to psychological science.

Real or symbolic domination: New revision of La Domination masculine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tassadit Yacine

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This paper does a rereading of Pierre Bourdieu’s Masculine Domination (1998, from the context in which it was developed. Thus, we rely on the work carried out during the 50s in Algeria (Sociologie de l'Algérie, 1958, Esquisse d'une théorie de la pratique, 1972 and Le Sens pratique, 1980 and later in France, to show that Masculine Domination was not born spontaneously, but as a result of a long decantation enriched by field experiences and the theoretical advances of the author’s concepts. If it is true that the situation of the women described in Sociologie de l'Algérie is the result of empirical research, it is less so for Masculine Domination, whose analysis retakes the concepts forged by the social anthropologist, such as habitus and symbolic domination. In this way, this article proposes a rereading of this work through the analysis of the work that preceded it in the field.

Britain exhibition at CERN

CERN Multimedia

Bertin; CERN PhotoLab

1969-01-01

The United Kingdom inaugurated the Industrial Exhibitions in 1968, and it wasn't till 1971 that other countries staged exhibitions at CERN. This photo was taken in 1969, at the second British exhibition, where 16 companies were present.

Transgenic Wuzhishan minipigs designed to express a dominant-negative porcine growth hormone receptor display small stature and a perturbed insulin/IGF-1 pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Feida; Li, Yong; Liu, Huan; Zhang, Xingju; Liu, Chuxin; Tian, Kai; Bolund, Lars; Dou, Hongwei; Yang, Wenxian; Yang, Huanming; Staunstrup, Nicklas Heine; Du, Yutao

2015-12-01

Growth hormone (GH) is an anabolic mitogen with widespread influence on cellular growth and differentiation as well as on glucose and lipid metabolism. GH binding to the growth hormone receptor (GHR) on hepatocytes prompts expression of insulin growth factor I (IGF-1) involved in nutritionally induced compensatory hyperplasia of pancreatic β-cell islets and insulin release. A prolonged hyperactivity of the IGF-1/insulin axis in the face of insulinotropic nutrition, on the other hand, can lead to collapse of the pancreatic islets and glucose intolerance. Individuals with Laron syndrome carry mutations in the GHR gene resulting in severe congenital IGF-1 deficiency and elevated GH serum levels leading to short stature as well as perturbed lipid and glucose metabolism. However, these individuals enjoy a reduced prevalence of acne, cancer and possibly diabetes. Minipigs have become important biomedical models for human conditions due to similarities in organ anatomy, physiology, and metabolism relative to humans. The purpose of this study was to generate transgenic Wuzhishan minipigs by handmade cloning with impaired systemic GHR activity and assess their growth profile and glucose metabolism. Transgenic minipigs featuring overexpression of a dominant-negative porcine GHR (GHR(dm)) presented postnatal growth retardation and proportionate dwarfism. Molecular changes included elevated GH serum levels and mild hyperglycemia. We believe that this model may prove valuable in the study of GH functions in relation to cancer, diabetes and longevity.

Mid-Victorian science museums and exhibitions: 'the industrial amusement and instruction of the people'.

Science.gov (United States)

Lightman, Bernard

2013-06-01

The Royal Polytechnic Institution, Wyld's Globe and the Royal Panopticon were part of a family of institutions that existed in the post-Great Exhibition era that shared a common approach to popularizing science based on the blending of education and entertainment. Studying them helps us to understand the Victorian fascination with science, especially in the third quarter of the century. It draws our attention to the important role of popularizers of science who worked in these museums and exhibitions. Once their role is added to our account of the cult of science, a very different picture emerges that forces us to reconsider the standard story of the dominance of the scientific scene in the second half of the century by figures such as Darwin, Huxley and Tyndall. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital collections and exhibits

CERN Document Server

Denzer, Juan

2015-01-01

Today's libraries are taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies such as flat panel displays using touch, sound, and hands-free motions to design amazing exhibits using everything from simple computer hardware to advanced technologies such as the Microsoft Kinect. Libraries of all types are striving to add new interactive experiences for their patrons through exciting digital exhibits, both online and off. Digital Collections and Exhibits takes away the mystery of designing stunning digital exhibits to spotlight library trea

Brazilian Credit Union Member Groups: Borrower-dominated, Saver-dominated or Neutral Behavior?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valéria Gama Fully Bressan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Theoretical models concerning Credit Unions (CUs suggest that the type of CU domination determines the way it allocates the monetary value it generates. A borrower- (saver- dominated CU benefits borrower (saver members at the expenses of saver (borrower members, and a neutral CU equally benefits its member groups.This paper applies direct measure of monetary benefits to each member group (Patin & McNiel, 1991a to testfor the existence of dominated behavior in Brazilian CUs, and is the first to apply panel data regressions to identify the determinants of CUs behavior. We use a unique panel data with 40,664 observations taken from 533 CUs affiliated with the largest Brazilian cooperative network. Results indicate Brazilian CUs are dominated by borrowers, but behave close to neutrality. Panel regression estimates show that common or multiple bond type,size and overdue loans of a CU have no effect on its behavior, the greater the total amount of loans over social capital and adjusted equity over total assets are the more likely a CU is borrower dominated, and the greater the age and current operational expenses over total asset of a CU are the more likely a CU is saver dominated.

Perfect secure domination in graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.V. Divya Rashmi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Let $G=(V,E$ be a graph. A subset $S$ of $V$ is a dominating set of $G$ if every vertex in $Vsetminus  S$ is adjacent to a vertex in $S.$ A dominating set $S$ is called a secure dominating set if for each $vin Vsetminus S$ there exists $uin S$ such that $v$ is adjacent to $u$ and $S_1=(Ssetminus{u}cup {v}$ is a dominating set. If further the vertex $uin S$ is unique, then $S$ is called a perfect secure dominating set. The minimum cardinality of a perfect secure dominating set of $G$ is called the perfect  secure domination number of $G$ and is denoted by $gamma_{ps}(G.$ In this paper we initiate a study of this parameter and present several basic results.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Contributes to Impaired Insulin Secretion in INS-1 Cells with Dominant-negative Mutations of HNF-1α and in HNF-1α-deficient Islets*

Science.gov (United States)

Pongratz, Rebecca L.; Kibbey, Richard G.; Kirkpatrick, Clare L.; Zhao, Xiaojian; Pontoglio, Marco; Yaniv, Moshe; Wollheim, Claes B.; Shulman, Gerald I.; Cline, Gary W.

2009-01-01

Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young-type 3 (MODY-3) has been linked to mutations in the transcription factor hepatic nuclear factor (HNF)-1α, resulting in deficiency in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In INS-1 cells overexpressing doxycycline-inducible HNF-1α dominant-negative (DN-) gene mutations, and islets from Hnf-1α knock-out mice, insulin secretion was impaired in response to glucose (15 mm) and other nutrient secretagogues. Decreased rates of insulin secretion in response to glutamine plus leucine and to methyl pyruvate, but not potassium depolarization, indicate defects specific to mitochondrial metabolism. To identify the biochemical mechanisms responsible for impaired insulin secretion, we used 31P NMR measured mitochondrial ATP synthesis (distinct from glycolytic ATP synthesis) together with oxygen consumption measurements to determine the efficiency of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial uncoupling was significantly higher in DN-HNF-1α cells, such that rates of ATP synthesis were decreased by approximately one-half in response to the secretagogues glucose, glutamine plus leucine, or pyruvate. In addition to closure of the ATP-sensitive K+ channels with mitochondrial ATP synthesis, mitochondrial production of second messengers through increased anaplerotic flux has been shown to be critical for coupling metabolism to insulin secretion. 13C-Isotopomer analysis and tandem mass spectrometry measurement of Krebs cycle intermediates revealed a negative impact of DN-HNF-1α and Hnf-1α knock-out on mitochondrial second messenger production with glucose but not amino acids. Taken together, these results indicate that, in addition to reduced glycolytic flux, uncoupling of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation contributes to impaired nutrient-stimulated insulin secretion with either mutations or loss of HNF-1α. PMID:19376774

Negative linear compressibility and massive anisotropic thermal expansion in methanol monohydrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Fortes, A Dominic; Suard, Emmanuelle; Knight, Kevin S

2011-02-11

The vast majority of materials shrink in all directions when hydrostatically compressed; exceptions include certain metallic or polymer foam structures, which may exhibit negative linear compressibility (NLC) (that is, they expand in one or more directions under hydrostatic compression). Materials that exhibit this property at the molecular level--crystalline solids with intrinsic NLC--are extremely uncommon. With the use of neutron powder diffraction, we have discovered and characterized both NLC and extremely anisotropic thermal expansion, including negative thermal expansion (NTE) along the NLC axis, in a simple molecular crystal (the deuterated 1:1 compound of methanol and water). Apically linked rhombuses, which are formed by the bridging of hydroxyl-water chains with methyl groups, extend along the axis of NLC/NTE and lead to the observed behavior.

In vivo Modeling Implicates APOL1 in Nephropathy: Evidence for Dominant Negative Effects and Epistasis under Anemic Stress.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blair R Anderson

2015-07-01

Full Text Available African Americans have a disproportionate risk for developing nephropathy. This disparity has been attributed to coding variants (G1 and G2 in apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1; however, there is little functional evidence supporting the role of this protein in renal function. Here, we combined genetics and in vivo modeling to examine the role of apol1 in glomerular development and pronephric filtration and to test the pathogenic potential of APOL1 G1 and G2. Translational suppression or CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing of apol1 in zebrafish embryos results in podocyte loss and glomerular filtration defects. Complementation of apol1 morphants with wild-type human APOL1 mRNA rescues these defects. However, the APOL1 G1 risk allele does not ameliorate defects caused by apol1 suppression and the pathogenicity is conferred by the cis effect of both individual variants of the G1 risk haplotype (I384M/S342G. In vivo complementation studies of the G2 risk allele also indicate that the variant is deleterious to protein function. Moreover, APOL1 G2, but not G1, expression alone promotes developmental kidney defects, suggesting a possible dominant-negative effect of the altered protein. In sickle cell disease (SCD patients, we reported previously a genetic interaction between APOL1 and MYH9. Testing this interaction in vivo by co-suppressing both transcripts yielded no additive effects. However, upon genetic or chemical induction of anemia, we observed a significantly exacerbated nephropathy phenotype. Furthermore, concordant with the genetic interaction observed in SCD patients, APOL1 G2 reduces myh9 expression in vivo, suggesting a possible interaction between the altered APOL1 and myh9. Our data indicate a critical role for APOL1 in renal function that is compromised by nephropathy-risk encoding variants. Moreover, our interaction studies indicate that the MYH9 locus is also relevant to the phenotype in a stressed microenvironment and suggest that consideration of

Biogeochemistry and plant physiological traits interact to reinforce patterns of post-fire dominance in boreal forests

Science.gov (United States)

Shenoy, A.; Kielland, K.; Johnstone, J. F.

2011-12-01

Increases in the frequency, extent, and severity of fire in the North American boreal region are projected to continue under a warming climate and are likely to be associated with changes in future vegetation composition. In interior Alaska, fire severity is linked to the relative dominance of deciduous versus coniferous canopy species. Severely burned areas have high levels of deciduous recruitment and subsequent stand dominance, while lightly burned areas exhibit black spruce self-replacement. To elucidate potential mechanisms by which differential fire severity results in differential post-fire vegetation development, we examined changes in soil nitrogen (N) supply (NO3- and NH4+) and in situ 15N uptake by young aspen (Populus tremuloides) and black spruce (Picea mariana) trees growing in lightly and severely burned areas. We hypothesized that (a) soil nitrate supply would be higher in severely burned sites and (b) since conifers have been shown to have a reduced physiological capacity for NO3- uptake, aspen would display greater rates of NO3- uptake than spruce in severely burned sites. Our results suggested that the composition and magnitude of inorganic N supply 14 years after the fire was nearly identical in high-severity and low-severity sites, and nitrate represented nearly 50% of the supply. However, both aspen and spruce took up substantially more NH4+-N than NO3- -N regardless of fire severity. Surprisingly, spruce exhibited only a moderately lower rate of NO3- uptake (μg N/g root-1h-1) than aspen. At the stand level, aspen took up nearly an order-of-magnitude more N per hectare in severely burned sites compared to lightly burned sites, while spruce exhibited the opposite pattern of N uptake with respect to fire severity. Whereas ammonium appeared to be preferred by both species, nitrate represented a larger component of N uptake (based on the NO3-:NH4+ uptake ratio) in aspen (0.7) than in spruce (0.4). We suggest that these species

Leadership behavior in relation to dominance and reproductive status in gray wolves, Canis lupus

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, R.O.; Jacobs, A.K.; Drummer, T.D.; Mech, L.D.; Smith, D.W.

2002-01-01

We analyzed the leadership behavior of breeding and nonbreeding gray wolves (Canis lupus) in three packs during winter in 1997-1999. Scent-marking, frontal leadership (time and frequency in the lead while traveling), initiation of activity, and nonfrontal leadership were recorded during 499 h of ground-based observations in Yellowstone National Park. All observed scent-marking (N = 158) was done by breeding wolves, primarily dominant individuals. Dominant breeding pairs provided most leadership, consistent with a trend in social mammals for leadership to correlate with dominance. Dominant breeding wolves led traveling packs during 64% of recorded behavior bouts (N = 591) and 71% of observed travel time (N = 64 h). During travel, breeding males and females led packs approximately equally, which probably reflects high parental investment by both breeding male and female wolves. Newly initiated behaviors (N = 104) were prompted almost 3 times more often by dominant breeders (70%) than by nonbreeders (25%). Dominant breeding females initiated pack activities almost 4 times more often than subordinate breeding females (30 vs. 8 times). Although one subordinate breeding female led more often than individual nonbreeders in one pack in one season, more commonly this was not the case. In 12 cases breeding wolves exhibited nonfrontal leadership. Among subordinate wolves, leadership behavior was observed in subordinate breeding females and other individuals just prior to their dispersal from natal packs. Subordinate wolves were more often found leading packs that were large and contained many subordinate adults.

The socialization of dominance: peer group contextual effects on homophobic and dominance attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Poteat, V Paul; Espelage, Dorothy L; Green, Harold D

2007-06-01

Using the framework of social dominance theory, the current investigation tested for the contextual effects of adolescent peer groups on individuals' homophobic and social dominance attitudes. Results from multilevel models indicated that significant differences existed across peer groups on homophobic attitudes. In addition, these differences were accounted for on the basis of the hierarchy-enhancing or -attenuating climate of the group. A group socialization effect on individuals' social dominance attitudes over time was also observed. Furthermore, the social climate of the peer group moderated the stability of individuals' social dominance attitudes. Findings support the need to examine more proximal and informal group affiliations and earlier developmental periods in efforts to build more comprehensive theoretical models explaining when and how prejudiced and dominance attitudes are formed and the way in which they are perpetuated. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

The role of spin-orbit potential in nuclear prolate-shape dominance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takahara, Satoshi, E-mail: staka@ks.kyorin-u.ac.jp [Kyorin University, School of Medicine, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8611 (Japan); Onishi, Naoki [University of Tokyo (Japan); University of Yamanashi (Japan); Shimizu, Yoshifumi R. [Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581 (Japan); Tajima, Naoki [Department of Applied Physics, University of Fukui, 3-9-1 Bunkyo, Fukui 910-8507 (Japan)

2011-08-26

It is confirmed, in terms of the Woods-Saxon-Strutinsky method, that the spin-orbit potential plays a decisive role in the predominance of prolate deformation, which has been a long standing problem in nuclear physics. It is originated from the combined effects of the spin-orbit coupling and the diffused surface of the potential, in agreement with the previous work based on a more schematic Nilsson-Strutinsky method. The degree of prolate-shape dominance exhibits an oscillatory behavior with respect to the strength of spin-orbit potential and, the prolate-shape dominance is realized at the proper strength of the spin-orbit potential together with the standard surface diffuseness; this oscillatory behavior disappears in case of small diffuseness corresponding to ellipsoidal cavity. The calculated energy differences between oblate and prolate minima in this Letter are consistent with those of our extensive self-consistent calculations of the Hartree-Fock + BCS method with the Skyrme interaction.

The role of spin-orbit potential in nuclear prolate-shape dominance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahara, Satoshi; Onishi, Naoki; Shimizu, Yoshifumi R.; Tajima, Naoki

2011-01-01

It is confirmed, in terms of the Woods-Saxon-Strutinsky method, that the spin-orbit potential plays a decisive role in the predominance of prolate deformation, which has been a long standing problem in nuclear physics. It is originated from the combined effects of the spin-orbit coupling and the diffused surface of the potential, in agreement with the previous work based on a more schematic Nilsson-Strutinsky method. The degree of prolate-shape dominance exhibits an oscillatory behavior with respect to the strength of spin-orbit potential and, the prolate-shape dominance is realized at the proper strength of the spin-orbit potential together with the standard surface diffuseness; this oscillatory behavior disappears in case of small diffuseness corresponding to ellipsoidal cavity. The calculated energy differences between oblate and prolate minima in this Letter are consistent with those of our extensive self-consistent calculations of the Hartree-Fock + BCS method with the Skyrme interaction.

Superciliums in white-eared hummingbirds as badges of status signaling dominance.

Science.gov (United States)

González-García, Juan Manuel; Lara, Carlos; Quesada, Javier; Chávez-Zichinelli, Carlos A; Serrano-Meneses, Martín A

2018-04-03

The role of badges as indicators of contest ability has been previously described. In hummingbirds, the exhibition of a badge is expected to save energy expenditure in agonistic interactions and to favor energy intake. Here, we investigate whether variable supercilium size in the white-eared hummingbird has a role in dominance status signaling. Firstly, 45 hummingbird males were captured and their superciliums were photographed to investigate variation in size and any possible allometric relationships. Secondly, 42 male birds were used to analyze whether the supercilium has a role in dominance status signaling in a dyadic contest. We found that supercilium size varied continuously but that despite variability between individuals, there was no relationship between supercilium size and body size. However, our dyad experiment indicated that birds with larger badges were able to make more visits to the feeders than individuals with smaller badges. We suggest a status signaling function of the supercilium.

Negative stiffness and modulated states in active nematics

OpenAIRE

Srivastava, Pragya; Mishra, Prashant; Marchetti, M. Cristina

2016-01-01

We examine the dynamics of a compressible active nematic liquid crystal on a frictional substrate. When frictional damping dominates over viscous dissipation, we eliminate flow in favor of active stresses to obtain a minimal dynamical model for the nematic order parameter, with elastic constants renormalized by activity. The renormalized elastic constants can become negative at large activity, leading to the selection of spatially inhomogeneous patterns via a mechanism analogous to that respo...

Effects of monsoon precipitation variability on the physiological response of two dominant C₄ grasses across a semiarid ecotone.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomey, Michell L; Collins, Scott L; Friggens, Michael T; Brown, Renee F; Pockman, William T

2014-11-01

For the southwestern United States, climate models project an increase in extreme precipitation events and prolonged dry periods. While most studies emphasize plant functional type response to precipitation variability, it is also important to understand the physiological characteristics of dominant plant species that define plant community composition and, in part, regulate ecosystem response to climate change. We utilized rainout shelters to alter the magnitude and frequency of rainfall and measured the physiological response of the dominant C4 grasses, Bouteloua eriopoda and Bouteloua gracilis. We hypothesized that: (1) the more drought-adapted B. eriopoda would exhibit faster recovery and higher rates of leaf-level photosynthesis (A(net)) than B. gracilis, (2) A(net) would be greater under the higher average soil water content in plots receiving 30-mm rainfall events, (3) co-dominance of B. eriopoda and B. gracilis in the ecotone would lead to intra-specific differences from the performance of each species at the site where it was dominant. Throughout the study, soil moisture explained 40-70% of the variation in A(net). Consequently, differences in rainfall treatments were not evident from intra-specific physiological function without sufficient divergence in soil moisture. Under low frequency, larger rainfall events B. gracilis exhibited improved water status and longer periods of C gain than B. eriopoda. Results from this study indicate that less frequent and larger rainfall events could provide a competitive advantage to B. gracilis and influence species composition across this arid-semiarid grassland ecotone.

Specialization of the left supramarginal gyrus for hand-independent praxis representation is not related to hand dominance

Science.gov (United States)

Króliczak, Gregory; Piper, Brian J.; Frey, Scott H.

2016-01-01

Data from focal brain injury and functional neuroimaging studies implicate a distributed network of parieto-fronto-temporal areas in the human left cerebral hemisphere as playing distinct roles in the representation of meaningful actions (praxis). Because these data come primarily from right-handed individuals, the relationship between left cerebral specialization for praxis representation and hand dominance remains unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate the hypothesis that strongly left-handed (right hemisphere motor dominant) adults also exhibit this left cerebral specialization. Participants planned familiar actions for subsequent performance with the left or right hand in response to transitive (e.g., “pounding”) or intransitive (e.g. “waving”) action words. In linguistic control trials, cues denoted non-physical actions (e.g., “believing”). Action planning was associated with significant, exclusively left-lateralized and extensive increases of activity in the supramarginal gyrus (SMg), and more focal modulations in the left caudal middle temporal gyrus (cMTg). This activity was hand- and gesture-independent, i.e., unaffected by the hand involved in subsequent action performance, and the type of gesture (i.e., transitive or intransitive). Compared directly with right-handers, left-handers exhibited greater involvement of the right angular gyrus (ANg) and dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), which is indicative of a less asymmetric functional architecture for praxis representation. We therefore conclude that the organization of mechanisms involved in planning familiar actions is influenced by one’s motor dominance. However, independent of hand dominance, the left SMg and cMTg are specialized for ideomotor transformations—the integration of conceptual knowledge and motor representations into meaningful actions. These findings support the view that higher-order praxis representation and lower-level motor dominance rely

Discrimination? - Exhibition of posters

OpenAIRE

Jakimovska, Jana

2017-01-01

Participation in the exhibition with the students form the Art Academy. The exhibition consisted of 15 posters tackling the subjects of hate speech and discrimination. The exhibition happened thanks to the invitation of the Faculty of Law at UGD, and it was a part of a larger event of launching books on the aforementioned subjects.

Reading in Colette: Domination, Resistance, Autonomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurel Cummins

1996-06-01

Full Text Available The act of reading on the part of Colette's characters reveals itself as a dynamic involving domination and resistance. A study of passages from two of her semi-autobiographical works, La Maison de Claudine and Sido , brings to light both a positively connoted model of reading, exemplified by the character 'Colette,' and a negatively connoted model, exemplified by the older sister Juliette. While Juliette approaches texts with no sense of self, and seeks instead to be defined by the texts she reads, 'Colette' remains in relation to texts and to the discourses they contain, and resists them. Gender complicates the process. Both father and mother intervene in 'Colette's' apprenticeship as reader. While the censorship that constitutes the father's intervention proves both debilitating and disempowering, the mother's modeling of reading as dialogue and resistance empowers 'Colette,' both as a reader and a female being.

Dominant drivers of business students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radu Cătălina

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Taibi Kahler wrote in 1974 a theory about five main drivers that could explain people’s motivation and a series of positive and negative behavior patterns: Be Strong, Be Perfect, Hurry Up, Try Hard and Please People. Of course, we consider there is no absolute positive or negative behavior, since (1 everything needs to be analyzed by taking into account the context and (2 any behavior pattern can mean a series of advantages as long as people understand their own values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. It would be interesting to link Kahler’s drivers to the educational process, in order to be able to adapt our courses and our teaching styles to students’ requirements and also to the requirements in the labor market. Our paper is built on literature review and a questionnaire applied to a sample of 607 students in Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania. Information was processed with Microsoft Excel 2013, in order to look at the main working styles our students have, at the main explanations for the differences between them and in order to test a series of hypotheses. We were interested to look at the main traits of the current generation of students in our university: dominant drivers, roles of managers and specialists, the attractiveness of the entrepreneurial career path, etc. and at a series of patterns (i.e. gender-related differences. We consider results of this study are useful both for teaching and research purposes. In terms of teaching, we plan to adapt our educational methods in order to improve the educational process.

Determinants of self-esteem in early psychosis: The role of perceived social dominance.

Science.gov (United States)

MacDougall, Arlene G; Vandermeer, Matthew R J; Norman, Ross M G

2017-12-01

Self-esteem plays a role in the formation and maintenance of symptoms and in the recovery from psychotic illness. This study examines the relative contribution of perceived social dominance and other known predictors in determining self-esteem in 102 individuals in an early intervention program for psychosis. Regression analysis demonstrated that scores on the Perceived Relational Evaluation Scale (PRES), depressed mood, social dominance, gender and positive symptoms significantly contributed to the prediction of scores on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES), whereas self-stigma and negative symptoms did not. Our study suggests that low self-esteem in early psychosis can be understood in part as a reflection of low levels of perceived social value and status. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of Scapular Position in Dominant and Non Dominant Sides of Healthy Adult\\'s Females

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Afsoun Nodehi-Moghaddam

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: The goal of this research was to compare normal scapular position (protraction, rotation and lateral scapular test on arm elevation between dominant and non dominant sides. Materials & Methods: Thirty healthy females (age=21.9 years, weight=53.37 kg, height =160.60 cm were chosen by non probability sampling and participated in this cross – sectional and comparative study. Scapular rest positions (protraction and Rotation were measured by use of Diveta method and scapular asymmetry was assessed by using lateral scapular slide test (Kibler test. Validity and reliability of measurement methods were assessed by determination of ICC and SEM and data were analyzed by use of paired T test. Results: The difference between dominant and non dominant scapular protraction and rotation was not found to be statistically significant (P=0.61, P=0.57.The dominant scapula was found to be more lateral in 2nd and 3rd Kibler tests positions than non dominant scapula (P<0.001. There was no significant difference in lateral scapular slide test between dominant and non dominant sides when the arms were by the side of body (P=0.66. Conclusion: Scapular rest position is influenced by hand dominance

EXHIBITION: Accelerated Particles

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

http://www.cern.ch/cern50/ An exhibition of plastic arts and two evenings of performances by sound and visual artists as part of CERN's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. The fiftieth anniversary of a world famous organization like CERN, an international laboratory specializing in fundamental research, is a cause for celebration. Since March this year, Geneva and neighbouring parts of France have been the venues for a wealth of small and large-scale events, which will continue until November. Given CERN's location in the commune of Meyrin, the ForuMeyrin is hosting two "salons" consisting of an exhibition of plastic arts and evenings of music and visual arts performances with the collective title of "Accelerated Particles". Several works will be exhibited and performed. Salon des matières: An exhibition of plastic arts Until Wednesday 3 November 2004. Tuesdays to Fridays: 4.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. Saturdays: 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. Doors open late on the evening of the performances. Salon des ...

Exhibiting the Human/Exhibiting the Cyborg: “Who Am I?”

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Sophia C. Vackimes

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The role of the museum in shaping our relationship to science and technology, particularly cyborgization, is illuminated by a close examination of the Who Am I permanent exhibition in the Wellcome Wing of the Science Museum of London. This innovative exhibition raises real questions both about the human-technology-science relationship but also about museography. In the context of the history and current practices of museums engaging contemporary technological developments the evidence suggest that even as the Who am I? exhibit did break somewhat from previous approaches, especially the didactic presentation of the socially useful, it has not changed the feld as a whole.

Application of an imaging system to a museum exhibition for developing interactive exhibitions

Science.gov (United States)

Miyata, Kimiyoshi; Inoue, Yuka; Takiguchi, Takahiro; Tsumura, Norimichi; Nakaguchi, Toshiya; Miyake, Yoichi

2009-10-01

In the National Museum of Japanese History, 215,759 artifacts are stored and used for research and exhibitions. In museums, due to the limitation of space in the galleries, a guidance system is required to satisfy visitors' needs and to enhance their understanding of the artifacts. We introduce one exhibition using imaging technology to improve visitors' understanding of a kimono (traditional Japanese clothing) exhibition. In the imaging technology introduced, one data projector, one display with touch panel interface, and magnifiers were used as exhibition tools together with a real kimono. The validity of this exhibition method was confirmed by results from a visitors' interview survey. Second, to further develop the interactive guidance system, an augmented reality system that consisted of cooperation between the projector and a digital video camera was also examined. A white paper board in the observer's hand was used as a projection screen and also as an interface to control the images projected on the board. The basic performance of the proposed system was confirmed; however continuous development was necessary for applying the system to actual exhibitions.

Boldness traits, not dominance, predict exploratory flight range and homing behaviour in homing pigeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Portugal, Steven J; Ricketts, Rhianna L; Chappell, Jackie; White, Craig R; Shepard, Emily L; Biro, Dora

2017-08-19

Group living has been proposed to yield benefits that enhance fitness above the level that would be achieved through living as solitary individuals. Dominance hierarchies occur commonly in these social assemblages, and result, by definition, in resources not being evenly distributed between group members. Determinants of rank within a dominance hierarchy can be associated with morphological characteristics, previous experience of the individual, or personality traits such as exploration tendencies. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether greater exploration and positive responses to novel objects in homing pigeons ( Columba livia ) measured under laboratory conditions were associated with (i) greater initial exploration of the local area around the home loft during spontaneous exploration flights (SEF), (ii) faster and more efficient homing flights when released from further afield, and (iii) whether the traits of greater exploration and more positive responses to novel objects were more likely to be exhibited by the more dominant individuals within the group. There was no relationship between laboratory-based novel object exploration and position within the dominance hierarchy. Pigeons that were neophobic under laboratory conditions did not explore the local area during SEF opportunities. When released from sites further from home, neophobic pigeons took longer routes to home compared to those birds that had not exhibited neophobic traits under laboratory conditions, and had spontaneously explored to a greater extent. The lack of exploration in the neophobic birds is likely to have resulted in the increased costs of homing following release: unfamiliarity with the landscape likely led to the greater distances travelled and less efficient routes taken. Birds that demonstrated a lack of neophobia were not the dominant individuals inside the loft, and thus would have less access to resources such as food and potentially mates. However, a lack of

Elitism and Stochastic Dominance

OpenAIRE

Bazen, Stephen; Moyes, Patrick

2011-01-01

Stochastic dominance has typically been used with a special emphasis on risk and inequality reduction something captured by the concavity of the utility function in the expected utility model. We claim that the applicability of the stochastic dominance approach goes far beyond risk and inequality measurement provided suitable adpations be made. We apply in the paper the stochastic dominance approach to the measurment of elitism which may be considered the opposite of egalitarianism. While the...

Autosomal Dominant Growth Hormone Deficiency (Type II).

Science.gov (United States)

Alatzoglou, Kyriaki S; Kular, Dalvir; Dattani, Mehul T

2015-06-01

Isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) is the commonest pituitary hormone deficiency resulting from congenital or acquired causes, although for most patients its etiology remains unknown. Among the known factors, heterozygous mutations in the growth hormone gene (GH1) lead to the autosomal dominant form of GHD, also known as type II GHD. In many cohorts this is the commonest form of congenital isolated GHD and is mainly caused by mutations that affect the correct splicing of GH-1. These mutations cause skipping of the third exon and lead to the production of a 17.5-kDa GH isoform that exerts a dominant negative effect on the secretion of the wild type GH. The identification of these mutations has clinical implications for the management of patients, as there is a well-documented correlation between the severity of the phenotype and the increased expression of the 17.5-kDa isoform. Patients with type II GHD have a variable height deficit and severity of GHD and may develop additional pituitary hormone defiencies over time, including ACTH, TSH and gonadotropin deficiencies. Therefore, their lifelong follow-up is recommended. Detailed studies on the effect of heterozygous GH1 mutations on the trafficking, secretion and action of growth hormone can elucidate their mechanism on a cellular level and may influence future treatment options for GHD type II.

"Juntos pero no revueltos": microaggressions and language in the mathematics education of non-dominant Latinas/os

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LópezLeiva, Carlos A.; Khisty, Lena Licón

2014-06-01

In this paper, we discuss the characteristics of microaggressions based on minority language(s) as a form of discriminatory practice against non-dominant students in the mathematics context. Microaggressions are subtle, brief, and commonplace verbal, behavioral, or visual negative slights or insults toward people of color. We extend the concept of microaggression to include discrimination based on a minority language. We draw on our work with Latinas/os in the USA to demonstrate the occurrence of microaggressions in the teaching act. Revealing microaggressions based on language has the potential of creating more equitable learning environments for non-dominant students and can point to possible directions for future research and improvements in the preparation of teachers who serve non-dominant students who speak a language other than the school's official language.

Exhibition; Image display agency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Normazlin Ismail

2008-01-01

This article touches on the role of Malaysian Nuclear Agency as nuclear research institutions to promote, develop and encourage the peaceful uses of nuclear technology in its agricultural, medical, manufacturing, industrial, health and environment for the development of the country running successfully. Maturity of Malaysian Nuclear Agency in dealing with nuclear technology that are very competitive and globalization cannot be denied. On this basis Malaysian Nuclear Agency was given the responsibility to strengthen the nuclear technology in Malaysia. One way is through an exhibition featuring the research, discoveries and new technology products of the nuclear technology. Through this exhibition is to promote the nuclear technology and introduce the image of the agency in the public eye. This article also states a number of exhibits entered by the Malaysian Nuclear Agency and achievements during the last exhibition. Authors hope that the exhibition can be intensified further in the future.

A comparison of abused and non-abused women's definitions of domestic violence and attitudes to acceptance of male dominance.

Science.gov (United States)

Faramarzi, M; Esmailzadeh, S; Mosavi, S

2005-10-01

To examine the effects of women's subjective definitions of wife abuse and of their general attitudes to acceptance of male dominance on the occurrence of domestic violence. A case-control survey was conducted in the public health center of Babol University of Medical Sciences from November 2002 to October 2003. The Abuse Assessment Screen Form was used to identify partner violence, and the Abuse Definition Form and Abuse Attitude Form were applied to measure how the women defined wife abuse and their attitudes to male dominance. Women with positive attitudes to male dominance had experienced more physical and emotional abuse than those with negative attitudes toward male dominance (p family income were important risk factors for domestic violence, the strongest predictor of physical abuse was a positive attitude to male dominance. A positive attitude of women to male dominance increases the acceptance and frequency of partner violence. This finding shows the need to raise the educational levels of women and raise their awareness of their rights. This could convert an attitude of male dominance to equality of men and women.

A Japanese Family With Autosomal Dominant Oculocutaneous Albinism Type 4.

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Oki, Ryoko; Yamada, Kisaburo; Nakano, Satoko; Kimoto, Kenichi; Yamamoto, Ken; Kondo, Hiroyuki; Kubota, Toshiaki

2017-02-01

We report the clinical characteristics of a Japanese family with autosomal dominant oculocutaneous albinism and a SLC45A2 gene mutation. A total of 16 members of a Japanese family with general hypopigmentation and foveal hypoplasia underwent detailed clinical examinations. We evaluated the severity of foveal hypoplasia using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and graded it according to the criteria of Thomas et al. DNA was extracted from 17 family members and used for genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping and linkage analysis. Mutational search was performed for the SLC45A2 gene responsible for oculocutaneous albinism type 4 (OCA4). All 16 patients exhibited hypopigmentation of their hair and/or iris. They showed foveal hypoplasia, including 3 patients with grade 1 foveal hypoplasia, 7 with grade 2, and 6 with grade 3. No patient had grade 4 foveal hypoplasia. Optical coherence tomography showed macular ganglion cell complex thinning in the temporal area, and a slight reduction of visual field sensitivity in the centrotemporal area. A maximum multipoint parametric logarithm of the odds (LOD) score of approximately 2.00 to 3.56 was obtained on chromosome 5, spanning approximately 7.2 Mb between rs13187570 and rs395967 that included the SLC45A2 gene. All affected members showed a novel heterozygous variant, c.208T>C (p.Y70H), in the SLC45A2 gene, which supported a diagnosis of OCA4. The present study reports a very rare family with autosomal dominant OCA4 whose diagnosis was confirmed by a mutational analysis. Most family members exhibited mild general hypopigmentation and low-grade foveal hypoplasia.

Praise for regret: People value regret above other negative emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Saffrey, Colleen; Summerville, Amy; Roese, Neal J

2008-03-01

What do people think about the emotion of regret? Recent demonstrations of the psychological benefits of regret have been framed against an assumption that most people find regret to be aversive, both when experienced but also when recalled later. Two studies explored lay evaluations of regret experiences, revealing them to be largely favorable rather than unfavorable. Study 1 demonstrated that regret, but not other negative emotions, was dominated by positive more than negative evaluations. In both studies 1 and 2, although participants saw a great deal of benefit from their negative emotions, regret stood out as particularly beneficial. Indeed, in study 2, regret was seen to be the most beneficial of 12 negative emotions on all five functions of: making sense of past experiences, facilitating approach behaviors, facilitating avoidance behaviors, gaining insights into the self, and in preserving social harmony. Moreover, in study 2, individuals made self-serving ascriptions of regret, reporting greater regret experiences for themselves than for others. In short, people value their regrets substantially more than they do other negative emotions.

High-current negative hydrogen ion beam production in a cesium-injected multicusp source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeiri, Y.; Tsumori, K.; Kaneko, O.

1997-01-01

A high-current negative hydrogen ion source has been developed, where 16.2 A of the H - current was obtained with a current density of 31 mA/cm 2 . The ion source is a multicusp source with a magnetic filter for negative ion production, and cesium vapor is injected into the arc chamber, leading to enhancement of the negative ion yields. The cesium-injection effects are discussed, based on the experimental observations. Although the surface production of the negative ions on the cesium-covered plasma grid is thought to be a dominant mechanism of the H - current enhancement, the cesium effects in the plasma volume, such as the cesium ionization and the electron cooling, are observed, and could contribute to the improved operation of the negative ion source. (author)

Exhibiting Western Desert Aboriginal painting in Australia’s public galleries: an institutional analysis, 1981-2002

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Jim Berryman

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper documents and analyses the exhibition history of Aboriginal painting in Australia’s public art galleries over a two-decade period. It concentrates on Western Desert acrylics but is not confined to this movement or region alone. Based on a review of catalogues from key exhibitions, it identifies three interpretative frameworks used by curators to validate the presence of Aboriginal painting in the contemporary art realm. These modes of interpretation are called the aesthetic, ethnographic and the ownership discourses. Despite being a problematic art at odds with conventional art-historical classifications, Aboriginal painting was elevated to a position of prominence in Australian art history. Institutionally, Western Desert painting found legitimacy in the dominant aesthetic legacy of modernism. This modernist art historiography overrode the minority interests of cultural pluralism and critical postmodernism.

Genomic selection models for directional dominance: an example for litter size in pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Varona, Luis; Legarra, Andrés; Herring, William; Vitezica, Zulma G

2018-01-26

The quantitative genetics theory argues that inbreeding depression and heterosis are founded on the existence of directional dominance. However, most procedures for genomic selection that have included dominance effects assumed prior symmetrical distributions. To address this, two alternatives can be considered: (1) assume the mean of dominance effects different from zero, and (2) use skewed distributions for the regularization of dominance effects. The aim of this study was to compare these approaches using two pig datasets and to confirm the presence of directional dominance. Four alternative models were implemented in two datasets of pig litter size that consisted of 13,449 and 11,581 records from 3631 and 2612 sows genotyped with the Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip. The models evaluated included (1) a model that does not consider directional dominance (Model SN), (2) a model with a covariate b for the average individual homozygosity (Model SC), (3) a model with a parameter λ that reflects asymmetry in the context of skewed Gaussian distributions (Model AN), and (4) a model that includes both b and λ (Model Full). The results of the analysis showed that posterior probabilities of a negative b or a positive λ under Models SC and AN were higher than 0.99, which indicate positive directional dominance. This was confirmed with the predictions of inbreeding depression under Models Full, SC and AN, that were higher than in the SN Model. In spite of differences in posterior estimates of variance components between models, comparison of models based on LogCPO and DIC indicated that Model SC provided the best fit for the two datasets analyzed. Our results confirmed the presence of positive directional dominance for pig litter size and suggested that it should be taken into account when dominance effects are included in genomic evaluation procedures. The consequences of ignoring directional dominance may affect predictions of breeding values and can lead to biased

VVER-1000 dominance ratio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorodkov, S.

2009-01-01

Dominance ratio, or more precisely, its closeness to unity, is important characteristic of large reactor. It allows evaluate beforehand the number of source iterations required in deterministic calculations of power spatial distribution. Or the minimal number of histories to be modeled for achievement of statistical error level desired in large core Monte Carlo calculations. In this work relatively simple approach for dominance ratio evaluation is proposed. It essentially uses core symmetry. Dependence of dominance ratio on neutron flux spatial distribution is demonstrated. (author)

WWER-1000 dominance ratio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorodkov, S.S.

2009-01-01

Dominance ratio, or more precisely, its closeness to unity, is important characteristic of large reactor. It allows evaluate beforehand the number of source iterations required in deterministic calculations of power spatial distribution. Or the minimal number of histories to be modeled for achievement of statistical error level desired in large core Monte Carlo calculations. In this work relatively simple approach for dominance ratio evaluation is proposed. It essentially uses core symmetry. Dependence of dominance ratio on neutron flux spatial distribution is demonstrated. (Authors)

Negative thermal expansion materials: technological key for control of thermal expansion

OpenAIRE

Koshi Takenaka

2012-01-01

Most materials expand upon heating. However, although rare, some materials contract upon heating. Such negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials have enormous industrial merit because they can control the thermal expansion of materials. Recent progress in materials research enables us to obtain materials exhibiting negative coefficients of linear thermal expansion over −30 ppm K−1. Such giant NTE is opening a new phase of control of thermal expansion in composites. Specifically examining pra...

Multichannel strategy - the dominant approach in modern retailing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stojković Dragan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to thoroughly analyse the concept of multichannel strategy, focussing on retail, to enable the academic community and marketers to better understand its advantages and disadvantages. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review and financial data analysis. The authors have analysed the financial data of 88 retail companies in the 2007 to 2014 period, and have proven that the importance of multichannel strategy has grown with the emergence of e-commerce. The main hypothesis is that the multichannel concept dominates modern marketing channels because it is widely accepted and provides superior financial performance. Multichannel retailing is definitely a winning concept, if adequately implemented. However, wrongly implemented it can negatively influence business performance.

Neuropilin-1highCD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells Exhibit Primary Negative Immunoregulation in Sepsis

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Yu-Lei Gao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Regulatory T cells (Tregs appear to be involved in sepsis-induced immune dysfunction; neuropilin-1 (Nrp-1 was identified as a surface marker for CD4+CD25+Tregs. In the current study, we investigated the negative immunoregulation of Nrp-1highCD4+CD25+Tregs and the potential therapeutic value of Nrp-1 in sepsis. Splenic CD4+CD25+Tregs from cecal ligation and puncture (CLP mouse models were further segregated into Nrp-1highTregs and Nrp-1lowTregs; they were cocultured with CD4+CD25−  T cells. The expression of forkhead/winged helix transcription factor-3 (Foxp-3, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4, membrane associated transforming growth factor-β (TGF-βm+, apoptotic rate, and secretive ability [including TGF-β and interleukin-10 (IL-10] for various types of Tregs, as well as the immunosuppressive ability of Tregs on CD4+CD25−  T cells, were determined. Meanwhile, the impact of recombinant Nrp-1 polyclonal antibody on the demethylation of Foxp-3-TSDR (Treg-specific demethylated region was measured in in vitro study. Sepsis per se markedly promoted the expression of Nrp-1 of CD4+CD25+Tregs. Foxp-3/CTLA-4/TGF-βm+ of Nrp-1highTregs were upregulated by septic challenge. Nrp-1highTregs showed strong resilience to apoptosis and secretive ability and the strongest immunosuppressive ability on CD4+CD25−  T cells. In the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, the recombinant Nrp-1 polyclonal antibody reduced the demethylation of Foxp-3-TSDR. Nrp-1highTregs might reveal primary negative immunoregulation in sepsis; Nrp-1 could represent a new potential therapeutic target for the study of immune regulation in sepsis.

Challenging dominant norms of masculinity for HIV prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

MacPhail, Catherine

2003-01-01

Within South Africa there is a growing HIV epidemic, particularly among young heterosexual people. A recent report (NMF/HSRC, 2002) indicates that levels of HIV infection among young people aged 15-24 years are 9.3% although other studies in more specific locations have shown levels to be higher than this. One of the best means of developing successful and innovative HIV prevention programmes for young people is to enhance our understandings of youth sexuality and the manner in which dominant norms contribute to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Social norms of masculinity are particularly important in this regard, as the manner in which 'normal' men are defined such as through acquisition of multiple partners, power over women and negative attitudes towards condoms, are often in conflict with the true emotional vulnerabilities of young men. Given the strong influence of peer groups on young people and the belief that one of the solutions to behaviour change lies in peer renegotiation of dominant norms, there is the need to begin to investigate young men who challenge dominant norms of masculinity. It is in investigating their points of view that a platform for the deconstruction of stereotypical masculinities and the reconstruction of new norms can be formed. The paper begins to consider these counter normative ideas through highlighting the discussions of young South African men aged 13-25 years in focus groups and in-depth individual interviews conducted in Gauteng Province. It is apparent that among this group there are young men challenging normative views of masculinity in a manner that could be harnessed within HIV prevention initiatives.

Diet dominates host genotype in shaping the murine gut microbiota

Science.gov (United States)

Carmody, Rachel N.; Gerber, Georg K.; Luevano, Jesus M.; Gatti, Daniel M.; Somes, Lisa; Svenson, Karen L.; Turnbaugh, Peter J.

2014-01-01

SUMMARY Mammals exhibit marked inter-individual variations in their gut microbiota, but it remains unclear if this is primarily driven by host genetics or by extrinsic factors like dietary intake. To address this, we examined the effect of dietary perturbations on the gut microbiota of five inbred mouse strains, mice deficient for genes relevant to host-microbial interactions (MyD88−/−, NOD2−/−, ob/ob, and Rag1−/−), and >200 outbred mice. In each experiment, consumption of a high-fat, high-sugar diet reproducibly altered the gut microbiota despite differences in host genotype. The gut microbiota exhibited a linear dose response to dietary perturbations, taking an average of 3.5 days for each diet-responsive bacterial groups to reach a new steady state. Repeated dietary shifts demonstrated that most changes to the gut microbiota are reversible, while also uncovering bacteria whose abundance depends on prior consumption. These results emphasize the dominant role that diet plays in shaping inter-individual variations in host-associated microbial communities. PMID:25532804

No Girls Allowed: Women in Male-Dominated Majors Experience Increased Gender Harassment and Bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Dresden, Brooke E; Dresden, Alexander Y; Ridge, Robert D; Yamawaki, Niwako

2018-06-01

The prevalence of gender harassment in male-dominated workforces has been well established, but little is known regarding the experiences of women in male-dominated majors within academia. The current study examines the experiences and gender-related biases of 146 male and female students in male-dominated (MD) and gender-equivalent (GE) majors. This study hypothesizes that men from MD majors, as opposed to GE majors, will exhibit more explicit and implicit bias regarding women in positions of power and authority, resulting in a higher prevalence of gender harassment towards women in MD majors. Results showed that there was no significant difference in self-reported explicit bias against women in positions of power and authority between men from MD and GE majors, but there was significantly more implicit bias among men from MD majors as opposed to GE majors. Additionally, women from MD majors experienced significantly more gender harassment than women from GE majors. Implications of these findings and suggestions to assist those working in education to combat these biases and instances of harassment are discussed.

Arctigenin inhibits STAT3 and exhibits anticancer potential in human triple-negative breast cancer therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Tingting; Cao, Wei; Shen, Wanxiang; Zhang, Liang; Gu, Xinsheng; Guo, Yang; Tsai, Hsiang-I; Liu, Xuewen; Li, Jian; Zhang, Jingxuan; Li, Shan; Wu, Fuyun; Liu, Ying

2017-01-03

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are the most aggressive and hard-to-treat breast tumors with poor prognosis, and exploration for novel therapeutic drugs is impending. Arctigenin (Atn), a bioactive lignan isolated from seeds of Arctium lappa L, has been reported to inhibit many cancer types; however, the effect of Atn on TNBC remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that Atn decreased proliferation, and induced apoptosis in TNBC cells. Furthermore, we explored the underlying mechanism of Atn inhibition on TNBC cells. Computational docking and affinity assay showed that Atn bound to the SH2 domain of STAT3. Atn inhibited STAT3 binding to genomic DNA by disrupting hydrogen bond linking between DNA and STAT3. In addition, Atn augmented Taxotere®-induced TNBC cell cytotoxicity. TNBC xenograft tests also confirmed the antitumor effect of Atn in vivo. These characteristics render Atn as a promising candidate drug for further development and for designing new effective STAT3 inhibitors.

Arctigenin inhibits STAT3 and exhibits anticancer potential in human triple-negative breast cancer therapy

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Wanxiang; Zhang, Liang; Gu, Xinsheng; Guo, Yang; Tsai, Hsiang-i; Liu, Xuewen; Li, Jian; Zhang, Jingxuan; Li, Shan; Wu, Fuyun; Liu, Ying

2017-01-01

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are the most aggressive and hard-to-treat breast tumors with poor prognosis, and exploration for novel therapeutic drugs is impending. Arctigenin (Atn), a bioactive lignan isolated from seeds of Arctium lappa L, has been reported to inhibit many cancer types; however, the effect of Atn on TNBC remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that Atn decreased proliferation, and induced apoptosis in TNBC cells. Furthermore, we explored the underlying mechanism of Atn inhibition on TNBC cells. Computational docking and affinity assay showed that Atn bound to the SH2 domain of STAT3. Atn inhibited STAT3 binding to genomic DNA by disrupting hydrogen bond linking between DNA and STAT3. In addition, Atn augmented Taxotere®-induced TNBC cell cytotoxicity. TNBC xenograft tests also confirmed the antitumor effect of Atn in vivo. These characteristics render Atn as a promising candidate drug for further development and for designing new effective STAT3 inhibitors. PMID:27861147

Investigation on nickel ferrite nanowire device exhibiting negative differential resistance — a first-principles investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Nagarajan

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The electronic property of NiFe_2O_4 nanowire device is investigated through nonequilibrium Green’s functions (NEGF in combination with density functional theory (DFT. The electronic transport properties of NiFe_2O_4 nanowire are studied in terms of density of states, transmission spectrum and I–V characteristics. The density of states gets modified with the applied bias voltage across NiFe_2O_4 nanowire device, the density of charge is observed both in the valence band and in the conduction band on increasing the bias voltage. The transmission spectrum of NiFe_2O_4 nanowire device gives the insights on the transition of electrons at different energy intervals. The findings of the present work suggest that NiFe_2O_4 nanowire device can be used as negative differential resistance (NDR device and its NDR property can be tuned with the bias voltage, which may be used in microwave device, memory devices and in fast switching devices.

Increasing resistant coagulase negative staphylococci in bovine clinical mastitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Moniri, R; Dastehgoli, K; Akramian, A

2007-08-01

The aim of this study was to determine Coagulase Negative Staphylococci (CNS) and other bacteria for their resistance to antimicrobial agents approved for the control of pathogens involved in clinical bovine mastitis. This descriptive study was done on 106 milk samples obtained from clinical mastitis in dairy cattle husbandry from April 2006 through August 2006 in Kashan, Iran. From the total of 106 milk samples collected from clinical mastitis, 96 (90.6%) lead to positive culture. Coagulase negative Staphylococci isolated in 51 out of 96 samples (53.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolated in 21 out of 96 (21.9%), gram negative bacilli isolated in 14 out of 96 (14.6%) and Enterococci isolated in 4 (4.2%). The highest rate of resistant CNS observed to penicillin (56.6%) and the highest rate of sensitivity to enrofloxacin 100%, followed by kanamycin, streptomycin and neomycin, 92.2, 82.3 and 82.3%, respectively. The highest rate of resistance S. aureus exhibited to penicillin (66.6%); while the highest rate of sensitivity showed to trimethoprim-sulphamethoxasole (81%), followed by kanamycin and enrofloxacin both at 76.2%. The highest rate of resistance gram negative bacilli exhibited to ampicillin and erythromycin at 71.4%. Their highest rate of sensitivity observed to enrofloxacin (78.6%), followed by kanamycin, (71.4%). In recent years, CNS is emerging as important minor mastitis pathogens and can be the cause of substantial economic losses. The high resistance rate to penicillin and other antibiotics found in this study emphasize the importance of identification of CNS when a bovine clinical mastitis is present.

Downhill Domination in Graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haynes Teresa W.

2014-08-01

Full Text Available A path π = (v1, v2, . . . , vk+1 in a graph G = (V,E is a downhill path if for every i, 1 ≤ i ≤ k, deg(vi ≥ deg(vi+1, where deg(vi denotes the degree of vertex vi ∈ V. The downhill domination number equals the minimum cardinality of a set S ⊆ V having the property that every vertex v ∈ V lies on a downhill path originating from some vertex in S. We investigate downhill domination numbers of graphs and give upper bounds. In particular, we show that the downhill domination number of a graph is at most half its order, and that the downhill domination number of a tree is at most one third its order. We characterize the graphs obtaining each of these bounds

Is there any relationship between right and left hand dominance and right and left nasal airflow dominance?

Science.gov (United States)

Price, A; Eccles, R

2017-10-01

Left- or right-handedness is a common human trait, and it has been previously reported that human nasal airflow dominance correlates with hand dominance. Any relationship between hand dominance and nasal airflow dominance would be unusual. This study aimed to measure nasal airflow and look for any relationship to handedness. The modified Glatzel mirror was used to record the dominant nasal passage at 15-minute intervals over a 6-hour period in 29 healthy participants consisting of 15 left-handers and 14 right-handers. In left-handers, the percentage of time that the left nasal passage was dominant ranged from 0 to 100 per cent. In right-handers, the percentage of time that the right nasal passage was dominant ranged from 4.2 to 95.8 per cent. No correlation between nasal airflow dominance and hand dominance was identified. The results do not support the hypothesis that nasal airflow and handedness are related.

Peer review and competition in the Art Exhibition Game.

Science.gov (United States)

Balietti, Stefano; Goldstone, Robert L; Helbing, Dirk

2016-07-26

To investigate the effect of competitive incentives under peer review, we designed a novel experimental setup called the Art Exhibition Game. We present experimental evidence of how competition introduces both positive and negative effects when creative artifacts are evaluated and selected by peer review. Competition proved to be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it fosters innovation and product diversity, but on the other hand, it also leads to more unfair reviews and to a lower level of agreement between reviewers. Moreover, an external validation of the quality of peer reviews during the laboratory experiment, based on 23,627 online evaluations on Amazon Mechanical Turk, shows that competition does not significantly increase the level of creativity. Furthermore, the higher rejection rate under competitive conditions does not improve the average quality of published contributions, because more high-quality work is also rejected. Overall, our results could explain why many ground-breaking studies in science end up in lower-tier journals. Differences and similarities between the Art Exhibition Game and scholarly peer review are discussed and the implications for the design of new incentive systems for scientists are explained.

The effects of stereotypes of women's performance in male-dominated hierarchies: Stereotype threat activation and reduction through role models

OpenAIRE

Latu, V.; Schmid Mast, M.

2015-01-01

Despite recent progress in increasing gender equality in organizations, workplace hierarchies remain male-dominated in most domains. We discuss how gender stereotypes contribute to holding women back in leadership and workplace domains and how we can reduce the negative effects of gender stereotypes. In the first part of the chapter we discuss how awareness of negative stereotypes of women in leadership can decrease women's performance and self-related cognitions in leadership tasks such as m...

Diatom-driven recolonization of microbial mat-dominated siliciclastic tidal flat sediments.

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Jerónimo; Cuadrado, Diana G; Bournod, Constanza N

2017-10-01

Modern microbial mats and biofilms play a paramount role in sediment biostabilization. When sporadic storms affect tidal flats of Bahía Blanca Estuary, the underlying siliciclastic sediment is exposed by physical disruption of the mat, and in a few weeks' lapse, a microbial community re-establishes. With the objective of studying colonization patterns and the ecological succession of microorganisms at the scale of these erosional structures, these were experimentally made and their biological recolonization followed for 8 weeks, with replication in winter and spring. Motile pennate diatoms led the initial colonization following two distinct patterns: a dominance by Cylindrotheca closterium in winter and by naviculoid and nitzschioid diatoms in spring. During the first 7 days, cell numbers increased 2- to 17-fold. Cell densities further increased exhibiting sigmoidal community growth, reaching 2.9-8.9 × 106 cells cm-3 maxima around day 30; centric diatoms maintained low densities throughout. In 56 days after removal of the original mat, filamentous cyanobacteria that dominate mature mats did not establish a significant biomass, leading to the rejection of the hypothesis that cyanobacteria would drive the colonization. The observed dominance of pennate diatoms is attributed to extrinsic factors determined by tidal flooding, and intrinsic ones, e.g. motility, nutrient affinity and high growth rate. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Dominant Environmental Kids Diseases In Western Region, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zakia, A M Ahmed; Jawaher, Ben Dehaish

2008-01-01

The current study was conducted to figure out the relationship between the social structure and the most predominant environmental kids diseases (1-12 years old) in the community of Jihad city through year 1423.A.H. The results revealed that the dominant husband and wives age-groups were 30-40 Y, couples had Bachelor education level and governmental employees. Residences were distributed between down town and its periphery toward north , apart of red sea coast. They had 2-4 child/family of equal gender ratio. Most of couples were non relative. Wives education level was positively correlated with kids skin, respiratory and ocular diseases but negatively correlated with presence of servant and her health certificate. Private hospitals and health care centers were permanently accessed and located far of industrial collections. Majority of teachers and students were Saudis. Schools subjected their students for regular vaccination programs offered by Health Ministry. School services and facilities (regular vaccination, healthy foods and water) significantly affected incidence and kinds of kids diseases. Mixing nationalities may represent risk health for coming exotic infection unless restricted hygienic measures offered by Health Ministry. Husband job was negatively correlated with respiratory diseases. Husband job sector and their work places indoor air quality, their smoking behavior may affect directly or indirectly child diseases. The kids medicinal diseases were within husband age group 20-30 Y. Dominant kids diseases were within age-group 2-4 years mainly respiratory (dyspnea were highest respiratory affection within 1-12 Y children), skin and ocular affections. The dominance of respiratory diseases within infants in winter and the skin diseases in summer Most of kids diseases (skin, respiratory, ocular, medicinal, psychic and non recognized diseases agents were significantly correlated with their homes address. Conclusively, Jeddah community was characterized by

When negation is not negation

OpenAIRE

Milicevic, Nataša

2008-01-01

In this paper I will discuss the formation of different types of yes/no questions in Serbian (examples in (1)), focusing on the syntactically and semantically puzzling example (1d), which involves the negative auxiliary inversion. Although there is a negative marker on the fronted auxiliary, the construction does not involve sentential negation. This coincides with the fact that the negative quantifying NPIs cannot be licensed. The question formation and sentential negation have similar synta...

Novel autosomal dominant TNNT1 mutation causing nemaline myopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Konersman, Chamindra G; Freyermuth, Fernande; Winder, Thomas L; Lawlor, Michael W; Lagier-Tourenne, Clotilde; Patel, Shailendra B

2017-11-01

Nemaline myopathy (NEM) is one of the three major forms of congenital myopathy and is characterized by diffuse muscle weakness, hypotonia, respiratory insufficiency, and the presence of nemaline rod structures on muscle biopsy. Mutations in troponin T1 (TNNT1) is 1 of 10 genes known to cause NEM. To date, only homozygous nonsense mutations or compound heterozygous truncating or internal deletion mutations in TNNT1 gene have been identified in NEM. This extended family is of historical importance as some members were reported in the 1960s as initial evidence that NEM is a hereditary disorder. Proband and extended family underwent Sanger sequencing for TNNT1. We performed RT-PCR and immunoblot on muscle to assess TNNT1 RNA expression and protein levels in proband and father. We report a novel heterozygous missense mutation of TNNT1 c.311A>T (p.E104V) that segregated in an autosomal dominant fashion in a large family residing in the United States. Extensive sequencing of the other known genes for NEM failed to identify any other mutant alleles. Muscle biopsies revealed a characteristic pattern of nemaline rods and severe myofiber hypotrophy that was almost entirely restricted to the type 1 fiber population. This novel mutation alters a residue that is highly conserved among vertebrates. This report highlights not only a family with autosomal dominant inheritance of NEM, but that this novel mutation likely acts via a dominant negative mechanism. © 2017 The Authors. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The negative piezoelectric effect of the ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Katsouras, Ilias; Asadi, Kamal; Li, Mengyuan

2016-01-01

with trifluoroethylene (P(VDF-TrFE)), which exhibit a negative longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient. Reported explanations exclusively consider contraction with applied electric field of either the crystalline or the amorphous part of these semi-crystalline polymers. To distinguish between these conflicting...

On The Roman Domination Stable Graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hajian Majid

2017-11-01

Full Text Available A Roman dominating function (or just RDF on a graph G = (V,E is a function f : V → {0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that every vertex u for which f(u = 0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v for which f(v = 2. The weight of an RDF f is the value f(V (G = Pu2V (G f(u. The Roman domination number of a graph G, denoted by R(G, is the minimum weight of a Roman dominating function on G. A graph G is Roman domination stable if the Roman domination number of G remains unchanged under removal of any vertex. In this paper we present upper bounds for the Roman domination number in the class of Roman domination stable graphs, improving bounds posed in [V. Samodivkin, Roman domination in graphs: the class RUV R, Discrete Math. Algorithms Appl. 8 (2016 1650049].

A note on isolate domination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail Sahul Hamid

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A set $S$ of vertices of a graph $G$ such that $\\left\\langle S\\right\\rangle$ has an isolated vertex is called an \\emph{isolate set} of $G$. The minimum and maximum cardinality of a maximal isolate set are called the \\emph{isolate number} $i_0(G$ and the \\emph{upper isolate number} $I_0(G$ respectively. An isolate set that is also a dominating set (an irredundant set is an $\\emph{isolate dominating set} \\ (\\emph{an isolate irredundant set}$. The \\emph{isolate domination number} $\\gamma_0(G$ and the \\emph{upper isolate domination number} $\\Gamma_0(G$ are respectively the minimum and maximum cardinality of a minimal isolate dominating set while the \\emph{isolate irredundance number} $ir_0(G$ and the \\emph{upper isolate irredundance number} $IR_0(G$ are the minimum and maximum cardinality of a maximal isolate irredundant set of $G$. The notion of isolate domination was introduced in \\cite{sb} and the remaining were introduced in \\cite{isrn}. This paper further extends a study of these parameters.   

Investigation of the boundary layer during the transition from volume to surface dominated H- production at the BATMAN test facility

Science.gov (United States)

Wimmer, C.; Schiesko, L.; Fantz, U.

2016-02-01

BATMAN (Bavarian Test Machine for Negative ions) is a test facility equipped with a 1/8 scale H- source for the ITER heating neutral beam injection. Several diagnostics in the boundary layer close to the plasma grid (first grid of the accelerator system) followed the transition from volume to surface dominated H- production starting with a Cs-free, cleaned source and subsequent evaporation of caesium, while the source has been operated at ITER relevant pressure of 0.3 Pa: Langmuir probes are used to determine the plasma potential, optical emission spectroscopy is used to follow the caesiation process, and cavity ring-down spectroscopy allows for the measurement of the H- density. The influence on the plasma during the transition from an electron-ion plasma towards an ion-ion plasma, in which negative hydrogen ions become the dominant negatively charged particle species, is seen in a strong increase of the H- density combined with a reduction of the plasma potential. A clear correlation of the extracted current densities (jH-, je) exists with the Cs emission.

Investigation of the boundary layer during the transition from volume to surface dominated H⁻ production at the BATMAN test facility.

Science.gov (United States)

Wimmer, C; Schiesko, L; Fantz, U

2016-02-01

BATMAN (Bavarian Test Machine for Negative ions) is a test facility equipped with a 18 scale H(-) source for the ITER heating neutral beam injection. Several diagnostics in the boundary layer close to the plasma grid (first grid of the accelerator system) followed the transition from volume to surface dominated H(-) production starting with a Cs-free, cleaned source and subsequent evaporation of caesium, while the source has been operated at ITER relevant pressure of 0.3 Pa: Langmuir probes are used to determine the plasma potential, optical emission spectroscopy is used to follow the caesiation process, and cavity ring-down spectroscopy allows for the measurement of the H(-) density. The influence on the plasma during the transition from an electron-ion plasma towards an ion-ion plasma, in which negative hydrogen ions become the dominant negatively charged particle species, is seen in a strong increase of the H(-) density combined with a reduction of the plasma potential. A clear correlation of the extracted current densities (j(H(-)), j(e)) exists with the Cs emission.

High symmetry versus optical isotropy of a negative-index metamaterial

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Menzel, Christoph; Rockstuhl, Carsten; Lliew, Rumen

2010-01-01

condition since it is usually assumed that light does not resolve the spatial details of MM but experiences the properties of an effective medium, which is then optically isotropic. In this work we challenge this assumption by analyzing the isofrequency surfaces of the dispersion relation of the split cube...... in carcass negative index MM. We show that this MM is basically optically isotropic but not in the spectral domain where it exhibits negative refraction. The primary goal of this contribution is to introduce a tool that allows to probe a MM against optical isotropy....

The World of Virtual Exhibitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irena Eiselt

2013-09-01

Full Text Available EXTENDED ABSTRACTSpecial collections of the National and University Library (NUK hide a lot of items of precious value. The Slovenian cultural heritage is stored on paper or on other media as a part of the library’s Manuscripts, Incunabula and Rare Books Collection, Old Prints Collection, Maps and Pictorial Collection, Music Collection, Ephemera Collection, Serials Collection, and Slovenian Diaspora Publications Collection. Only a small part of the treasures is temporary revealed to the public on special exhibitions. The idea of virtual exhibitions of library treasures was born in 2005. The library aimed to exhibit precious items of special collections of high historical or artistic value. In 2008 the first two virtual exhibitions were created in-house offering access to the rich collections of old postcards of Ljubljana at the beginning of 20th century kept in the Maps and Pictorial Collection of NUK. They were soon followed by other virtual exhibitions. At the beginning they were organised in the same way as physical exhibitions, afterwards different programs were used for creation of special effects (for ex. 3D wall. About two years ago it was decided that the creation of virtual exhibitions will be simplified. Files of digitised and borndigital library materials in jpg format are imported to MS PowerPoint 2010. Each jpg file is now formatted by adding a frame, a description … to the slides which are saved as jpg files. The last step is the import of jpg files into Cooliris application used for NUK web exhibitions. In the paper the virtual exhibition design and creation, the technical point of view and criteria for the selection of exhibition content are explained following the example of the virtual exhibitions the Old Postcards of Ljubljana, Photo Ateliers in Slovenia, a collection of photographs Four Seasons by Fran Krašovec and photos of Post-Earthquake Ljubljana in 1895.

Negative thermal expansion near two structural quantum phase transitions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Occhialini, Connor A.; Handunkanda, Sahan U.; Said, Ayman; Trivedi, Sudhir; Guzmán-Verri, G. G.; Hancock, Jason N.

2017-12-01

Recent experimental work has revealed that the unusually strong, isotropic structural negative thermal expansion in cubic perovskite ionic insulator ScF3 occurs in excited states above a ground state tuned very near a structural quantum phase transition, posing a question of fundamental interest as to whether this special circumstance is related to the anomalous behavior. To test this hypothesis, we report an elastic and inelastic x-ray scattering study of a second system Hg2I2 also tuned near a structural quantum phase transition while retaining stoichiometric composition and high crystallinity. We find similar behavior and significant negative thermal expansion below 100 K for dimensions along the body-centered-tetragonal c axis, bolstering the connection between negative thermal expansion and zero-temperature structural transitions.We identify the common traits between these systems and propose a set of materials design principles that can guide discovery of newmaterials exhibiting negative thermal expansion

Confining light with negative refraction in checkerboard metamaterials and photonic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramakrishna, S. Anantha; Guenneau, S.; Enoch, S.; Tayeb, G.; Gralak, B.

2007-01-01

We present here a finite slab of triangular checkerboard of negative refractive index material that exhibits a form of extraordinary transmission. We show that such a checkerboard can be used to confine light and can act as an open resonator. Effectively even a single point of intersection between three triangular wedges of negative refractive index may act as a resonator that confines light in the limit when n tends toward -1. We find that the quality of the confinement improves by adding more triangular wedges around the initial point in a checkerboard fashion. The confinement effect is also demonstrated by using a photonic crystal that shows the negative refraction effect

Genetic Dominance & Cellular Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Seager, Robert D.

2014-01-01

In learning genetics, many students misunderstand and misinterpret what "dominance" means. Understanding is easier if students realize that dominance is not a mechanism, but rather a consequence of underlying cellular processes. For example, metabolic pathways are often little affected by changes in enzyme concentration. This means that…

Exhibition at the AAA library

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2013-01-01

Sonnesgade 11 The exhibition at the AAA library presents selected work produced by students prior to the exhibition of installations in project and praxis constructing an archive at Sonnesgade 11. The exhibition at Sonnesgade 11 was the culmination of collaboration with SLETH architects and studio...

Role of hand dominance in mapping preferences for emotional-valence words to keypress responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Xiaolei; Chen, Jing; Proctor, Robert W

2017-10-01

When a crossed-hands placement (right hand presses left key; left hand presses right key) is used in a two-choice spatial reaction task, the mapping of left stimulus to left key and right stimulus to right key yields faster responses than the opposite mapping. In contrast, de la Vega, Dudschig, De Filippis, Lachmair, and Kaup (2013) reported that when right-handed individuals classified words as having positive or negative affect, there was a benefit for mapping positive affect to the right hand (left key) and negative affect to the left hand (right key). The goal of the present study was to replicate and extend this seemingly distinct finding. Experiment 1 duplicated the design of that study without including nonword "no-go" trials but including a condition in which participants performed with an uncrossed hand placement. Results corroborated the benefit for mapping positive to the right hand and negative to the left hand with the hands crossed, and this benefit was as large as that obtained with the hands uncrossed. Experiment 2 confirmed the importance of the dominant/subordinate hand distinction with left-handed participants, and Experiment 3 showed, with right-handed participants, that it does not depend on which limb is placed over the other. The results verify that the mapping advantage for positive→right/negative→left is indeed due to the distinction between dominant and subordinate hands. Possible reasons for the difference between these results and those obtained with spatial-location stimuli are considered. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

COMPARISON OF UNILATERAL SQUAT STRENGTH BETWEEN THE DOMINANT AND NON-DOMINANT LEG IN MEN AND WOMEN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin McCurdy

2005-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to compare unilateral squat strength of the dominant and non-dominant leg in young adult men and women. Seventeen apparently healthy men (mean mass 90.5 ± 20.9 kg and age 21.7 ± 1.8 yrs and 25 women (mean mass 62.2 ± 14.5 kg and age 21.9 ± 1.3 yrs completed the study. To determine unilateral strength, the subjects completed a one repetition maximum (1RM modified unilateral squat (MUS on the dominant and non-dominant leg. The subjects completed the squat to a depth that attained a 90º angle at the knee. This exercise was executed by placing the top of the metatarsophalangeal area of the foot of the uninvolved leg on a support bar behind the subject to isolate the use of the lead leg. Paired samples t-test revealed no significant difference between the men's 1RM mean strength on the dominant (107.0 ± 21.4 kg and non-dominant (106.0 ± 21.4 kg leg with a mean side-to-side difference (comparing the stronger to the weaker leg of 2.8 %. Leg strength symmetry was also found between the women's 1RM mean strength on the dominant (45.3 ± 12.5 kg and non-dominant (45.0 ± 12.4 kg leg with a mean side-to-side difference of 5.0 %. The data indicate that unilateral squat strength, measured in a weight bearing stance, is similar in the dominant and non-dominant leg in apparently healthy young adult men and women

Ion acoustic waves in one- and two-negative ion species plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichiki, Ryuta; Shindo, Masako; Yoshimura, Shinji; Watanabe, Tsuguhiro; Kawai, Yoshinobu

2001-01-01

Ion acoustic waves in multi-ion plasmas including two negative ion species are investigated both numerically and experimentally. Numerically, the kinetic dispersion relation in two-negative ion plasmas is investigated. There are three modes of the ion acoustic waves in two-negative ion plasmas. In an Ar + -F - -SF 6 - plasma, only one of the three modes is dominant, regardless of the values of the electron and the ion temperatures. In a Xe + -F - -SF 6 - plasma, on the other hand, two modes can be important for a certain range of the electron-ion temperature ratio. The results also imply the possibility of the coexistence of the fast mode and the slow mode in one-negative ion plasmas. Experimentally, ion acoustic waves are observed in an Ar + -F - -SF 6 - plasma and are found to show a mode transition that agrees with the theoretical prediction for one of the three ion acoustic modes

Combinatorial events of insertion sequences and ICE in Gram-negative bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Toleman, Mark A; Walsh, Timothy R

2011-09-01

The emergence of antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria is incremental and linked to genetic elements that function in a so-called 'one-ended transposition' manner, including ISEcp1, ISCR elements and Tn3-like transposons. The power of these elements lies in their inability to consistently recognize one of their own terminal sequences, while recognizing more genetically distant surrogate sequences. This has the effect of mobilizing the DNA sequence found adjacent to their initial location. In general, resistance in Gram-negatives is closely linked to a few one-off events. These include the capture of the class 1 integron by a Tn5090-like transposon; the formation of the 3' conserved segment (3'-CS); and the fusion of the ISCR1 element to the 3'-CS. The structures formed by these rare events have been massively amplified and disseminated in Gram-negative bacteria, but hitherto, are rarely found in Gram-positives. Such events dominate current resistance gene acquisition and are instrumental in the construction of large resistance gene islands on chromosomes and plasmids. Similar combinatorial events appear to have occurred between conjugative plasmids and phages constructing hybrid elements called integrative and conjugative elements or conjugative transposons. These elements are beginning to be closely linked to some of the more powerful resistance mechanisms such as the extended spectrum β-lactamases, metallo- and AmpC type β-lactamases. Antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria is dominated by unusual combinatorial mistakes of Insertion sequences and gene fusions which have been selected and amplified by antibiotic pressure enabling the formation of extended resistance islands. © 2011 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Upcycling CERN Exhibitions

CERN Multimedia

Katarina Anthony

2015-01-01

Summer is coming - and with it, a new Microcosm exhibition showcasing CERN (see here). But while the new exhibit is preparing to enchant visitors, many have been asking about the site's former content. Will it simply be out with the old and in with the new? Not as such!   The plasma ball from Microcosm is now on display at the LHCb site. As Microcosm's new content is moving in, its old content is moving up. From LHCb to IdeaSquare, former Microcosm displays and objects are being installed across the CERN site. "Microcosm featured many elements that were well suited to life outside of the exhibition," says Emma Sanders, Microcosm project leader in the EDU group. "We didn't want this popular content to go to waste, and so set out to find them new homes across CERN." The LHCb experiment has received a number of Microcosm favourites, including the Rutherford experiment, the cosmic ray display and the Thomson experiment. "We&...

Globe exhibit wins international acclaim

CERN Multimedia

Katarina Anthony

2011-01-01

The Globe’s “Universe of Particles” exhibition has recently received four prestigious awards for its avant-garde design. This external praise is great encouragement for the CERN exhibitions currently on the drawing board.   The Universe of Particles exhibition has won 4 awards for its avant-garde design. Back in 2008, the design company Atelier Brückner was presented with a challenge: to design the layout of a new permanent exhibition for CERN, one that would epitomize both the Organization and its research. The brief was concise but complex: the exhibit had to be symbolic of the Organization, use modern technology, engage and immerse visitors, and, preferably, use touch-screen technology. With the help of IArt, an interactive technology firm, and based on the content provided by CERN’s Education Group, Atelier Brückner developed the “Universe of Particles” exhibit as it is today. Its principal concept centred on the s...

Subsets of microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers exhibit discordance between the CpG island methylator phenotype and MLH1 methylation status.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jung H; Rhee, Ye-Y; Bae, Jeong-M; Kwon, Hyeong-J; Cho, Nam-Y; Kim, Mi J; Kang, Gyeong H

2013-07-01

Although the presence of MLH1 methylation in microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancer generally indicates involvement of the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) in the development of the tumor, these two conditions do not always correlate. A minority of microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers exhibit discordance between CIMP and MLH1 methylation statuses. However, the clinicopathological features of such microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers with discrepant MLH1 methylation and CIMP statuses remain poorly studied. Microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers (n=220) were analyzed for CIMP and MLH1 methylation statuses using the MethyLight assay. Based on the combinatorial CIMP and MLH1 methylation statuses, the microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers were grouped into four subtypes (CIMP-high (CIMP-H) MLH1 methylation-positive (MLH1m+), CIMP-H MLH1 methylation-negative, CIMP-low/0 (CIMP-L/0) MLH1m+, and CIMP-L/0 MLH1 methylation-negative), which were compared in terms of their associations with clinicopathological and molecular features. The CIMP-L/0 MLH1 methylation-negative and CIMP-H MLH1m+ subtypes were predominant, comprising 63.6 and 24.1% of total microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers, respectively. The discordant subtypes, CIMP-H MLH1 methylation-negative and CIMP-L/0 MLH1m+, were found in 5 and 7% of microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers, respectively. The CIMP-H MLH1 methylation-negative subtype exhibited elevated incidence rates in male patients and was associated with larger tumor size, more frequent loss of MSH2 expression, increased frequency of KRAS mutation, and advanced cancer stage. The CIMP-L/0 MLH1m+ subtype was associated with onset at an earlier age, a predominance of MLH1 loss, and earlier cancer stage. None of the CIMP-L/0 MLH1m+ subtype patients succumbed to death during the follow-up. Our findings suggest that the discordant subtypes of colorectal cancers exhibit distinct clinicopathological and molecular features

Good and bad in the hands of politicians: spontaneous gestures during positive and negative speech.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Casasanto

2010-07-01

Full Text Available According to the body-specificity hypothesis, people with different bodily characteristics should form correspondingly different mental representations, even in highly abstract conceptual domains. In a previous test of this proposal, right- and left-handers were found to associate positive ideas like intelligence, attractiveness, and honesty with their dominant side and negative ideas with their non-dominant side. The goal of the present study was to determine whether 'body-specific' associations of space and valence can be observed beyond the laboratory in spontaneous behavior, and whether these implicit associations have visible consequences.We analyzed speech and gesture (3012 spoken clauses, 1747 gestures from the final debates of the 2004 and 2008 US presidential elections, which involved two right-handers (Kerry, Bush and two left-handers (Obama, McCain. Blind, independent coding of speech and gesture allowed objective hypothesis testing. Right- and left-handed candidates showed contrasting associations between gesture and speech. In both of the left-handed candidates, left-hand gestures were associated more strongly with positive-valence clauses and right-hand gestures with negative-valence clauses; the opposite pattern was found in both right-handed candidates.Speakers associate positive messages more strongly with dominant hand gestures and negative messages with non-dominant hand gestures, revealing a hidden link between action and emotion. This pattern cannot be explained by conventions in language or culture, which associate 'good' with 'right' but not with 'left'; rather, results support and extend the body-specificity hypothesis. Furthermore, results suggest that the hand speakers use to gesture may have unexpected (and probably unintended communicative value, providing the listener with a subtle index of how the speaker feels about the content of the co-occurring speech.

Neural mechanisms of social dominance

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Noriya; Yamamoto, Miyuki

2015-01-01

In a group setting, individuals' perceptions of their own level of dominance or of the dominance level of others, and the ability to adequately control their behavior based on these perceptions are crucial for living within a social environment. Recent advances in neural imaging and molecular technology have enabled researchers to investigate the neural substrates that support the perception of social dominance and the formation of a social hierarchy in humans. At the systems' level, recent studies showed that dominance perception is represented in broad brain regions which include the amygdala, hippocampus, striatum, and various cortical networks such as the prefrontal, and parietal cortices. Additionally, neurotransmitter systems such as the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems, modulate and are modulated by the formation of the social hierarchy in a group. While these monoamine systems have a wide distribution and multiple functions, it was recently found that the Neuropeptide B/W contributes to the perception of dominance and is present in neurons that have a limited projection primarily to the amygdala. The present review discusses the specific roles of these neural regions and neurotransmitter systems in the perception of dominance and in hierarchy formation. PMID:26136644

Neural mechanisms of social dominance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noriya eWatanabe

2015-06-01

Full Text Available In a group setting, individuals’ perceptions of their own level of dominance or of the dominance level of others, and the ability to adequately control their behavior based on these perceptions are crucial for living within a social environment. Recent advances in neural imaging and molecular technology have enabled researchers to investigate the neural substrates that support the perception of social dominance and the formation of a social hierarchy in humans. At the systems’ level, recent studies showed that dominance perception is represented in broad brain regions which include the amygdala, hippocampus, striatum, and various cortical networks such as the prefrontal, and parietal cortices. Additionally, neurotransmitter systems such as the dopaminergic and serotonergic systems, modulate and are modulated by the formation of the social hierarchy in a group. While these monoamine systems have a wide distribution and multiple functions, it was recently found that the Neuropeptide B/W contributes to the perception of dominance and is present in neurons that have a limited projection primarily to the amygdala. The present review discusses the specific roles of these neural regions and neurotransmitter systems in the perception of dominance and in hierarchy formation.

A unified engineering model of the first stroke in downward negative lightning

Science.gov (United States)

Nag, Amitabh; Rakov, Vladimir A.

2016-03-01

Each stroke in a negative cloud-to-ground lightning flash is composed of downward leader and upward return stroke processes, which are usually modeled individually. The first stroke leader is stepped and starts with preliminary breakdown (PB) which is often viewed as a separate process. We present the first unified engineering model for computing the electric field produced by a sequence of PB, stepped leader, and return stroke processes, serving to transport negative charge to ground. We assume that a negatively charged channel extends downward in a stepped fashion during both the PB and leader stages. Each step involves a current wave that propagates upward along the newly formed channel section. Once the leader attaches to ground, an upward propagating return stroke neutralizes the charge deposited along the channel. Model-predicted electric fields are in reasonably good agreement with simultaneous measurements at both near (hundreds of meters, electrostatic field component is dominant) and far (tens of kilometers, radiation field component is dominant) distances from the lightning channel. Relations between the features of computed electric field waveforms and model input parameters are examined. It appears that peak currents associated with PB pulses are similar to return stroke peak currents, and the observed variation of electric radiation field peaks produced by leader steps at different heights above ground is influenced by the ground corona space charge.

A Two-Factor Model Better Explains Heterogeneity in Negative Symptoms: Evidence from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Seon-Kyeong; Choi, Hye-Im; Park, Soohyun; Jaekal, Eunju; Lee, Ga-Young; Cho, Young Il; Choi, Kee-Hong

2016-01-01

Acknowledging separable factors underlying negative symptoms may lead to better understanding and treatment of negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia. The current study aimed to test whether the negative symptoms factor (NSF) of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) would be better represented by expressive and experiential deficit factors, rather than by a single factor model, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Two hundred and twenty individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders completed the PANSS; subsamples additionally completed the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) and the Motivation and Pleasure Scale-Self-Report (MAP-SR). CFA results indicated that the two-factor model fit the data better than the one-factor model; however, latent variables were closely correlated. The two-factor model's fit was significantly improved by accounting for correlated residuals between N2 (emotional withdrawal) and N6 (lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation), and between N4 (passive social withdrawal) and G16 (active social avoidance), possibly reflecting common method variance. The two NSF factors exhibited differential patterns of correlation with subdomains of the BNSS and MAP-SR. These results suggest that the PANSS NSF would be better represented by a two-factor model than by a single-factor one, and support the two-factor model's adequate criterion-related validity. Common method variance among several items may be a potential source of measurement error under a two-factor model of the PANSS NSF.

Bioenergy harvest impacts to biodiversity and resilience vary across aspen-dominated forest ecosystems in the Lake States region, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda T. Curzon; Anthony W. D' Amato; Brian J. Palik; Kris Verheyen

2016-01-01

Questions: Does the increase in disturbance associated with removing harvest residues negatively impact biodiversity and resilience in aspen-dominated forest ecosystems? How do responses of functional diversity measures relate to community recovery and standing biomass? Location: Aspen (Populus tremuloides, Michx.) mixedwood forests in Minnesota...

Negative viscosity can enhance learning of inertial dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Felix C; Patton, James L; Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando A

2009-06-01

We investigated how learning of inertial load manipulation is influenced by movement amplification with negative viscosity. Using a force-feedback device, subjects trained on anisotropic loads (5 orientations) with free movements in one of three conditions (inertia only, negative viscosity only, or combined), prior to common evaluation conditions (prescribed circular pattern with inertia only). Training with Combined-Load resulted in lower error (6.89±3.25%) compared to Inertia-Only (8.40±4.32%) and Viscosity-Only (8.17±4.13%) according to radial deviation analysis (% of trial mean radius). Combined-Load and Inertia-Only groups exhibited similar unexpected no-load trials (8.38±4.31% versus 8.91±4.70% of trial mean radius), which suggests comparable low-impedance strategies. These findings are remarkable since negative viscosity, only available during training, evidently enhanced learning when combined with inertia. Modeling analysis suggests that a feedforward after-effect of negative viscosity cannot predict such performance gains. Instead, results from Combined-Load training are consistent with greater feedforward inertia compensation along with a small increase in impedance control. The capability of the nervous system to generalize learning from negative viscosity suggests an intriguing new method for enhancing sensorimotor adaptation.

Age differences in autobiographical memories of negative events.

Science.gov (United States)

Boals, Adriel; Hayslip, Bert; Banks, Jonathan B

2014-01-01

This study examined whether older adults recollect autobiographical memories of negative events so as to minimize unpleasant emotions to a greater extent than do younger adults. A sample of healthy older adults (N = 126) and younger adults (N = 119) completed the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire and a measure of PTSD symptoms in response to their most negative recalled event. Results supported the hypothesis that older adults rated their negative memories as having: 1) less of a sense of traveling back to the time the event occurred, 2) less associated visceral emotional reactions, 3) fewer associated negative emotions, and 4) fewer PTSD symptoms, all relative to younger adults. In addition, older adults exhibited higher ratings of belief in accuracy, higher ratings that the memory comes as a coherent story, and more associated positive emotions, again all relative to younger adults. After controlling for differences between the types of events younger and older adults reported and how long ago the event occurred, the above age differences remained statistically significant, though the effect sizes were attenuated in some cases. These results are consistent in their support for the positivity effect, and suggest that older adults modify their recollections of negative events in a manner that is emotionally adaptive for them.

On the domination and signed domination numbers of zero-divisor graph

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ebrahim Vatandoost

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Let $R$ be a commutative ring (with 1 and let $Z(R$ be its set of zero-divisors. The zero-divisor graph $\\Gamma(R$ has vertex set $Z^*(R=Z(R \\setminus \\lbrace0 \\rbrace$ and for distinct $x,y \\in Z^*(R$, the vertices $x$ and $y$ are adjacent if and only if $xy=0$. In this paper, we consider the domination number and signed domination number on zero-divisor graph $\\Gamma(R$ of commutative ring $R$ such that for every $0 \

Modeling of secondary emission processes in the negative ion based electrostatic accelerator of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

OpenAIRE

G. Fubiani; H. P. L. de Esch; A. Simonin; R. S. Hemsworth

2008-01-01

The negative ion electrostatic accelerator for the neutral beam injector of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is designed to deliver a negative deuterium current of 40 A at 1 MeV. Inside the accelerator there are several types of interactions that may create secondary particles. The dominating process originates from the single and double stripping of the accelerated negative ion by collision with the residual molecular deuterium gas (≃29% losses). The resulting seco...

Interactive effects of moss-dominated crusts and Artemisia ordosica on wind erosion and soil moisture in Mu Us sandland, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yongsheng; Bu, Chongfeng; Mu, Xingmin; Shao, Hongbo; Zhang, Kankan

2014-01-01

To better understand the effects of biological soil crusts (BSCs) on soil moisture and wind erosion and study the necessity and feasibility of disturbance of BSCs in the Mu Us sandland, the effects of four treatments, including moss-dominated crusts alone, Artemisia ordosica alone, bare sand, and Artemisia ordosica combined with moss-dominated crusts, on rainwater infiltration, soil moisture, and annual wind erosion were observed. The major results are as follows. (1) The development of moss-dominated crusts exacerbated soil moisture consumption and had negative effects on soil moisture in the Mu Us sandland. (2) Moss-dominated crusts significantly increased soil resistance to wind erosion, and when combined with Artemisia ordosica, this effect became more significant. The contribution of moss-dominated crusts under Artemisia ordosica was significantly lower than that of moss-dominated crusts alone in sites where vegetative coverage > 50%. (3) Finally, an appropriate disturbance of moss-dominated crusts in the rainy season in sites with high vegetative coverage improved soil water environment and vegetation succession, but disturbance in sites with little or no vegetative cover should be prohibited to avoid the exacerbation of wind erosion.

[Clinical and molecular study in a family with autosomal dominant hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia].

Science.gov (United States)

Callea, Michele; Cammarata-Scalisi, Francisco; Willoughby, Colin E; Giglio, Sabrina R; Sani, Ilaria; Bargiacchi, Sara; Traficante, Giovanna; Bellacchio, Emanuele; Tadini, Gianluca; Yavuz, Izzet; Galeotti, Angela; Clarich, Gabriella

2017-02-01

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED) is a rare disease characterized by deficiency in development of structure derived from the ectoderm and is caused by mutations in the genes EDA, EDAR, or EDARADD. Phenotypes caused by mutations in these three may exhibit similar clinical features, explained by a common signaling pathway. Mutations in EDA gene cause X linked HED, which is the most common form. Mutations in EDAR and EDARADD genes cause autosomal dominant and recessive form of HED. The most striking clinical findings in HED are hypodontia, hypotrichosis and hypohidrosis that can lead to episodes of hyperthermia. We report on clinical findings in a child with HED with autosomal dominant inheritance pattern with a heterozygous mutation c.1072C>T (p.Arg358X) in the EDAR gene. A review of the literature with regard to other cases presenting the same mutation has been carried out and discussed. Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría.

Familial melanoma associated with dominant ultraviolet radiation sensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramsay, R.G.; Chen, P.; Imray, F.P.; Kidson, C.; Lavin, M.F.; Hockey, A.

1982-01-01

Sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation was studied in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 32 members of two families with histories of multiple primary melanomas in several generations. As assayed by colony formation in agar or by trypan blue exclusion following irradiation, cellular sensitivity showed a bimodal distribution. All persons with melanoma or multiple moles were in the sensitive group, while some family members exhibited responses similar to those of controls. Cells from four cases of sporadic melanoma showed normal levels of sensitivity. The data are consistent with a dominantly inherited ultraviolet light sensitivity associated with these examples of familial melanoma. Spontaneous and ultraviolet light-induced sister chromatid exchange frequencies were similar to those in control cell lines. No defect in excision repair was detected in any of the above cell lines, but the sensitive group showed postirradiation inhibition of DNA replication intermediate between controls and an excision-deficient xeroderma pigmentosum cell line

Effects of CEOs’ Negative Traits on Corporate Social Responsibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Kyu Myung

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The dark triad, composed of Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism, refers to negative personality traits, which may influence business processes. While negative traits could be an important factor explaining the relationship between a CEO’s immoral and unethical behavior and corporate social responsibility (CSR, there has been minimal research focusing on this relationship. This paper thus attempts to investigate how a CEO exhibiting these negative traits affects CSR, and if an employee’s perception of ethics and social responsibility would mediate the relationship. In addition, this paper considers the moderating effects of an individual performance-based compensation system (IPBCS between employee’s CSR perception and CSR activities. The data are collected through a survey conducted on 165 employees (companies in twelve industries. The regression result indicates an inverse relationship between the negative traits of a CEO and an employee’s perception of ethics and social responsibility and CSR activities, and the mediating effect of the perception in the relationship between the negative traits and CSR activities. It also indicates that an IPBCS moderates the relationship between CSR perception and activities. Implications for the study, future research directions, and management approach are discussed.

Negative mobility of a Brownian particle: Strong damping regime

Science.gov (United States)

Słapik, A.; Łuczka, J.; Spiechowicz, J.

2018-02-01

We study impact of inertia on directed transport of a Brownian particle under non-equilibrium conditions: the particle moves in a one-dimensional periodic and symmetric potential, is driven by both an unbiased time-periodic force and a constant force, and is coupled to a thermostat of temperature T. Within selected parameter regimes this system exhibits negative mobility, which means that the particle moves in the direction opposite to the direction of the constant force. It is known that in such a setup the inertial term is essential for the emergence of negative mobility and it cannot be detected in the limiting case of overdamped dynamics. We analyse inertial effects and show that negative mobility can be observed even in the strong damping regime. We determine the optimal dimensionless mass for the presence of negative mobility and reveal three mechanisms standing behind this anomaly: deterministic chaotic, thermal noise induced and deterministic non-chaotic. The last origin has never been reported. It may provide guidance to the possibility of observation of negative mobility for strongly damped dynamics which is of fundamental importance from the point of view of biological systems, all of which in situ operate in fluctuating environments.

Towards a Negative Refractive Index in an Atomic System

Science.gov (United States)

Simmons, Zach; Brewer, Nick; Yavuz, Deniz

2014-05-01

The goal of our experiments is to obtain a negative index of refraction in the optical region of the spectrum using an atomic system. The concept of negative refraction, which was first predicted by Veselago more than four decades ago, has recently emerged as a very exciting field of science. Negative index materials exhibit many seemingly strange properties such as electromagnetic vectors forming a left-handed triad. A key potential application for these materials was discovered in 2000 when Pendry predicted that a slab with a negative refractive index can image objects with a resolution far better than the diffraction limit. Thus far, research in negative index materials has primarily focused on meta-materials. The fixed response and often large absorption of these engineered materials motivates our efforts to work in an atomic system. An atomic media offers the potential to be actively modified, for example by changing laser parameters, and can be tuned to cancel absorption. A doped crystal allows for high atomic densities compared to other atomic systems. So far we have identified a transition in such a material, Eu:YSO, as a candidate for these experiments and are performing spectroscopy on this material.

Sex-reversed correlation between stress levels and dominance rank in a captive non-breeder flock of crows.

Science.gov (United States)

Ode, Minami; Asaba, Akari; Miyazawa, Eri; Mogi, Kazutaka; Kikusui, Takefumi; Izawa, Ei-Ichi

2015-07-01

Group living has both benefits and costs to individuals; benefits include efficient acquisition of resources, and costs include stress from social conflicts among group members. Such social challenges result in hierarchical dominance ranking among group members as a solution to avoid escalating conflict that causes different levels of basal stress between individuals at different ranks. Stress-associated glucocorticoid (corticosterone in rodents and birds; CORT) levels are known to correlate with dominance rank in diverse taxa and to covary with various social factors, such as sex and dominance maintenance styles. Although there is much evidence for sex differences in the basal levels of CORT in various species, the correlation of sex differences in basal CORT with dominance rank is poorly understood. We investigated the correlation between CORT metabolites (CM) in the droppings and social factors, including rank and sex, in a captive non-breeder group of crows. In this group, all the single males dominated all the single females, and dominance ranks were stable among single males but relatively unstable among single females. CM levels and rank were significantly correlated in a sex-reversed fashion: males at higher rank (i.e., more dominant) had higher CM, whereas females at higher rank exhibited lower CM. This is the first evidence of sex-reversed patterns of CM-rank correlation in birds. The results suggest that different mechanisms of stress-dominance relationships operate on the sexes in non-breeder crow aggregations; in males, stress is associated with the cost of aggressive displays, whereas females experience subordination stress due to males' overt aggression. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language dominance shapes non-linguistic rhythmic grouping in bilinguals.

Science.gov (United States)

Molnar, Monika; Carreiras, Manuel; Gervain, Judit

2016-07-01

To what degree non-linguistic auditory rhythm perception is governed by universal biases (e.g., Iambic-Trochaic Law; Hayes, 1995) or shaped by native language experience is debated. It has been proposed that rhythmic regularities in spoken language, such as phrasal prosody affect the grouping abilities of monolinguals (e.g., Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Here, we assessed the non-linguistic tone grouping biases of Spanish monolinguals, and three groups of Basque-Spanish bilinguals with different levels of Basque experience. It is usually assumed in the literature that Basque and Spanish have different phrasal prosodies and even linguistic rhythms. To confirm this, first, we quantified Basque and Spanish phrasal prosody (Experiment 1a) and duration patterns used in the classification of languages into rhythm classes (Experiment 1b). The acoustic measurements revealed that regularities in phrasal prosody systematically differ across Basque and Spanish; by contrast, the rhythms of the two languages are only minimally dissimilar. In Experiment 2, participants' non-linguistic rhythm preferences were assessed in response to non-linguistic tones alternating in either intensity (Intensity condition) or in duration (Duration condition). In the Intensity condition, all groups showed a trochaic grouping bias, as predicted by the Iambic-Trochaic Law. In the Duration Condition the Spanish monolingual and the most Basque-dominant bilingual group exhibited opposite grouping preferences in line with the phrasal prosodies of their native/dominant languages, trochaic in Basque, iambic in Spanish. The two other bilingual groups showed no significant biases, however. Overall, results indicate that duration-based grouping mechanisms are biased toward the phrasal prosody of the native and dominant language; also, the presence of an L2 in the environment interacts with the auditory biases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Greenhouse Earth: A Traveling Exhibition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, W.H.; Caesar, S.

1992-09-01

The Franklin Institute Science Museum provided an exhibit entitled the Greenhouse Earth: A Traveling Exhibition. This 3500 square-foot exhibit on global climate change was developed in collaboration with the Association of Science-Technology Centers. The exhibit opened at The Franklin Institute on February 14, 1992, welcoming 291,000 visitors over its three-month stay. During its three-year tour, Greenhouse Earth will travel to ten US cities, reaching two million visitors. Greenhouse Earth aims to deepen public understanding of the scientific issues of global warming and the conservation measures that can be taken to slow its effects. The exhibit features hands-on exhibitry, interactive computer programs and videos, a theater production, a ''demonstration cart,'' guided tours, and lectures. supplemental educational programs at the Institute included a teachers preview, a symposium on climate change, and a ''satellite field trip.'' The development of Greenhouse Earth included front-end and formative evaluation procedures. Evaluation includes interviews with visitors, prototypes, and summative surveys for participating museums. During its stay in Philadelphia, Greenhouse Earth was covered by the local and national press, with reviews in print and broadcast media. Greenhouse Earth is the first large-scale museum exhibit to address global climate change

Fifty Shades Flipped: Effects of Reading Erotica Depicting a Sexually Dominant Woman Compared to a Sexually Dominant Man.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Emily Ann; Thai, Michael; Barlow, Fiona Kate

2017-01-01

The present study examined the effects of reading submission- and dominance-themed erotica on attitudes toward women and rape, ideal partner preferences, and subjective sexual arousal. Heterosexual male (n = 241) and female (n = 240) participants read one of three erotic stories depicting male dominance, female dominance, or no dominance, or a fourth nonerotic control story. First, we found that after reading about a sexually dominant man, women reported increased benevolent sexism compared to men, and men reported increased rape myth acceptance compared to women. Second, men and women showed a similar level of preference for partner dominance after reading about a sexually dominant woman. This was in contrast to the typical pattern revealed in all other conditions, whereby women were more likely to favor dominant partners relative to men. Finally, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that the story describing male dominance would be the most arousing. Rather, all three erotic stories were equally sexually arousing compared to the control condition, and men and women did not differ in the extent to which the erotic stories aroused them. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

An exposition on Friedmann cosmology with negative energy densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nemiroff, Robert J.; Joshi, Ravi; Patla, Bijunath R.

2015-01-01

How would negative energy density affect a classic Friedmann cosmology? Although never measured and possibly unphysical, certain realizations of quantum field theories leaves the door open for such a possibility. In this paper we analyze the evolution of a universe comprising varying amounts of negative energy forms. Negative energy components have negative normalized energy densities, Ω < 0. They include negative phantom energy with an equation of state parameter w < −1, negative cosmological constant: w=−1, negative domain walls: w = −2/3, negative cosmic strings: w=−1/3, negative mass: w = 0, negative radiation: w = 1/3 and negative ultralight: w > 1/3. Assuming that such energy forms generate pressure like perfect fluids, the attractive or repulsive nature of negative energy components are reviewed. The Friedmann equation is satisfied only when negative energy forms are coupled to a greater magnitude of positive energy forms or positive curvature. We show that the solutions exhibit cyclic evolution with bounces and turnovers.The future and fate of such universes in terms of curvature, temperature, acceleration, and energy density are reviewed. The end states are dubbed ''big crunch,' '' big void,' or ''big rip' and further qualified as ''warped',''curved', or ''flat',''hot' versus ''cold', ''accelerating' versus ''decelerating' versus ''coasting'. A universe that ends by contracting to zero energy density is termed ''big poof.' Which contracting universes ''bounce' in expansion and which expanding universes ''turnover' into contraction are also reviewed

A Boundary Property for Upper Domination

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.; Hussain, Shahid; Lozin, Vadim; Monnot, Jé rô me; Ries, Bernard; Zamaraev, Viktor

2016-01-01

An upper dominating set in a graph is a minimal (with respect to set inclusion) dominating set of maximum cardinality.The problem of finding an upper dominating set is generally NP-hard, but can be solved in polynomial time in some restricted graph

Calculation of the Connected Dominating Set Considering Vertex Importance Metrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Vazquez-Araujo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The computation of a set constituted by few vertices to define a virtual backbone supporting information interchange is a problem that arises in many areas when analysing networks of different natures, like wireless, brain, or social networks. Recent papers propose obtaining such a set of vertices by computing the connected dominating set (CDS of a graph. In recent works, the CDS has been obtained by considering that all vertices exhibit similar characteristics. However, that assumption is not valid for complex networks in which their vertices can play different roles. Therefore, we propose finding the CDS by taking into account several metrics which measure the importance of each network vertex e.g., error probability, entropy, or entropy variation (EV.

Structural Characterization of Neutral Saccharides by Negative Ion MALDI Mass Spectrometry Using a Superbasic Proton Sponge as Deprotonating Matrix

Science.gov (United States)

Calvano, Cosima Damiana; Cataldi, Tommaso R. I.; Kögel, Julius F.; Monopoli, Antonio; Palmisano, Francesco; Sundermeyer, Jorge

2017-08-01

The superbasic proton sponge 1,8-bis(tripyrrolidinylphosphazenyl)naphthalene (TPPN) has been successfully employed for the structural characterization of neutral saccharides, cyclodextrins, and saccharide alditols by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS/MS). Owing to its inherently high basicity, TPPN is capable of deprotonating neutral carbohydrates (M) providing an efficient and simple way to produce gas-phase [M - H]- ions. Highly informative negative ions MS/MS spectra showing several diagnostic fragment ions were obtained, mainly A-type cross-ring and C-type glycosidic cleavages. Indeed, cross-ring cleavages of monosaccharides with formation of 0,2A, 0,3A, 2,4A, 2,5A, 3,5A, and 0,3X product ions dominate the MS/MS spectra. A significant difference between reducing (e.g., lactose, maltose) and non-reducing disaccharides (e.g., sucrose, trehalose) was observed. Though disaccharides with the anomeric positions blocked give rise to deprotonated molecules, [M - H]-, at m/ z 341.1, reducing ones exhibited a peak at m/ z 340.1, most likely as radical anion, [M - H•- H]-•. The superiority of TPPN was clearly demonstrated by comparison with well recognized matrices, such as 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid and 2',4',6'-trihydroxyacetophenone (positive ion mode) and nor-harman (negative ion mode). MALDI MS/MS experiments on isotopically labeled sugars have greatly supported the interpretation of plausible fragmentation pathways.

Modelling both dominance and species distribution provides a more complete picture of changes to mangrove ecosystems under climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Crase, Beth; Vesk, Peter A; Liedloff, Adam; Wintle, Brendan A

2015-08-01

Dominant species influence the composition and abundance of other species present in ecosystems. However, forecasts of distributional change under future climates have predominantly focused on changes in species distribution and ignored possible changes in spatial and temporal patterns of dominance. We develop forecasts of spatial changes for the distribution of species dominance, defined in terms of basal area, and for species occurrence, in response to sea level rise for three tree taxa within an extensive mangrove ecosystem in northern Australia. Three new metrics are provided, indicating the area expected to be suitable under future conditions (Eoccupied ), the instability of suitable area (Einstability ) and the overlap between the current and future spatial distribution (Eoverlap ). The current dominance and occurrence were modelled in relation to a set of environmental variables using boosted regression tree (BRT) models, under two scenarios of seedling establishment: unrestricted and highly restricted. While forecasts of spatial change were qualitatively similar for species occurrence and dominance, the models of species dominance exhibited higher metrics of model fit and predictive performance, and the spatial pattern of future dominance was less similar to the current pattern than was the case for the distributions of species occurrence. This highlights the possibility of greater changes in the spatial patterning of mangrove tree species dominance under future sea level rise. Under the restricted seedling establishment scenario, the area occupied by or dominated by a species declined between 42.1% and 93.8%, while for unrestricted seedling establishment, the area suitable for dominance or occurrence of each species varied from a decline of 68.4% to an expansion of 99.5%. As changes in the spatial patterning of dominance are likely to cause a cascade of effects throughout the ecosystem, forecasting spatial changes in dominance provides new and

Exhibition

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2016-01-01

Encounters Hanne Blitz From February 1st to 12th 2016 CERN Meyrin, Main Building What is our reaction to a first encounter with a tourist attraction? Contemporary Dutch painter Hanne Blitz captures visitors' responses to art and architecture, sweeping vistas and symbolic memorials. Encounters, a series of oil paintings curated specially for this CERN exhibition, depicts tourists visiting cultural highlights around the world. A thought-provoking journey not to be missed, and a tip of the hat to CERN's large Hadron Collider.

Hereditary 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR) caused by a VDR mutation: A novel mechanism of dominant inheritance.

Science.gov (United States)

Isojima, Tsuyoshi; Ishizawa, Michiyasu; Yoshimura, Kazuko; Tamura, Mayuko; Hirose, Shinichi; Makishima, Makoto; Kitanaka, Sachiko

2015-06-01

Hereditary 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR) is caused by mutations in the VDR gene, and its inheritance is autosomal recessive. In this report, we aimed to confirm whether HVDRR is occasionally inherited as a dominant trait. An 18-month-old Japanese boy was evaluated for short stature and bowlegs. His father had been treated for rickets during childhood, and his paternal grandfather had bowlegs. We diagnosed him with HVDRR based on laboratory data and radiographic evidence of rickets. Sequence analyses of VDR were performed, and the functional consequences of the detected mutations were analyzed for transcriptional activity, ligand binding, and interaction with the retinoid X receptor, cofactors, and the vitamin D response element (VDRE). A novel mutation (Q400LfsX7) and a reported variant (R370H) were identified in the patient. Heterozygous Q400LfsX7 was detected in his father, and heterozygous R370H was detected in his healthy mother. Functional studies revealed that the transcriptional activity of Q400LfsX7-VDR was markedly disturbed. The mutant had a dominant-negative effect on wild-type-VDR, and the ligand binding affinity of Q400LfsX7-VDR was completely impaired. Interestingly, Q400LfsX7-VDR had a strong interaction with corepressor NCoR and could interact with VDRE without the ligand. R370H-VDR was functionally similar to wild-type-VDR. In conclusion, we found a dominant-negative mutant of VDR causing dominantly inherited HVDRR through a constitutive corepressor interaction, a mechanism similar to that in dominantly inherited thyroid hormone receptor mutations. Our report together with a reported pedigree suggested a distinct inheritance of HVDRR and enriched our understanding of VDR abnormalities.

Hereditary 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR caused by a VDR mutation: A novel mechanism of dominant inheritance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsuyoshi Isojima

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Hereditary 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR is caused by mutations in the VDR gene, and its inheritance is autosomal recessive. In this report, we aimed to confirm whether HVDRR is occasionally inherited as a dominant trait. An 18-month-old Japanese boy was evaluated for short stature and bowlegs. His father had been treated for rickets during childhood, and his paternal grandfather had bowlegs. We diagnosed him with HVDRR based on laboratory data and radiographic evidence of rickets. Sequence analyses of VDR were performed, and the functional consequences of the detected mutations were analyzed for transcriptional activity, ligand binding, and interaction with the retinoid X receptor, cofactors, and the vitamin D response element (VDRE. A novel mutation (Q400LfsX7 and a reported variant (R370H were identified in the patient. Heterozygous Q400LfsX7 was detected in his father, and heterozygous R370H was detected in his healthy mother. Functional studies revealed that the transcriptional activity of Q400LfsX7-VDR was markedly disturbed. The mutant had a dominant-negative effect on wild-type-VDR, and the ligand binding affinity of Q400LfsX7-VDR was completely impaired. Interestingly, Q400LfsX7-VDR had a strong interaction with corepressor NCoR and could interact with VDRE without the ligand. R370H-VDR was functionally similar to wild-type-VDR. In conclusion, we found a dominant-negative mutant of VDR causing dominantly inherited HVDRR through a constitutive corepressor interaction, a mechanism similar to that in dominantly inherited thyroid hormone receptor mutations. Our report together with a reported pedigree suggested a distinct inheritance of HVDRR and enriched our understanding of VDR abnormalities.

ERPs on a continuous performance task and self-reported psychopathic traits: P3 and CNV augmentation are associated with Fearless Dominance.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Scott R; Thái, Stephanie

2010-10-01

Both augmented and reduced P3 amplitude have been associated with psychopathic personality. The Two Process Theory (TPT) suggests that there are two etiologically distinct traits underling psychopathy. One of these traits appears to be related to enhanced attention engagement and reduced anxiety. The other is related to impulsivity, social deviance and poor executive function. P3 is a multi-determined component indexing attention and working memory processes related to executive function. As such, we hypothesized that dissociable relationships would exist between these two dimensions and P3. We recorded P3 and the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV), an ERP response shown to be augmented in psychopaths, during an expectancy AX-continuous performance task from 60 undergraduates. We administered the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI). One factor of the PPI, Fearless Dominance, was related to the dimension of the TPT predicted to reflect relatively better executive function. We found that Fearless Dominance was uniquely associated with P3 augmentation. More negative CNV and faster reaction time were also specifically related to Fearless Dominance. These results illustrate the need to examine the differential relationships between psychopathic traits and P3 amplitude. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Semi-strong split domination in graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anwar Alwardi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Given a graph $G = (V,E$, a dominating set $D subseteq V$ is called a semi-strong split dominating set of $G$ if $|V setminus D| geq 1$ and the maximum degree of the subgraph induced by $V setminus D$ is 1. The minimum cardinality of a semi-strong split dominating set (SSSDS of G is the semi-strong split domination number of G, denoted $gamma_{sss}(G$. In this work, we introduce the concept and prove several results regarding it.

Convergent processing of both positive and negative motivational signals by the VTA dopamine neuronal populations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong V Wang

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA have been traditionally studied for their roles in reward-related motivation or drug addiction. Here we study how the VTA dopamine neuron population may process fearful and negative experiences as well as reward information in freely behaving mice. Using multi-tetrode recording, we find that up to 89% of the putative dopamine neurons in the VTA exhibit significant activation in response to the conditioned tone that predict food reward, while the same dopamine neuron population also respond to the fearful experiences such as free fall and shake events. The majority of these VTA putative dopamine neurons exhibit suppression and offset-rebound excitation, whereas ∼25% of the recorded putative dopamine neurons show excitation by the fearful events. Importantly, VTA putative dopamine neurons exhibit parametric encoding properties: their firing change durations are proportional to the fearful event durations. In addition, we demonstrate that the contextual information is crucial for these neurons to respectively elicit positive or negative motivational responses by the same conditioned tone. Taken together, our findings suggest that VTA dopamine neurons may employ the convergent encoding strategy for processing both positive and negative experiences, intimately integrating with cues and environmental context.

Dominant mechanisms for the delivery of fine sediment and phosphorus to fluvial networks draining grassland dominated headwater catchments.

Science.gov (United States)

Perks, M T; Owen, G J; Benskin, C McW H; Jonczyk, J; Deasy, C; Burke, S; Reaney, S M; Haygarth, P M

2015-08-01

Recent advances in monitoring technology have enabled high frequency, in-situ measurements of total phosphorus and total reactive phosphorus to be undertaken with high precision, whilst turbidity can provide an excellent surrogate for suspended sediment. Despite these measurements being fundamental to understanding the mechanisms and flow paths that deliver these constituents to river networks, there is a paucity of such data for headwater agricultural catchments. The aim of this paper is to deduce the dominant mechanisms for the delivery of fine sediment and phosphorus to an upland river network in the UK through characterisation of the temporal variability of hydrological fluxes, and associated soluble and particulate concentrations for the period spanning March 2012-February 2013. An assessment of the factors producing constituent hysteresis is undertaken following factor analysis (FA) on a suite of measured environmental variables representing the fluvial and wider catchment conditions prior to, and during catchment-wide hydrological events. Analysis indicates that suspended sediment is delivered to the fluvial system predominantly via rapidly responding pathways driven by event hydrology. However, evidence of complex, figure-of-eight hysteresis is observed following periods of hydrological quiescence, highlighting the importance of preparatory processes. Sediment delivery via a slow moving, probably sub-surface pathway does occur, albeit infrequently and during low magnitude events at the catchment outlet. Phosphorus is revealed to have a distinct hysteretic response to that of suspended sediment, with sub-surface pathways dominating. However, high magnitude events were observed to exhibit threshold-like behaviour, whereby activation and connection of usually disconnected depositional zones to the fluvial networks results in the movement of vast phosphorus fluxes. Multiple pathways are observed for particulate and soluble constituents, highlighting the

Investigating Design Research Landscapes through Exhibition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jönsson, Li; Hansen, Flemming Tvede; Mäkelä, Maarit

2013-01-01

What characterizes a design research exhibition compared to a traditional design and art exhibition? How do you show the very materialities of the design experiments as a means for communicating knowledge of research and of practice? How do you present, review and utilize such an exhibition......? With those questions in mind, the intention and challenge for the Nordes 2013 Design Research Exhibition was to expand on current notions of staging research enquires in design research conference contexts. Artefacts, installations, performances, and other materialities that relate to the theme...... of the conference - Experiments in Design Research – were displayed as tools to express and communicate different design research enquires. Through this paper we will describe the Nordes exhibition as a specific case that renders questions visible in relation to how to utilize a design research exhibition...

Benefits of Dominance over Additive Models for the Estimation of Average Effects in the Presence of Dominance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pascal Duenk

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In quantitative genetics, the average effect at a single locus can be estimated by an additive (A model, or an additive plus dominance (AD model. In the presence of dominance, the AD-model is expected to be more accurate, because the A-model falsely assumes that residuals are independent and identically distributed. Our objective was to investigate the accuracy of an estimated average effect (α^ in the presence of dominance, using either a single locus A-model or AD-model. Estimation was based on a finite sample from a large population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE, and the root mean squared error of α^ was calculated for several broad-sense heritabilities, sample sizes, and sizes of the dominance effect. Results show that with the A-model, both sampling deviations of genotype frequencies from HWE frequencies and sampling deviations of allele frequencies contributed to the error. With the AD-model, only sampling deviations of allele frequencies contributed to the error, provided that all three genotype classes were sampled. In the presence of dominance, the root mean squared error of α^ with the AD-model was always smaller than with the A-model, even when the heritability was less than one. Remarkably, in the absence of dominance, there was no disadvantage of fitting dominance. In conclusion, the AD-model yields more accurate estimates of average effects from a finite sample, because it is more robust against sampling deviations from HWE frequencies than the A-model. Genetic models that include dominance, therefore, yield higher accuracies of estimated average effects than purely additive models when dominance is present.

Black-pigmented gram-negative anaerobes in endodontic infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Haapasalo, M

1993-03-01

Necrotic dental root canal infections are polymicrobial infections dominated by anaerobic bacteria. The number of different species in one canal is usually low, approx. 4-7 species. The species isolated most frequently belong to the genera Prevotella, Porphyromonas, Fusobacterium, Peptostreptococcus, Eubacterium and Streptococcus. The frequency of isolation of black-pigmented Gram-negative anaerobes in endodontic infections varies from 25% to > 50%. Pr. intermedia is the most commonly found pigmented species, followed by Pr. denticola and two Porphyromonas species, P. gingivalis and P. endodontalis. Several studies have shown that P. gingivalis and P. endodontalis are closely related to the presence of acute symptoms in endodontic infections, whereas other black-pigmented Gram-negative anaerobes are not. However, several other species may also be involved in acute infections. Moreover, Porphyromonas species have occasionally been isolated from cases with no symptoms. Although Porphyromonas spp. are clearly related to symptoms at the beginning of therapy, they are not important for the prognosis of the treatment.

On domination multisubdivision number of unicyclic graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Raczek

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The paper continues the interesting study of the domination subdivision number and the domination multisubdivision number. On the basis of the constructive characterization of the trees with the domination subdivision number equal to 3 given in [H. Aram, S.M. Sheikholeslami, O. Favaron, Domination subdivision number of trees, Discrete Math. 309 (2009, 622-628], we constructively characterize all connected unicyclic graphs with the domination multisubdivision number equal to 3. We end with further questions and open problems.

A mini-exhibition with maximum content

CERN Multimedia

Laëtitia Pedroso

2011-01-01

The University of Budapest has been hosting a CERN mini-exhibition since 8 May. While smaller than the main travelling exhibition it has a number of major advantages: its compact design alleviates transport difficulties and makes it easier to find suitable venues in the Member States. Its content can be updated almost instantaneously and it will become even more interactive and high-tech as time goes by.   The exhibition on display in Budapest. The purpose of CERN's new mini-exhibition is to be more interactive and easier to install. Due to its size, the main travelling exhibition cannot be moved around quickly, which is why it stays in the same country for 4 to 6 months. But this means a long waiting list for the other Member States. To solve this problem, the Education Group has designed a new exhibition, which is smaller and thus easier to install. Smaller maybe, but no less rich in content, as the new exhibition conveys exactly the same messages as its larger counterpart. However, in the slimm...

Comparative analysis of positive and negative attitudes toward statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Ghulami, Hassan Rahnaward; Ab Hamid, Mohd Rashid; Zakaria, Roslinazairimah

2015-02-01

Many statistics lecturers and statistics education researchers are interested to know the perception of their students' attitudes toward statistics during the statistics course. In statistics course, positive attitude toward statistics is a vital because it will be encourage students to get interested in the statistics course and in order to master the core content of the subject matters under study. Although, students who have negative attitudes toward statistics they will feel depressed especially in the given group assignment, at risk for failure, are often highly emotional, and could not move forward. Therefore, this study investigates the students' attitude towards learning statistics. Six latent constructs have been the measurement of students' attitudes toward learning statistic such as affect, cognitive competence, value, difficulty, interest, and effort. The questionnaire was adopted and adapted from the reliable and validate instrument of Survey of Attitudes towards Statistics (SATS). This study is conducted among engineering undergraduate engineering students in the university Malaysia Pahang (UMP). The respondents consist of students who were taking the applied statistics course from different faculties. From the analysis, it is found that the questionnaire is acceptable and the relationships among the constructs has been proposed and investigated. In this case, students show full effort to master the statistics course, feel statistics course enjoyable, have confidence that they have intellectual capacity, and they have more positive attitudes then negative attitudes towards statistics learning. In conclusion in terms of affect, cognitive competence, value, interest and effort construct the positive attitude towards statistics was mostly exhibited. While negative attitudes mostly exhibited by difficulty construct.

Allelopathic dominance ofMiscanthus transmorrisonensis in an alpine grassland community in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chou, C H; Lee, Y F

1991-11-01

A study site located at 2600 m elevation in Tartarchia Anpu, Nantou county, Taiwan, exhibits a unique grassland community composed of two principal species,Miscanthus transmorrisonensis andYushinia niitakayamensis, and 35 other species. The relative frequencies of the two species are 12% and 11%, while their relative coverages are 25% and 19.5%, respectively. The values for the remaining 35 species are lower than4% each, while species diversity of the community is -3.04839, indicating great diversity. To elucidate the mechanism of dominance ofM. transmorrisonensis, allelopathic evaluation of the plant was conducted. Aqueous extracts of M.Transmorrisonensis plant parts with two ecotypes were bioassayed. The extracts showed significant phytotoxic effects on seed germination and radicle growth of four tested plants: rye grass, lettuce, and two varieties of Chinese cabbage. In addition, rhizosphere soils underMiscanthus also exhibited significant phytotoxicity, indicating that allelopathic interaction was involved. Some responsible phytotoxic phenolics, namely, p-coumaric, ferulic, vanillic, protocatechuic, o-hydroxyphenylacetic, andm-hydroxyphenylacetic acids, and 4-hydroxycoumarin and phloridzin were identified. Allelopathy thus can play an important role in regulating plant diversity in the field.

Crossed aphasia following cerebral infarction in a right-handed patient with atypical cerebral language dominance.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Xiaoping; Guo, Yang; Dun, Saihong; Sun, Hongzan

2018-05-18

Crossed aphasia (CA), usually referred to as an acquired language disturbance, is caused by a lesion in the cerebral hemisphere ipsilateral to the dominant hand, and the exact mechanism is not clear. The development of handedness is influenced by education and training and the impact of habitualization, while language is more susceptible to the impact of speech habits, and it is not absolutely accurate to judge cerebral language dominance by the degree of hand preference. We describe a case of CA after right hemispheric stroke in a right-handed patient with atypical language dominance and attempt to analyze the mechanism of CA based on functional imaging methods, including arterial spin labeling (ASL) and positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI). Brain MRI at 24 h after admission showed a large cerebral infarction in the right cerebral hemisphere, including the posteroinferior part of Broca's area in the right frontal lobe, the right temporal lobe, and the right occipital lobe. The patient exhibited a non-fluent aphasia on a standard language test (the Aphasia Battery of Chinese [ABC]) performed on the 7th day after onset. Thus, atypical language dominance was suspected. One week after admission, ASL imaging showed high perfusion in the infarct core zone and low perfusion in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Two months later, PET/MRI demonstrated low metabolism in the posterior frontal lobe, temporal lobe, temporal occipital junction area, and the right basal ganglia. The findings suggest that the patient has right-sided cerebral language dominance, or that both hemispheres have linguistic functions. Not all patients show linguistic capabilities on the side opposite hand preference. The language dominance should be predicted by a combination of clinical manifestations and functional imaging techniques.

Introduction Strategy for New Products with Positive and Negative Word-of-Mouth

OpenAIRE

Vijay Mahajan; Eitan Muller; Roger A. Kerin

1984-01-01

Existing innovation diffusion models assume that individual experience with the product is always communicated positively through word-of-mouth. For certain innovations, however, this assumption is tenuous since communicators of the product experience may transfer favorable, unfavorable, or indifferent messages through word-of-mouth. This paper examines a diffusion model for products in which negative information plays a dominant role, discusses its implications for optimal advertising timing...

Vestibulo-cortical Hemispheric Dominance: the link between Anxiety and the Vestibular System?

Science.gov (United States)

Bednarczuk, Nadja F; Casanovas Ortega, Marta; Fluri, Anne-Sophie; Arshad, Qadeer

2018-05-16

Vestibular processing and anxiety networks are functionally intertwined, as demonstrated by reports of reciprocal influences upon each other. Yet whether there is an underlying link between these two systems remains unknown Previous findings have highlighted the involvement of hemispheric lateralisation in processing of both anxiety and vestibular signals. Accordingly, we explored the interaction between vestibular cortical processing and anxiety by assessing the relationship between anxiety levels and the degree of hemispheric lateralisation of vestibulo-cortical processing in 64 right-handed, healthy individuals. Vestibulo-cortical hemispheric lateralisation was determined by gaging the degree of caloric-induced nystagmus suppression following modulation of cortical excitability using trans-cranial direct current stimulation targeted over the posterior parietal cortex, an area implicated in the processing of vestibular signals. The degree of nystagmus suppression yields an objective biomarker, allowing the quantification of the degree of right vestibulo-cortical hemisphere dominance. Anxiety levels were quantified using the Trait component of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire. Our findings demonstrate that the degree of an individual's vestibulo-cortical hemispheric dominance correlates with their anxiety levels. That is, those individuals with greater right hemispheric vestibulo-cortical dominance exhibited lower levels of anxiety. By extension, our results support the notion that hemispheric lateralisation determines an individual's emotional processing, thereby linking cortical circuits involved in processing anxiety and vestibular signals respectively. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Attenuation of pathogenic Rift Valley fever virus strain through the chimeric S-segment encoding sandfly fever phlebovirus NSs or a dominant-negative PKR.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishiyama, Shoko; Slack, Olga A L; Lokugamage, Nandadeva; Hill, Terence E; Juelich, Terry L; Zhang, Lihong; Smith, Jennifer K; Perez, David; Gong, Bin; Freiberg, Alexander N; Ikegami, Tetsuro

2016-11-16

Rift Valley fever is a mosquito-borne zoonotic disease affecting ruminants and humans. Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV: family Bunyaviridae, genus Phlebovirus) causes abortions and fetal malformations in ruminants, and hemorrhagic fever, encephalitis, or retinitis in humans. The live-attenuated MP-12 vaccine is conditionally licensed for veterinary use in the US. However, this vaccine lacks a marker for the differentiation of vaccinated from infected animals (DIVA). NSs gene is dispensable for RVFV replication, and thus, rMP-12 strains lacking NSs gene is applicable to monitor vaccinated animals. However, the immunogenicity of MP-12 lacking NSs was not as high as parental MP-12. Thus, chimeric MP-12 strains encoding NSs from either Toscana virus (TOSV), sandfly fever Sicilian virus (SFSV) or Punta Toro virus Adames strain (PTA) were characterized previously. Although chimeric MP-12 strains are highly immunogenic, the attenuation through the S-segment remains unknown. Using pathogenic ZH501 strain, we aimed to demonstrate the attenuation of ZH501 strain through chimeric S-segment encoding either the NSs of TOSV, SFSV, PTA, or Punta Toro virus Balliet strain (PTB). In addition, we characterized rZH501 encoding a human dominant-negative PKR (PKRΔE7), which also enhances the immunogenicity of MP-12. Study done on mice revealed that attenuation of rZH501 occurred through the S-segment encoding either PKRΔE7 or SFSV NSs. However, rZH501 encoding either TOSV, PTA, or PTB NSs in the S-segment uniformly caused lethal encephalitis. Our results indicated that the S-segments encoding PKRΔE7 or SFSV NSs are attenuated and thus applicable toward next generation MP-12 vaccine candidates that encode a DIVA marker.

Domination criticality in product graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.R. Chithra

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A connected dominating set is an important notion and has many applications in routing and management of networks. Graph products have turned out to be a good model of interconnection networks. This motivated us to study the Cartesian product of graphs G with connected domination number, γc(G=2,3 and characterize such graphs. Also, we characterize the k−γ-vertex (edge critical graphs and k−γc-vertex (edge critical graphs for k=2,3 where γ denotes the domination number of G. We also discuss the vertex criticality in grids.

Mortality gradients within and among dominant plant populations as barometers of ecosystem change during extreme drought.

Science.gov (United States)

Gitlin, Alicyn R; Sthultz, Christopher M; Bowker, Matthew A; Stumpf, Stacy; Paxton, Kristina L; Kennedy, Karla; Muñoz, Axhel; Bailey, Joseph K; Whitham, Thomas G

2006-10-01

Understanding patterns of plant population mortality during extreme weather events is important to conservation planners because the frequency of such events is expected to increase, creating the need to integrate climatic uncertainty into management. Dominant plants provide habitat and ecosystem structure, so changes in their distribution can be expected to have cascading effects on entire communities. Observing areas that respond quickly to climate fluctuations provides foresight into future ecological changes and will help prioritize conservation efforts. We investigated patterns of mortality in six dominant plant species during a drought in the southwestern United States. We quantified population mortality for each species across its regional distribution and tested hypotheses to identify ecological stress gradients for each species. Our results revealed three major patterns: (1) dominant species from diverse habitat types (i.e., riparian, chaparral, and low- to high-elevation forests) exhibited significant mortality, indicating that the effects of drought were widespread; (2) average mortality differed among dominant species (one-seed juniper[Juniperus monosperma (Engelm.) Sarg.] 3.3%; manzanita[Arctostaphylos pungens Kunth], 14.6%; quaking aspen[Populus tremuloides Michx.], 15.4%; ponderosa pine[Pinus ponderosa P. & C. Lawson], 15.9%; Fremont cottonwood[Populus fremontii S. Wats.], 20.7%; and pinyon pine[Pinus edulis Engelm.], 41.4%); (3) all dominant species showed localized patterns of very high mortality (24-100%) consistent with water stress gradients. Land managers should plan for climatic uncertainty by promoting tree recruitment in rare habitat types, alleviating unnatural levels of competition on dominant plants, and conserving sites across water stress gradients. High-stress sites, such as those we examined, have conservation value as barometers of change and because they may harbor genotypes that are adapted to climatic extremes.

Negative thermal expansion materials: technological key for control of thermal expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

Takenaka, Koshi

2012-02-01

Most materials expand upon heating. However, although rare, some materials contract upon heating. Such negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials have enormous industrial merit because they can control the thermal expansion of materials. Recent progress in materials research enables us to obtain materials exhibiting negative coefficients of linear thermal expansion over -30 ppm K -1 . Such giant NTE is opening a new phase of control of thermal expansion in composites. Specifically examining practical aspects, this review briefly summarizes materials and mechanisms of NTE as well as composites containing NTE materials, based mainly on activities of the last decade.

Negative thermal expansion materials: technological key for control of thermal expansion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koshi Takenaka

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Most materials expand upon heating. However, although rare, some materials contract upon heating. Such negative thermal expansion (NTE materials have enormous industrial merit because they can control the thermal expansion of materials. Recent progress in materials research enables us to obtain materials exhibiting negative coefficients of linear thermal expansion over −30 ppm K−1. Such giant NTE is opening a new phase of control of thermal expansion in composites. Specifically examining practical aspects, this review briefly summarizes materials and mechanisms of NTE as well as composites containing NTE materials, based mainly on activities of the last decade.

Negative thermal expansion materials: technological key for control of thermal expansion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takenaka, Koshi

2012-01-01

Most materials expand upon heating. However, although rare, some materials contract upon heating. Such negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials have enormous industrial merit because they can control the thermal expansion of materials. Recent progress in materials research enables us to obtain materials exhibiting negative coefficients of linear thermal expansion over −30 ppm K −1 . Such giant NTE is opening a new phase of control of thermal expansion in composites. Specifically examining practical aspects, this review briefly summarizes materials and mechanisms of NTE as well as composites containing NTE materials, based mainly on activities of the last decade. (topical review)

Rearing room affects the non-dominant chicken caecum microbiota, while diet affects the dominant microbiota

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Jane eLudvigsen

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The combined effect of environment and diet in shaping the gut microbiota remain largely unknown. This knowledge, however, is important for animal welfare and safe food production. For these reasons we determined the effect of experimental units on the chicken caecum microbiota for a full factorial experiment where we tested the combined effect of room, diet and antimicrobial treatment. By Illumina Deep sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, we found that diet mainly affected the dominant microbiota, while the room as a proxy for environment had major effects on the non-dominant microbiota (p=0.006, Kruskal Wallis test. We therefore propose that the dominant and non-dominant microbiotas are shaped by different experimental units. These findings have implications both for our general understanding of the host-associated microbiota, and for setting up experiments related to specific targeting of pathogens.

“HOW DO YOU FEEL?”: EMOTIONS EXHIBITED WHILE PLAYING COMPUTER GAMES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO GAMING BEHAVIORS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rex P. Bringula

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This descriptive study utilized a validated questionnaire to determine the emotions exhibited by computer gamers in cyber cafés. We determined that gamers exhibited both positive and negative emotions while playing games. We observed that gamers were inclined to be more anxious about being defeated in a game as gaming became frequent and length of years spent playing games increased. They also had the tendency to become more stressed when length of years spent playing games increased. On the other hand, other gaming behaviors were not significantly related to other emotions. We concluded that not all emotions exhibited by gamers while playing computer games could be attributed to their gaming behaviors. We recommend that other emotions such as anger, frustration, boredom, amusement, etc. be included in future research.

Hand dominance in orthopaedic surgeons.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Lui, Darren F

2012-08-01

Handedness is perhaps the most studied human asymmetry. Laterality is the preference shown for one side and it has been studied in many aspects of medicine. Studies have shown that some orthopaedic procedures had poorer outcomes and identified laterality as a contributing factor. We developed a questionnaire to assess laterality in orthopaedic surgery and compared this to an established scoring system. Sixty-two orthopaedic surgeons surveyed with the validated Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire (WHQ) were compared with the self developed Orthopaedic Handedness Questionnaire (OHQ). Fifty-eight were found to be right hand dominant (RHD) and 4 left hand dominant (LHD). In RHD surgeons, the average WHQ score was 44.9% and OHQ 15%. For LHD surgeons the WHQ score was 30.2% and OHQ 9.4%. This represents a significant amount of time using the non dominant hand but does not necessarily determine satisfactory or successful dexterity transferable to the operating room. Training may be required for the non dominant side.

PRKCI negatively regulates autophagy via PIK3CA/AKT–MTOR signaling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qu, Liujing; Li, Ge; Xia, Dan; Hongdu, Beiqi; Xu, Chentong; Lin, Xin [Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Ministry of Health, Peking University Health Sciences Center, Beijing (China); Peking University Center for Human Disease Genomics, Peking University, Beijing (China); Chen, Yingyu, E-mail: yingyu_chen@bjmu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Ministry of Health, Peking University Health Sciences Center, Beijing (China); Peking University Center for Human Disease Genomics, Peking University, Beijing (China)

2016-02-05

The atypical protein kinase C isoform PRKC iota (PRKCI) plays a key role in cell proliferation, differentiation, and carcinogenesis, and it has been shown to be a human oncogene. Here, we show that PRKCI overexpression in U2OS cells impaired functional autophagy in normal or cell stress conditions, as characterized by decreased levels of light chain 3B-II protein (LC3B-II) and weakened degradation of endogenous and exogenous autophagic substrates. Conversely, PRKCI knockdown by small interference RNA resulted in opposite effects. Additionally, we identified two novel PRKCI mutants, PRKCI{sup L485M} and PRKCI{sup P560R}, which induced autophagy and exhibited dominant negative effects. Further studies indicated that PRKCI knockdown–mediated autophagy was associated with the inactivation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase alpha/AKT–mammalian target of rapamycin (PIK3CA/AKT–MTOR) signaling. These data underscore the importance of PRKCI in the regulation of autophagy. Moreover, the finding may be useful in treating PRKCI-overexpressing carcinomas that are characterized by increased levels of autophagy. - Highlights: • The atypical protein kinase C iota isoform (PRKCI) is a human oncogene. • PRKCI overexpression impairs functional autophagy in U2OS cells. • It reduces LC3B-II levels and weakens SQSTM1 and polyQ80 aggregate degradation. • PRKCI knockdown has the opposite effect. • The effect of PRKCI knockdown is related to PIK3CA/AKT–MTOR signaling inactivation.

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci isolated from Bovine Mastitis

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Kaliwal B.B.

2011-08-01

Full Text Available The study was carried out to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci isolated from Bovine Mastitis in and around Dharwad region. A total of 310 samples were screened and 180 confirmed Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci were obtained. The antimicrobial susceptibility of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci against 10 antimicrobial agents was tested using the disc diffusion method. The highest numbers of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci were susceptible to ceftriaxone 83.88% followed by cefotaxime 79.41%, methicillin 76.47%, ciprofloxacin 73.52%, erythromycin 70.05%, amikacin 66.11%, gentamycin 42.94%, amoxicillin 36.76%, ampicillin 29.41%, and the lowest susceptibility was shown in penicillin 23.23% . The results indicated that the increase in prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of the Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci isolated from bovine mastitis exhibited the highest degree of susceptible to ceftriaxone of all the tested antimicrobial agents. [Vet. World 2011; 4(4.000: 158-161

Consumers, health insurance and dominated choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Sinaiko, Anna D; Hirth, Richard A

2011-03-01

We analyze employee health plan choices when the choice set offered by their employer includes a dominated plan. During our study period, one-third of workers were enrolled in the dominated plan. Some may have selected the plan before it was dominated and then failed to switch out of it. However, a substantial number actively chose the dominated plan when they had an unambiguously better choice. These results suggest limitations in the ability of health reform based solely on consumer choice to achieve efficient outcomes and that implementation of health reform should anticipate, monitor and account for this consumer behavior. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A life-cycle model for wave-dominated tidal inlets along passive margin coasts of North America

Science.gov (United States)

Seminack, Christopher T.; McBride, Randolph A.

2018-03-01

). Rotating wave-dominated tidal inlets follow a six-stage evolutionary model; whereas wave-dominated tidal inlets that exhibit little-to-no rotation follow a five-stage evolutionary model.

On dominator colorings in graphs

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

colors required for a dominator coloring of G is called the dominator .... Theorem 1.3 shows that the complete graph Kn is the only connected graph of order n ... Conversely, if a graph G satisfies condition (i) or (ii), it is easy to see that χd(G) =.

Negative legacy of obesity.

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Kohsuke Shirakawa

Full Text Available Obesity promotes excessive inflammation, which is associated with senescence-like changes in visceral adipose tissue (VAT and the development of type 2 diabetes (T2DM and cardiovascular diseases. We have reported that a unique population of CD44hi CD62Llo CD4+ T cells that constitutively express PD-1 and CD153 exhibit cellular senescence and cause VAT inflammation by producing large amounts of osteopontin. Weight loss improves glycemic control and reduces cardiovascular disease risk factors, but its long-term effects on cardiovascular events and longevity in obese individuals with T2DM are somewhat disappointing and not well understood. High-fat diet (HFD-fed obese mice were subjected to weight reduction through a switch to a control diet. They lost body weight and visceral fat mass, reaching the same levels as lean mice fed a control diet. However, the VAT of weight reduction mice exhibited denser infiltration of macrophages, which formed more crown-like structures compared to the VAT of obese mice kept on the HFD. Mechanistically, CD153+ PD-1+ CD4+ T cells are long-lived and not easily eliminated, even after weight reduction. Their continued presence maintains a self-sustaining chronic inflammatory loop via production of large amounts of osteopontin. Thus, we concluded that T-cell senescence is essentially a negative legacy effect of obesity.

Associations among negative parenting, attention bias to anger, and social anxiety among youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Gulley, Lauren D; Oppenheimer, Caroline W; Hankin, Benjamin L

2014-02-01

Theories of affective learning suggest that early experiences contribute to emotional disorders by influencing the development of processing biases for negative emotional stimuli. Although studies have shown that physically abused children preferentially attend to angry faces, it is unclear whether youth exposed to more typical aspects of negative parenting exhibit the same type of bias. The current studies extend previous research by linking observed negative parenting styles (e.g., authoritarian) and behaviors (e.g., criticism and negative affect) to attention bias for angry faces in both a psychiatrically enriched (ages 11-17 years; N = 60) and a general community (ages 9-15 years; N = 75) sample of youth. In addition, the association between observed negative parenting (e.g., authoritarian style and negative affect) and youth social anxiety was mediated by attention bias for angry faces in the general community sample. Overall, findings provide preliminary support for theories of affective learning and risk for psychopathology among youth.

Do species differ in their ability to coexist with the dominant alien Lupinus polyphyllus? A comparison between two distinct invaded ranges and a native range

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Hejda

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The community-level impacts of invasive plants are likely to vary depending on the character of native species of the target communities and their ability to thrive within the stands of the dominant alien invader. Therefore, I examined the response of native species richness to the cover of the dominant alien Lupinus polyphyllus in two distinct invaded ranges: Czech Republic (Central Europe and New Zealand. I compared the relation between native species richness and the cover of the dominant alien L. polyphyllus with that in its native range, Pacific Northwest, USA.In the native range, I found no response of native species richness to the cover of L. polyphyllus. In the Czech Republic (central Europe, the richness of native species related to it negativelly, but the relation was only marginally significant. Contrary to that, the richness of species native to New Zealand related to the cover of L. polyphyllus strongly negatively and the negative relation was significantly stronger than that of species native to Europe.Of the two invaded ranges, species native to New Zealand have been documented to be much more vulnerable to the conditions associated with the invasion and dominance of L. polyphyllus, compared to species native to central Europe. This principle has been shown both across these two invaded ranges and in New Zealand, where the aliens of european origin successfully coexist with the dominant invasive alien L. polyphyllus. Similarly, species in the native range of L. polyphyllus showed no relation to its cover, indicating their ability to thrive even in dense stands of this dominant species.

Alternative stable states and alternative endstates of community assembly through intra- and interspecific positive and negative interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gerla, D.J.; Mooij, W.M.

2014-01-01

Positive and negative interactions within and between species may occur simultaneously, with the net effect depending on population densities. For instance, at low densities plants may ameliorate stress, while competition for resources dominates at higher densities. Here, we propose a simple

Interracial prison contact: the pros for (socially dominant) cons.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodson, Gordon

2008-06-01

Individuals high in social dominance orientation (SDO; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) endorse group hierarchies and social inequality. Surprisingly little research has addressed contextual factors associated with reduced intergroup biases among such individuals. The present investigation considers a Person x Situation approach to this question in two British prisons, exploring the contextual factors outlined in the Contact Hypothesis (Allport, 1954). White inmates scoring higher in SDO exhibited significantly less in-group bias when reporting increased contact with Black inmates (Studies 1 & 2), when perceiving that favourable contact conditions are institutionally supported (Study 1), or when experiencing more pleasant personal interactions with Black inmates (Study 2). These SDO x Contact Condition moderation effects were mediated in Study 2: among high-SDO individuals, increased empathy towards Black inmates mediated the relation between contact variables and lower in-group bias. Implications for considering individual differences and empathy in contact settings are considered.

Dominance Hierarchies in Young Children

Science.gov (United States)

Edelman, Murray S.; Omark, Donald R.

1973-01-01

This study uses the ethological approach of seeking species characteristics and phylogenetic continuities in an investigation of human behavior. Among primates a striking consistency is the presence of some form of dominance hierarchy in many species. The present study examines peer group dominance hierarchies as they are perceived by children in…

Science Fiction Exhibits as STEM Gateways

Science.gov (United States)

Robie, Samantha

Women continue to hold less than a quarter of all STEM jobs in the United States, prompting many museums to develop programs and exhibits with the express goal of interesting young girls in scientific fields. At the same time, a number of recent museum exhibits have harnessed the popularity of pop culture and science fiction in order to interest general audiences in STEM subject matter, as well as using the exhibits as springboards to expand or shift mission goals and focus. Because science fiction appears to be successful at raising interest in STEM fields, it may be an effective way to garner the interest of young girls in STEM in particular. This research seeks to describe the ways in which museums are currently using science fiction exhibits to interest young girls in STEM fields and careers. Research focused on four institutions across the country hosting three separate exhibits, and included staff interviews and content analysis of exhibit descriptions, promotional materials, a summative evaluation and supplementary exhibit productions. In some ways, science fiction exhibits do serve young girls, primarily through the inclusion of female role models, staff awareness, and prototype testing to ensure interactives are attractive to girls as well as to boys. However, STEM appears to be underutilized, which may be partly due to a concern within the field that the outcome of targeting a specific gender could be construed as "stereotyping".

Reduction of damage threshold in dielectric materials induced by negatively chirped laser pulses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Louzon, E.; Henis, Z.; Pecker, S.; Ehrlich, Y.; Fisher, D.; Fraenkel, M.; Zigler, A.

2005-01-01

The threshold fluence for laser induced damage in wide band gap dielectric materials, fused silica and MgF 2 , is observed to be lower by up to 20% for negatively (down) chirped pulses than for positively (up) chirped, at pulse durations ranging from 60 fs to 1 ps. This behavior of the threshold fluence for damage on the chirp direction was not observed in semiconductors (silicon and GaAs). Based on a model including electron generation in the conduction band and Joule heating, it is suggested that the decrease in the damage threshold for negatively chirped pulse is related to the dominant role of multiphoton ionization in wide gap materials

Feminist activist women are masculinized in terms of digit-ratio and dominance: A possible explanation for the feminist paradox

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Guy eMadison

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The feminist movement purports to improve conditions for women, and yet only a minority of women in modern societies self-identify as feminists. This is known as the feminist paradox. It has been suggested that feminists exhibit both physiological and psychological characteristics associated with heightened masculinization, which may predispose women for heightened competitiveness, sex-atypical behaviors, and belief in the interchangeability of sex roles. If feminist activists, i.e. those that manufacture the public image of feminism, are indeed masculinized relative to women in general, this might explain why the views and preferences of these two groups are at variance with each other. We measured the 2D:4D digit ratios (collected from both hands and a personality trait known as dominance (measured with the Directiveness scale in a sample of women attending a feminist conference. The sample exhibited significantly more masculine 2D:4D and higher dominance ratings than comparison samples representative of women in general, and these variables were furthermore positively correlated for both hands. The feminist paradox might thus to some extent be explained by biological differences between women in general and the activist women who formulate the feminist agenda.

A Boundary Property for Upper Domination

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.

2016-08-08

An upper dominating set in a graph is a minimal (with respect to set inclusion) dominating set of maximum cardinality.The problem of finding an upper dominating set is generally NP-hard, but can be solved in polynomial time in some restricted graph classes, such as P4-free graphs or 2K2-free graphs.For classes defined by finitely many forbidden induced subgraphs, the boundary separating difficult instances of the problem from polynomially solvable ones consists of the so called boundary classes.However, none of such classes has been identified so far for the upper dominating set problem.In the present paper, we discover the first boundary class for this problem.

Radiosensitization of head/neck squamous cell carcinoma by adenovirus-mediated expression of dominant negative constructs of the Nbs1 protein

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carney, J.P.; Rhee, J.G.; Li, D.; Chen, T.; Suntharalingam, M.; O'Malley, B.W.

2001-01-01

. Conclusion: Dominant negative constructs of the Nbs1 protein are able to sensitize cells to ionizing radiation exposure. Surprisingly expression of the full-length Nbs1 protein results in enhanced sensitivity as well. These results provide a proof of principle that disruption of Nbs1 function may provide a means of enhancing the radiosensitivity of head and neck tumors

High electronegativity multi-dipolar electron cyclotron resonance plasma source for etching by negative ions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stamate, Eugen; Draghici, M.

2012-01-01

A large area plasma source based on 12 multi-dipolar ECR plasma cells arranged in a 3 x 4 matrix configuration was built and optimized for silicon etching by negative ions. The density ratio of negative ions to electrons has exceeded 300 in Ar/SF6 gas mixture when a magnetic filter was used...... to reduce the electron temperature to about 1.2 eV. Mass spectrometry and electrostatic probe were used for plasma diagnostics. The new source is free of density jumps and instabilities and shows a very good stability for plasma potential, and the dominant negative ion species is F-. The magnetic field...... in plasma volume is negligible and there is no contamination by filaments. The etching rate by negative ions measured in Ar/SF6/O-2 mixtures was almost similar with that by positive ions reaching 700 nm/min. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics...

Comparison of Plantar Pressure Distribution in Dominant & Non-dominant leg of female Kata and Kumite National Team

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Elnaz Dizaji

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the plantar pressure distribution of dominant and non-dominant legs of females who were participated in the kata and kumite national team. Methods: Twelve kumite and 8 kata female athletes of the Karate national team participated in this study. Plantar pressure was measured using emed platform during barefoot walking. After dividing the foot into 10 masks, peak pressure, pressure-time integral, maximum force and force-time integral were calculated. Wilcoxon and U-Mann-Witney tests were used to analyze parameters at a significance level of p ≤ 0.05. Results: In comparison of kata and kumite teams it was found that, kata plantar pressure parameters in Metatarsal-2 (p=0.05 and Metatarsals-3, 4, 5 (p=0.04 were significantly less than those in kumite. Also, in comparison of dominant and non-dominant leg, plantar pressure parameters of dominant leg were less in Metatarsal-2 (p=0.04 and more in Bigtoe (p=0.04 and Toes-3, 4, 5 (p=0.03 than those in the non-dominant leg. Conclusion: Results may be indicative different of natures of the two athletic fields in that Kumite has a higher impact on plantar pressure due to higher mechanical loads. Furthermore, the unequal use of the legs may affect plantar pressure because of leg dominance. Thus, further and more comprehensive studies are necessary to prevent exercise-induced adaptations in professional levels and their treatments.

Negative ions formed in N₂/CH₄/Ar discharge – a simulation of Titan's atmosphere chemistry

OpenAIRE

Horvath, G.; Aranda-Gonzalvo, Y.; Mason, N. J.; Zahoran, M.; Matejcik, S.

2010-01-01

The formation of negative ions produced in a negative point-to-plane corona discharge fed by a Ar/N2//CH4/ gas mixture has been studied using mass spectrometry. The measurements were carried out in flowing regime at ambient temperature and a reduced pressure of 460 mbar. The CN ? anion has been found to be the most dominant negative ion in the discharge and is believed to be the precursor of heavier negative ions such as C3/N ? and C5/N ? . The most likely pathway for the formation of such mo...

North Atlantic atmospheric and ocean inter-annual variability over the past fifty years - Dominant patterns and decadal shifts

Science.gov (United States)

Hauser, Tristan; Demirov, Entcho; Zhu, Jieshun; Yashayaev, Igor

2015-03-01

The atmosphere and ocean of the North Atlantic have undergone significant changes in the past century. To understand these changes, their mechanisms, and their regional implications requires a quantitative understanding of processes in the coupled ocean and atmosphere system. Central to this understanding is the role played by the dominant patterns of ocean and atmospheric variability which define coherent variations in physical characteristics over large areas. Cluster analysis is used in this article to identify the patterns of the North Atlantic atmospheric variability in the subseasonal and interannual spectral intervals. Four dominant subseasonal weather regimes are defined using Bayesian Gaussian mixture models. All correlation patterns of the Sea Level Pressure (SLP) anomalies with the membership probability time series for the weather regimes show similarities with the dipole structure typical for the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The SLP patterns of two of the regimes represent the opposite phases NAO+ and NAO-. The two other weather regimes, the Atlantic Ridge (AR) and Scandinavian-Greenland dipole (SG), have dipole spatial structures with the northern and southern centers of action shifted with respect to the NAO pattern. These two patterns define blocking structures over Scandinavia and near the southern tip of Greenland, respectively. The storm tracks typical for the four regimes resemble the well known paths for positive/negative phases of NAO for the NAO+/NAO- weather regimes, and paths influenced by blocking off the south Greenland tip for AR and over Scandinavia for SG. The correlation patterns of momentum and heat fluxes to the ocean for the four regimes have tripole structures with positive (warm) downward heat flux anomalies over the Subpolar North Atlantic (SPNA) for the NAO- and the AR and negative heat flux anomalies over the SPNA for the NAO+. The downward heat flux anomalies associated with the SG are negative over the Labrador Sea and

Photowalk Exhibition opens at Microcosm

CERN Document Server

Katarina Anthony

2011-01-01

The winning photographs from the 2010 Global Particle Physics Photowalk competition will go on display at Microcosm from 11 February to 2 April. The exhibition is part of a global photography event taking place over three continents, with Photowalk exhibitions opening simultaneously at Fermilab in the US, KEK in Japan and here at CERN.   DESY wire chamber - First place people's choice; second place global jury competition. Photographer: Hans-Peter Hildebrandt  If you were one of the 1,300 photography lovers who voted in last year’s Photowalk competition, this exhibition is your chance to see the winning entries in print. The exhibition will take place in the downstairs gallery of Microcosm, overlooking the garden. 15 photographs will be on display, with each of the laboratories that participated in Photowalk represented by their 3 winning entries. Among them will be the “people’s choice” sunburst photo of a particle detector at DESY (Photo 1), and...

Creating National Narrative: The Red Guard Art Exhibitions and the National Exhibitions in the Chinese Cultural Revolution 1966 - 1976

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Winnie Tsang

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The artistic development in China experienced drastic changes during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Traditional Chinese art was denounced, whereas propaganda art became predominant in shaping the public’s loyalty towards the Communist Party and the country. Two major groups of art exhibitions emerged during the Revolution—the unofficial Red Guard art exhibitions organized by student activists in collaboration with local communes and art schools between 1966 and 1968, and the state-run national exhibitions from 1972 to 1975. These exhibitions were significant to this period because they were held frequently in the capital city Beijing and occasionally elsewhere, and through art they presented unique revolutionary beliefs to the Chinese people in a public setting. While the Red Guard art exhibitions and the national exhibitions certainly created different national narratives, I argue that the national exhibitions were in fact an attempt to revise the national narrative created by the Red Guard art exhibitions in order to re-establish a more utopian, consistent, and official national narrative. This paper unravels the intricate relationship between the two groups of exhibitions by comparing their exhibition venues, ideological focuses, work selection and quality editing. 

One-dimensional poly(L-lysine)-block-poly(L-threonine) assemblies exhibit potent anticancer activity by enhancing membranolysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yu-Fon; Shiau, Ai-Li; Chang, Sue-Joan; Fan, Nai-Shin; Wang, Chung-Teng; Wu, Chao-Liang; Jan, Jeng-Shiung

2017-06-01

Herein, we report the oncolytic activity of cationic, one-dimensional (1D) fibril assemblies formed from coil-sheet poly(L-lysine)-block-poly(L-threonine) (PLL-b-PLT) block copolypeptides for cancer therapy. The 1D fibril assemblies can efficiently interact with negatively charged cellular and mitochondrial membranes via electrostatic interactions, leading to necrosis via membrane lysis and apoptosis via the mitochondria-lytic effect. The concept is analogous to that of 1D drug carriers that exhibit enhanced cell penetration. In comparison to free PLL chains, PLL-b-PLT fibril assemblies exhibit selective cytotoxicity toward cancer cells, low hemolysis activity, enhanced membranolytic activity, and a different apoptosis pathway, which may be due to differences in the peptide-membrane interactions. Antitumor studies using a metastatic LL2 lung carcinoma model indicate that the fibril assemblies significantly inhibited tumor growth, improved survival in tumor-bearing mice and suppressed lung metastasis without obvious body weight loss. An additive efficacy was also observed for treatment with both PLL-b-PLT and cisplatin. These results support the feasibility of using 1D fibril assemblies as potential apoptotic anticancer therapeutics. We report that cationic, one-dimensional (1D) fibril assemblies formed by coil-sheet poly(L-lysine)-block-poly(L-threonine) (PLL-b-PLT) block copolypeptides exhibited potent anticancer activity by enhancing membranolysis. The 1D fibril assemblies can efficiently interact with negatively charged cellular and mitochondrial membranes via electrostatic interactions, leading to necrosis via membrane lysis and apoptosis via mitochondria-lytic effect. Moreover, the fibril assemblies exhibited low hemolytic activity and selective cytotoxicity toward cancer cell, which is advantageous as compared to PLL and most antimicrobial/anticancerous peptides. This study provides a new concept of using cationic, 1D fibril assemblies for cancer therapy

Negative Effects of Makeup Use on Perceptions of Leadership Ability Across Two Ethnicities.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Esther A; Jenkins, Shauny; Watkins, Christopher D

2018-01-01

Cosmetics alter social perceptions, and prior work suggests that cosmetic use may aid female intrasexual competition, making women appear more dominant to other women but more prestigious to other men. It is unclear whether these findings reflect general improvements in perceptions of traits related to women's dominance or if they are specific to mating contexts only. Here, across two ethnicities, we examined effects of cosmetics used for a social night out on perceptions of women's leadership ability, a trait that denotes competence/high status outside of mating contexts. Participants of African and Caucasian ethnicity judged faces for leadership ability where half of the trials differed in ethnicity (own- vs. other-ethnicity face pairs) and the subtlety of the color manipulation (50% vs. 100%). Regardless of the participant's sex or ethnicity, makeup used for a social night out had a negative effect on perceptions of women's leadership ability. Our findings suggest that, in prior work, women are afforded traits related to dominance, as makeup enhances perceptions of traits that are important for successful female mating competition but not other components of social dominance such as leadership.

Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and eating behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

2003-08-01

The isoprenoid pathway produces an endogenous membrane Na+-K+ ATPase inhibitor, digoxin, which can regulate neurotransmitter and amino acid transport. Digoxin synthesis and neurotransmitter patterns were assessed in eating disorders. The patterns were compared in those with right hemispheric and left hemispheric dominance. The serum HMG CoA reductase activity, RBC membrane Na+-K+ ATPase activity, serum digoxin, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, strychnine, and nicotine), and tyrosine catabolites (morphine, dopamine, and noradrenaline) were measured in anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, right hemispheric dominant, left hemispheric dominant, and bihemispheric dominant individuals. Digoxin synthesis was increased with upregulated tryptophan catabolism and downregulated tyrosine catabolism in those with anorexia nervosa and right hemispheric chemical dominance. Digoxin synthesis was reduced with downregulated tryptophan catabolism and upregulated tyrosine catabolism in those with bulimia nervosa and left hemispheric chemical dominance. The membrane Na+-K+ ATPase activity and serum magnesium were decreased in anorexia nervosa and right hemispheric chemical dominance while they were increased in bulimia nervosa and left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hypothalamic digoxin and hemispheric chemical dominance play a central role in the regulation of eating behavior. Anorexia nervosa represents the right hemispheric chemically dominant/hyperdigoxinemic state and bulimia nervosa the left hemispheric chemically dominant/hypodigoxinemic state.

Do axes of rotation change during fast and slow motions of the dominant and non-dominate arms?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pagano Christopher

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The velocity-dependent change in rotational axes observed in the control of unconstrained 3D arm rotations for the dominant limb seems to conform to a minimum inertia resistance (MIR principle [4]. This is an efficient biomechanical solution that allows for the reduction of torques. We tested whether the MIR principle governs rotating movement when subjects were instructed to maintain the shoulder-elbow joint axis close to horizontal for both dominant and non dominant limbs. Subjects (n=12 performed externalinternal rotations of their arms in two angular positions (90° versus 150°, two angular velocities (slow (S versus fast (F, and in two sensory conditions (kinaesthetic (K versus visuo- kinaesthetic (VK. We expected more scattered displacements of the rotation axis employed for rotating the non dominant limb compared to the dominant limb. The results showed that the rotational axis of a multiarticulated limb coincided with SH-EL at S & F velocity for both arms.

Designing immersion exhibits as border-crossing environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Marianne Foss

2010-01-01

be applied to achieve an understanding of the immersion exhibit form. The argument proceeds by demonstrating how the characteristics of immersion exhibits, and visitors to them, classify them as microcultures, and examining the implications of this for exhibit design using a hypothetical immersion exhibit...

On a conjecture about inverse domination in graphs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frendrup, Allan; Henning, Michael A.; Randerath, Bert

Let G = (V,E) be a graph with no isolated vertex. A classical observation in domination theory is that if D is a minimum dominating set of G, then V \\D is also a dominating set of G. A set D′ is an inverse dominating set of G if D′ is a dominating set of G and D′ ⊆ V \\D for some minimum dominatin...

Additional signals due to negative refraction in acoustic microscopy of anisotropic plates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kozlov, A.V.; Mozhaev, V.G.

2008-01-01

The additional V(z) oscillations and pulses are predicted in the case of positive defocusing (focus above the sample surface) in acoustic microscopy of anisotropic plates exhibiting negative refraction of acoustic rays. The relationship between these additional signals and separate points on the acoustic slowness surface of the plate material is elucidated

Additional signals due to negative refraction in acoustic microscopy of anisotropic plates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kozlov, A.V. [Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 GSP-1 (Russian Federation)], E-mail: av_kozlov@inbox.ru; Mozhaev, V.G. [Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 GSP-1 (Russian Federation)], E-mail: vgmozhaev@mail.ru

2008-06-23

The additional V(z) oscillations and pulses are predicted in the case of positive defocusing (focus above the sample surface) in acoustic microscopy of anisotropic plates exhibiting negative refraction of acoustic rays. The relationship between these additional signals and separate points on the acoustic slowness surface of the plate material is elucidated.

A comparison of ball velocity in different kicking positions with dominant and non-dominant leg in junior soccer players

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MÁRIO C. MARQUES

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Problem Statement: The aim of this study was to compare the ball velocity in different kicking conditions with dominant and non-dominant leg in junior soccer players.Approach: Sixteen junior soccer players (age 17.6±0.6yr, height 1.76±0.06m, and weight 67.9±5.2kg participated in this study. All participants kicked a soccer ball three times in seven conditions with the dominant and non-dominant leg. 1 Kicking the ball from 11m straight forwards, 2 and 3 kicking the ball from 11m to the left and right side of the goal, 4 and 5 kicking the ball straight forwards from 11m after a pass from the left and right side, 6 and 7 kicking the ball straight forwards from 11m after a pass that came from a diagonal position (45º from the left and right side. The highest ball velocity was used for analysis.Results: Significant differences were found in ball velocity between the dominant and non-dominant leg in all conditions (p<0.001. For the dominant leg also significant differences were found in the kicking of eleven meters (ideal conditions compared with: the perpendicular passing kick after the ball on the right (p=0.0024 and left (p=0.0080 and also with a diagonal kick after pass (45 ° of the ball on the right (p=0.0017 and left (p = 0.0381. Significant differences in the kicking with the non-dominant leg were found when kicking from eleven meters to the right side of the goal in comparison to: the kick under the same conditions, to the left side of the goal (p=0.0243 after pass and shot from the left side perpendicular (p=0.0222.Conclusions/Recommendations: kicking velocity is influenced very much under different conditions when kicking with the dominant leg while for the non-dominant leg this influence was small, because the non-dominant leg is less trained, so the values of velocity in different conditions, in addition to being the lowest, are closer than those obtained with the dominant leg

The Culture of Exhibitions and Conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrios Doumas

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The article reflects on temporary exhibitions from a theoretical as well as practical perspective. Regarded as a particularly effective mass-communication medium, exhibitions have a dual nature: they are scholarly undertakings, bringing off a curator’s vision and, simultaneously, they are projects with economic implications that need to be well managed and administered. The role of conservation in the making of temporary exhibitions, either in-house or touring, is here discussed in relation to how work is planned and prioritized as well as how time is managed and staff is allocated. Reference to weaknesses that lessen the crucial input of conservation in the decision-making process is also made. Much of the debate, which focuses on art exhibitions, concerns practicalities encountered in a private museum that extend from the very early stages of selecting objects for display to the mounting of an exhibition.

5-HTTLPR polymorphism modulates neural mechanisms of negative self-reflection.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yina; Li, Bingfeng; Wang, Chenbo; Shi, Zhenhao; Sun, Yun; Sheng, Feng; Zhang, Yifan; Zhang, Wenxia; Rao, Yi; Han, Shihui

2014-09-01

Cognitive distortion in depression is characterized by enhanced negative thoughts about both environment and oneself. Carriers of a risk allele for depression, that is, the short (s) allele of the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), exhibit amygdala hyperresponsiveness to negative environmental stimuli relative to homozygous long variant (l/l). However, the neural correlates of negative self-schema in s allele carriers remain unknown. Using functional MRI, we scanned individuals with s/s or l/l genotype of the 5-HTTLPR during reflection on their own personality traits or a friend's personality traits. We found that relative to l/l carriers, s/s carriers showed stronger distressed feelings and greater activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC)/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the right anterior insula (AI) during negative self-reflection. The 5-HTTLPR effect on the distressed feelings was mediated by the AI/inferior frontal (IF) activity during negative self-reflection. The dACC/dmPFC activity explained 20% of the variation in harm-avoidance tendency in s/s but not l/l carriers. The genotype effects on distress and brain activity were not observed during reflection on a friend's negative traits. Our findings reveal that 5-HTTLPR polymorphism modulates distressed feelings and brain activities associated with negative self-schema and suggest a potential neurogenetic susceptibility mechanism for depression. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A pressure-amplifying framework material with negative gas adsorption transitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Krause, Simon; Bon, Volodymyr; Senkovska, Irena; Stoeck, Ulrich; Wallacher, Dirk; Többens, Daniel M; Zander, Stefan; Pillai, Renjith S; Maurin, Guillaume; Coudert, François-Xavier; Kaskel, Stefan

2016-04-21

Adsorption-based phenomena are important in gas separations, such as the treatment of greenhouse-gas and toxic-gas pollutants, and in water-adsorption-based heat pumps for solar cooling systems. The ability to tune the pore size, shape and functionality of crystalline porous coordination polymers--or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)--has made them attractive materials for such adsorption-based applications. The flexibility and guest-molecule-dependent response of MOFs give rise to unexpected and often desirable adsorption phenomena. Common to all isothermal gas adsorption phenomena, however, is increased gas uptake with increased pressure. Here we report adsorption transitions in the isotherms of a MOF (DUT-49) that exhibits a negative gas adsorption; that is, spontaneous desorption of gas (methane and n-butane) occurs during pressure increase in a defined temperature and pressure range. A combination of in situ powder X-ray diffraction, gas adsorption experiments and simulations shows that this adsorption behaviour is controlled by a sudden hysteretic structural deformation and pore contraction of the MOF, which releases guest molecules. These findings may enable technologies using frameworks capable of negative gas adsorption for pressure amplification in micro- and macroscopic system engineering. Negative gas adsorption extends the series of counterintuitive phenomena such as negative thermal expansion and negative refractive indices and may be interpreted as an adsorptive analogue of force-amplifying negative compressibility transitions proposed for metamaterials.

Comparison of four techniques on facility of two-hand Bag-valve-mask (BVM ventilation: E-C, Thenar Eminence, Thenar Eminence (Dominant hand-E-C (non-dominant hand and Thenar Eminence (non-dominant hand – E-C (dominant hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Soleimanpour

2016-12-01

Conclusion: Novice participants did Thenar Eminence (non-dominant hand - E-C (dominant hand technique better than the others. Therefore, it is recommended that training of this technique was placed in educational program of medical students.

Online Exhibits & Concept Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Douma, M.

2009-12-01

Presenting the complexity of geosciences to the public via the Internet poses a number of challenges. For example, utilizing various - and sometimes redundant - Web 2.0 tools can quickly devour limited time. Do you tweet? Do you write press releases? Do you create an exhibit or concept map? The presentation will provide participants with a context for utilizing Web 2.0 tools by briefly highlighting methods of online scientific communication across several dimensions. It will address issues of: * breadth and depth (e.g. from narrow topics to well-rounded views), * presentation methods (e.g. from text to multimedia, from momentary to enduring), * sources and audiences (e.g. for experts or for the public, content developed by producers to that developed by users), * content display (e.g. from linear to non-linear, from instructive to entertaining), * barriers to entry (e.g. from an incumbent advantage to neophyte accessible, from amateur to professional), * cost and reach (e.g. from cheap to expensive), and * impact (e.g. the amount learned, from anonymity to brand awareness). Against this backdrop, the presentation will provide an overview of two methods of online information dissemination, exhibits and concept maps, using the WebExhibits online museum (www.webexhibits.org) and SpicyNodes information visualization tool (www.spicynodes.org) as examples, with tips on how geoscientists can use either to communicate their science. Richly interactive online exhibits can serve to engage a large audience, appeal to visitors with multiple learning styles, prompt exploration and discovery, and present a topic’s breadth and depth. WebExhibits, which was among the first online museums, delivers interactive information, virtual experiments, and hands-on activities to the public. While large, multidisciplinary exhibits on topics like “Color Vision and Art” or “Calendars Through the Ages” require teams of scholars, user interface experts, professional writers and editors

Depression, help-seeking perceptions, and perceived family functioning among Spanish-Dominant Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites.

Science.gov (United States)

Keeler, Amanda R; Siegel, Jason T

2016-09-15

Guided by Beck's (1967) cognitive theory of depression, we assessed whether perceived family functioning (PFF) mediated the relationship between depressive symptomatology and help-seeking inclinations. Study 1 included 130 Spanish-Dominant Hispanics and Study 2 included 124 Non-Hispanic Whites obtained using online crowd sourcing. Participants completed measures of depressive symptomatology, PFF, and several scales measuring aspects of help seeking inclinations and self-stigma. Study 2 also included an experiment. With an eye toward potential future interventions, we assessed the malleability of PFF. Specifically, participants were randomly assigned to recall positive or negative family experiences and then PFF was measures for a second time. Both studies found PFF mediates the relationship between depressive symptomatology and the help seeking scales. Among non-depressed people, the positive manipulation improved PFF; however, among participants with elevated depressive symptomatology, writing about a positive family experience worsened PFF. With the exception of the experiment, most of the data were cross-sectional. For the experiment, it is possible that different manipulations or primes could have different effects. Whether investigating responses from Spanish-Dominant Hispanics or Non-Hispanic Whites, PFF mediates the negative relationship between heightened depressive symptomatology and familial help-seeking beliefs, as well as self-stigma. However, even though the mediation analysis offers preliminary support that increasing PFF can potentially increase help-seeking behaviors of Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White people with depression, the results of the interaction analysis, specifically the negative impact of writing about positive family memories on people with elevated depression, illustrates the challenges of persuading people with depression. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Digital Ecology: Coexistence and Domination among Interacting Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Kleineberg, Kaj-Kolja; Boguñá, Marián

2015-05-01

The overwhelming success of Web 2.0, within which online social networks are key actors, has induced a paradigm shift in the nature of human interactions. The user-driven character of Web 2.0 services has allowed researchers to quantify large-scale social patterns for the first time. However, the mechanisms that determine the fate of networks at the system level are still poorly understood. For instance, the simultaneous existence of multiple digital services naturally raises questions concerning which conditions these services can coexist under. Analogously to the case of population dynamics, the digital world forms a complex ecosystem of interacting networks. The fitness of each network depends on its capacity to attract and maintain users’ attention, which constitutes a limited resource. In this paper, we introduce an ecological theory of the digital world which exhibits stable coexistence of several networks as well as the dominance of an individual one, in contrast to the competitive exclusion principle. Interestingly, our theory also predicts that the most probable outcome is the coexistence of a moderate number of services, in agreement with empirical observations.

Affordances and distributed cognition in museum exhibitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Achiam, Marianne; May, Michael; Marandino, Martha

2014-01-01

consistent framework. Here, we invoke the notions of affordance and distributed cognition to explain in a coherent way how visitors interact with exhibits and exhibit spaces and make meaning from those interactions, and we exemplify our points using observations of twelve visitors to exhibits at a natural...... history museum. We show how differences in exhibit characteristics give rise to differences in the interpretive strategies used by visitors in their meaning-making process, and conclude by discussing how the notions of affordance and distributed cognition can be used in an exhibit design perspective....

Holland at CERN – Industrial exhibition

CERN Multimedia

GS Department

2010-01-01

Sponsored by EVD, an agency of the Dutch Ministry of the Economy From 8 to 11 November 2010 Industrial Exhibition Administration Building Bldg. 61 9-00 - 17-30 Twenty seven companies will present their latest technology at the industrial exhibition "Holland at CERN". Dutch industry will exhibit products and technologies which are related to the field of particle physics. Individual interviews will take place directly at the stands in the Main Building. The firms will contact relevant users/technicians but any user wishing to make contact with a particular firm is welcome to use the contact details which are available from each departmental secretariat or at the following URL: http://gs-dep.web.cern.ch/gs-dep/groups/sem/ls/Industrial_Exhibitions.htm#Industrial_exhibitions You will find the list of exhibitors below. LIST OF EXHIBITORS: Schelde Exotech Vernooy BV Triumph Group INCAA Computers DeMaCo Holland bv TNO Science & Industry Janssen Precision Engi...

Numerical modelling of negative discharges in air with experimental validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran, T N; Golosnoy, I O; Lewin, P L; Georghiou, G E

2011-01-01

Axisymmetric finite element models have been developed for the simulation of negative discharges in air without and with the presence of dielectrics. The models are based on the hydrodynamic drift-diffusion approximation. A set of continuity equations accounting for the movement, generation and loss of charge carriers (electrons, positive and negative ions) is coupled with Poisson's equation to take into account the effect of space and surface charges on the electric field. The model of a negative corona discharge (without dielectric barriers) in a needle-plane geometry is analysed first. The results obtained show good agreement with experimental observations for various Trichel pulse characteristics. With dielectric barriers introduced into the discharge system, the surface discharge exhibits some similarities and differences to the corona case. The model studies the dynamics of volume charge generation, electric field variations and charge accumulation over the dielectric surface. The predicted surface charge density is consistent with experimental results obtained from the Pockels experiment in terms of distribution form and magnitude.

Optical negative refraction by four-wave mixing in thin metallic nanostructures.

Science.gov (United States)

Palomba, Stefano; Zhang, Shuang; Park, Yongshik; Bartal, Guy; Yin, Xiaobo; Zhang, Xiang

2011-10-30

The law of refraction first derived by Snellius and later introduced as the Huygens-Fermat principle, states that the incidence and refracted angles of a light wave at the interface of two different materials are related to the ratio of the refractive indices in each medium. Whereas all natural materials have a positive refractive index and therefore exhibit refraction in the positive direction, artificially engineered negative index metamaterials have been shown capable of bending light waves negatively. Such a negative refractive index is the key to achieving a perfect lens that is capable of imaging well below the diffraction limit. However, negative index metamaterials are typically lossy, narrow band, and require complicated fabrication processes. Recently, an alternative approach to obtain negative refraction from a very thin nonlinear film has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated in the microwave region. However, such approaches use phase conjugation, which makes optical implementations difficult. Here, we report a simple but different scheme to demonstrate experimentally nonlinear negative refraction at optical frequencies using four-wave mixing in nanostructured metal films. The refractive index can be designed at will by simply tuning the wavelengths of the interacting waves, which could have potential impact on many important applications, such as superlens imaging.

Constraints to obtaining consistent annual yields in perennial tree crops. I: Heavy fruit load dominates over vegetative growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Harley M; Samach, Alon

2013-06-01

Farmers lack effective methods to achieve and maintain stable production from year to year in many commercial fruit crops. Annual fruit yield within a region often alternates between high and low fruit load and is termed alternate bearing. The underlying cause of alternate bearing is the negative impact of high fruit load on vegetative growth and next year's flowering. In this review, we emphasize common responses of diverse perennials to heavy crop load. We present botanical, ecological and horticultural perspectives on irregular bearing. The later part of this review focuses on understanding how high fruit load dominates over vegetative growth. We discuss sink strengths and putative mobile signals (hormones), perhaps seed-derived. We highlight gaps in current understanding of alternate bearing, and discuss new approaches to better understand fruit load dominance. Assuming the effect of high fruit load may be related to other mechanisms of sink partitioning, other forms of dominance are presented such as apical, first fruit and king fruit dominance. Dominance seems to be enforced, in independent cases through the establishment of a polar auxin transport system from the stronger sink. Once established this somehow perturbs the transport of auxin out of weaker sinks. Possibly, fruit derived auxin may alter the polar auxin transport system of the shoot to inhibit shoot growth. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A MITF mutation associated with a dominant white phenotype and bilateral deafness in German Fleckvieh cattle.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ute Philipp

Full Text Available A dominantly inherited syndrome associated with hypopigmentation, heterochromia irides, colobomatous eyes and bilateral hearing loss has been ascertained in Fleckvieh cattle (German White Fleckvieh syndrome. This syndrome has been mapped to bovine chromosome (BTA 22 using a genome-wide association study with the bovine high density single nucleotide polymorphism array. An R210I missense mutation has been identified within microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF as responsible for this syndrome. The mutation is located in the highly conserved basic region of the protein and causes a negative-dominant effect. SOX10 and PAX3 promoter binding site mutations in MITF could be ruled out as causative for the German White Fleckvieh syndrome. Molecular characterization of this newly detected bovine syndrome means a large animal model is now available for the Tietz syndrome in humans.

Feminist activist women are masculinized in terms of digit-ratio and social dominance: a possible explanation for the feminist paradox.

Science.gov (United States)

Madison, Guy; Aasa, Ulrika; Wallert, John; Woodley, Michael A

2014-01-01

The feminist movement purports to improve conditions for women, and yet only a minority of women in modern societies self-identify as feminists. This is known as the feminist paradox. It has been suggested that feminists exhibit both physiological and psychological characteristics associated with heightened masculinization, which may predispose women for heightened competitiveness, sex-atypical behaviors, and belief in the interchangeability of sex roles. If feminist activists, i.e., those that manufacture the public image of feminism, are indeed masculinized relative to women in general, this might explain why the views and preferences of these two groups are at variance with each other. We measured the 2D:4D digit ratios (collected from both hands) and a personality trait known as dominance (measured with the Directiveness scale) in a sample of women attending a feminist conference. The sample exhibited significantly more masculine 2D:4D and higher dominance ratings than comparison samples representative of women in general, and these variables were furthermore positively correlated for both hands. The feminist paradox might thus to some extent be explained by biological differences between women in general and the activist women who formulate the feminist agenda.

Feminist activist women are masculinized in terms of digit-ratio and social dominance: a possible explanation for the feminist paradox

Science.gov (United States)

Madison, Guy; Aasa, Ulrika; Wallert, John; Woodley, Michael A.

2014-01-01

The feminist movement purports to improve conditions for women, and yet only a minority of women in modern societies self-identify as feminists. This is known as the feminist paradox. It has been suggested that feminists exhibit both physiological and psychological characteristics associated with heightened masculinization, which may predispose women for heightened competitiveness, sex-atypical behaviors, and belief in the interchangeability of sex roles. If feminist activists, i.e., those that manufacture the public image of feminism, are indeed masculinized relative to women in general, this might explain why the views and preferences of these two groups are at variance with each other. We measured the 2D:4D digit ratios (collected from both hands) and a personality trait known as dominance (measured with the Directiveness scale) in a sample of women attending a feminist conference. The sample exhibited significantly more masculine 2D:4D and higher dominance ratings than comparison samples representative of women in general, and these variables were furthermore positively correlated for both hands. The feminist paradox might thus to some extent be explained by biological differences between women in general and the activist women who formulate the feminist agenda. PMID:25250010

Attention and memory bias to facial emotions underlying negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Seon-Kyeong; Park, Seon-Cheol; Lee, Seung-Hwan; Cho, Yang Seok; Choi, Kee-Hong

2016-01-01

This study assessed bias in selective attention to facial emotions in negative symptoms of schizophrenia and its influence on subsequent memory for facial emotions. Thirty people with schizophrenia who had high and low levels of negative symptoms (n = 15, respectively) and 21 healthy controls completed a visual probe detection task investigating selective attention bias (happy, sad, and angry faces randomly presented for 50, 500, or 1000 ms). A yes/no incidental facial memory task was then completed. Attention bias scores and recognition errors were calculated. Those with high negative symptoms exhibited reduced attention to emotional faces relative to neutral faces; those with low negative symptoms showed the opposite pattern when faces were presented for 500 ms regardless of the valence. Compared to healthy controls, those with high negative symptoms made more errors for happy faces in the memory task. Reduced attention to emotional faces in the probe detection task was significantly associated with less pleasure and motivation and more recognition errors for happy faces in schizophrenia group only. Attention bias away from emotional information relatively early in the attentional process and associated diminished positive memory may relate to pathological mechanisms for negative symptoms.

The ethical commitment of Australian radiographers: Does medical dominance create an influence?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, Sarah; Heard, Robert; Robinson, John; White, Karolyn; Poulos, Ann

2008-01-01

There is a lack of awareness and openness surrounding ethical debate in Diagnostic Radiography literature and culture, perpetuated in part by the historical growth of the technical realm of radiography, radiology and medicine. Hence, the impact of Australian radiographers' current level of professional autonomy, combined with the influence of medical dominance and radiographers' ethical commitment was undocumented. This study investigated the role, importance and attitudes of Australian radiographers towards ethics through a qualitative study following a grounded theory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 Australian. A conceptual framework mapping the causal conditions affecting the ethical commitment was developed. This study argues that a number of internal and external variables weave an intricate fabric of poor identity, subservience and negative workplace culture. Australian radiographers, whist attempting to set a standard of ethical commitment, are hindered by difficulties of medical dominance, relatively poor professional autonomy and difficulty in accepting responsibility. The presence of private radiology enterprise and the association between patient referral and money has eroded the radiographer-patient relationship and introduced the potential for unethical practice in the radiographer-radiologist-referring practitioner relationship

The ethical commitment of Australian radiographers: Does medical dominance create an influence?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lewis, Sarah [School of Medical Radiation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, East Street, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825 (Australia)], E-mail: s.lewis@fhs.usyd.edu.au; Heard, Robert [School of Behavioural and Community Health Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, East Street, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825 (Australia); Robinson, John [School of Medical Radiation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, East Street, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825 (Australia); White, Karolyn [Centre for Values and Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, East Street, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825 (Australia); Poulos, Ann [School of Medical Radiation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, East Street, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825 (Australia)

2008-05-15

There is a lack of awareness and openness surrounding ethical debate in Diagnostic Radiography literature and culture, perpetuated in part by the historical growth of the technical realm of radiography, radiology and medicine. Hence, the impact of Australian radiographers' current level of professional autonomy, combined with the influence of medical dominance and radiographers' ethical commitment was undocumented. This study investigated the role, importance and attitudes of Australian radiographers towards ethics through a qualitative study following a grounded theory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 Australian. A conceptual framework mapping the causal conditions affecting the ethical commitment was developed. This study argues that a number of internal and external variables weave an intricate fabric of poor identity, subservience and negative workplace culture. Australian radiographers, whist attempting to set a standard of ethical commitment, are hindered by difficulties of medical dominance, relatively poor professional autonomy and difficulty in accepting responsibility. The presence of private radiology enterprise and the association between patient referral and money has eroded the radiographer-patient relationship and introduced the potential for unethical practice in the radiographer-radiologist-referring practitioner relationship.

[Dominating motivation in systemic memory mechanisms].

Science.gov (United States)

Sudakov, K V

2005-01-01

The materials provided in the article support the key role of dominating motivation in the systemic processes of fixation and opening of memory mechanisms. The activating mechanisms of dominating motivations in the systemic architectonics of behavioural acts provide the basis for development of a multicomponent acceptor apparatus of an action outcomes broadly represented in various analysing brain sections. As result of enhancement of action outcomes on acceptors structures, molecular behaviour engrammes form within the functional systems. It is these molecular engrammes that are opened by dominating motivations in the same spatial-temporal sequence in which training takes place, and determine deliberate actions of animals. It was demonstrated that dominating motivation opens genetic information with an approximating-exploratory reaction under strong activation of early genes expression, in particular, of c-fos gene protein. Inherent motivation reactions are not blocked by inhibitors of proteins synthesis, by cycloheximide, in particular. In the process of training animals, i.e., satisfaction of the demands which are the basis of dominating motivations, expression of early genes in reduced, while expression of late genes is initiated. In this case, blockators of protein synthesis begin to produce strong inhibiting impact on behaviour of animals.

Edge Cut Domination, Irredundance, and Independence in Graphs

OpenAIRE

Fenstermacher, Todd; Hedetniemi, Stephen; Laskar, Renu

2016-01-01

An edge dominating set $F$ of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is an \\textit{edge cut dominating set} if the subgraph $\\langle V,G-F \\rangle$ is disconnected. The \\textit{edge cut domination number} $\\gamma_{ct}(G)$ of $G$ is the minimum cardinality of an edge cut dominating set of $G.$ In this paper we study the edge cut domination number and investigate its relationships with other parameters of graphs. We also introduce the properties edge cut irredundance and edge cut independence.

A novel missense mutation in the CLCN7 gene linked to benign autosomal dominant osteopetrosis: a case series

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rashid Ban Mousa

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Osteopetrosis is a rare inherited genetic disease characterized by sclerosis of the skeleton. The absence or malfunction of osteoclasts is found to be strongly associated with the disease evolution. Currently, four clinically distinct forms of the disease have been recognized: the infantile autosomal recessive osteopetrosis, the malignant and the intermediate forms, and autosomal dominant osteopetrosis, type I and type II forms. The autosomal recessive types are the most severe forms with symptoms in very early childhood, whereas the autosomal dominant classes exhibit a heterogeneous trait with milder symptoms, often at later childhood or adulthood. Case presentation Case 1 is the 12-year-old daughter (index patient of an Iraqi-Kurdish family who, at the age of eight years, was diagnosed clinically to have mild autosomal dominant osteopetrosis. Presently, at 12-years old, she has severe complications due to the disease progression. In addition, the same family previously experienced the death of a female child in her late childhood. The deceased child had been misdiagnosed, at that time, with thalassemia major. In this report, we extended our investigation to identify the type of the inheritance patterns of osteopetrosis using molecular techniques, because consanguineous marriages exist within the family history. We have detected one heterozygous mutation in exon 15 of the Chloride Channel 7 gene in the index patient (Case 1, whereas other mutations were not detected in the associated genes TCIRG1, OSTM1, RANK, and RANKL. The missense mutation (CGG>TGG located in exon 15 (c.1225C>T of the Chloride Channel 7 gene changed the amino acid position 409 from arginine to tryptophan (p.R409W, c.1225C>T. Case 2 is the 16-year-old son (brother of the index patient of the same family who was diagnosed clinically with mild autosomal dominant osteopetrosis. We have identified the same heterozygous mutation in exon 15 of the Chloride

A novel missense mutation in the CLCN7 gene linked to benign autosomal dominant osteopetrosis: a case series.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Ban Mousa; Rashid, Nawshirwan Gafoor; Schulz, Ansgar; Lahr, Georgia; Nore, Beston Faiek

2013-01-09

Osteopetrosis is a rare inherited genetic disease characterized by sclerosis of the skeleton. The absence or malfunction of osteoclasts is found to be strongly associated with the disease evolution. Currently, four clinically distinct forms of the disease have been recognized: the infantile autosomal recessive osteopetrosis, the malignant and the intermediate forms, and autosomal dominant osteopetrosis, type I and type II forms. The autosomal recessive types are the most severe forms with symptoms in very early childhood, whereas the autosomal dominant classes exhibit a heterogeneous trait with milder symptoms, often at later childhood or adulthood. Case 1 is the 12-year-old daughter (index patient) of an Iraqi-Kurdish family who, at the age of eight years, was diagnosed clinically to have mild autosomal dominant osteopetrosis. Presently, at 12-years old, she has severe complications due to the disease progression. In addition, the same family previously experienced the death of a female child in her late childhood. The deceased child had been misdiagnosed, at that time, with thalassemia major. In this report, we extended our investigation to identify the type of the inheritance patterns of osteopetrosis using molecular techniques, because consanguineous marriages exist within the family history. We have detected one heterozygous mutation in exon 15 of the Chloride Channel 7 gene in the index patient (Case 1), whereas other mutations were not detected in the associated genes TCIRG1, OSTM1, RANK, and RANKL. The missense mutation (CGG>TGG) located in exon 15 (c.1225C>T) of the Chloride Channel 7 gene changed the amino acid position 409 from arginine to tryptophan (p.R409W, c.1225C>T).Case 2 is the 16-year-old son (brother of the index patient) of the same family who was diagnosed clinically with mild autosomal dominant osteopetrosis. We have identified the same heterozygous mutation in exon 15 of the Chloride channel 7 gene in this patient (Case 2). The missense

Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance and sarcoidosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravi Kumar, A; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

2004-06-01

The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites: endogenous digoxin (membrane sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor, immunomodulator and regulator of neurotransmitter/amino acid transport), dolichol (regulates N-glycosylation of proteins) and ubiquinone (free radical scavenger). The role of the isoprenoid pathway in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis in relation to hemispheric dominance was studied. The isoprenoid pathway-related cascade was assessed in patients with systemic sarcoidosis with pulmonary involvement. The pathway was also assessed in patients with right hemispheric, left hemispheric and bihemispheric dominance for comparison to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis. In patients with sarcoidosis there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol and glycoconjugate levels and low ubiquinone and elevated free radical levels. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites. There was an increase in the cholesterol:phospholipid ratio and a reduction in the glycoconjugate level of red blood cell (RBC) membrane in this group of patients. The same biochemical patterns were obtained in individuals with right hemispheric dominance. In individuals with left hemispheric dominance the patterns were reversed. Endogenous digoxin, by activating the calcineurin signal transduction pathway of T cells, can contribute to immune activation in sarcoidosis. An altered glycoconjugate metabolism can lead to the generation of endogenous self-glycoprotein antigens in the lung as well as other tissues. Increased free radical generation can also lead to immune activation. The role of a dysfunctional isoprenoid pathway and endogenous digoxin in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis in relation to right hemispheric chemical dominance is discussed. All the patients with sarcoidosis were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant according to the dichotic listening test, but their biochemical patterns

Alkali-developable silicone-based negative photoresist (SNP) for deep UV, electron beam, and X-ray lithographies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ban, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Akinobu; Kawai, Yoshio; Deguchi, Kimiyoshi

1989-01-01

A new silicone-based negative photoresist (SNP) developable with alkaline aqueous solutions is prepared. SNP composed of acetylated phenylsilsesquioxane oligomer and azidopyrene is applied to deep UV, electron beam (EB), and X-ray lithographies. SNP slightly swells in alkaline developers, thus exhibiting exceptionally high resolution characteristics for a negative resist. The resistance of SNP to oxygen reactive ion etching is approximately 30 times greater than that of conventional novolac resists. (author)

Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and creativity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

2003-04-01

The human hypothalamus produces an endogenous membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase inhibitor, digoxin, which regulates neuronal transmission. The digoxin status and neurotransmitter patterns were studied in creative and non-creative individuals, as well as in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance, in order to find out the role of cerebral dominance in this respect. The activity of HMG CoA reductase and serum levels of digoxin, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites, and tyrosine catabolites were measured in creative/non-creative individuals, and in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance. In creative individuals there was increased digoxin synthesis, decreased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, increased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and decreased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). The pattern in creative individuals correlated with right hemispheric dominance. In non-creative individuals there was decreased digoxin synthesis, increased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, decreased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and increased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). This pattern in non-creative individuals correlated with that obtained in left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric chemical dominance and hypothalamic digoxin could regulate the predisposition to creative tendency.

Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and spirituality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

2003-03-01

The isoprenoid pathway was assessed in atheistic and spiritually inclined individuals. The pathway was also assessed in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance to assess whether hemispheric dominance has a correlation with spiritual and atheistic tendency. HMG CoA reductase activity, serum digoxin, RBC membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, serum magnesium, and tyrosine/tryptophan catabolic patterns were assessed in spiritual/atheistic individuals and in those differing hemispheric dominance. In spiritually-inclined individuals, there was increased digoxin synthesis, decreased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, increased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and decreased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). The pattern in spiritually-inclined individuals correlated with right hemispheric chemical dominance. In atheistic individuals there was decreased digoxin synthesis, increased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, decreased tryptophan catabolities (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and increased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). This pattern in atheistic individuals correlated with that obtained in left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric chemical dominance and hypothalamic digoxin could regulate the predisposition to spirituality or atheism.

Impact of physical maltreatment on the regulation of negative affect and aggression.

Science.gov (United States)

Shackman, Jessica E; Pollak, Seth D

2014-11-01

Physically maltreated children are at risk for developing externalizing behavioral problems characterized by reactive aggression. The current experiment tested the relationships between individual differences in a neural index of social information processing, histories of child maltreatment, child negative affect, and aggressive behavior. Fifty boys (17 maltreated) performed an emotion recognition task while the P3b component of the event-related potential was recorded to index attention allocation to angry faces. Children then participated in a peer-directed aggression task. Negative affect was measured by recording facial electromyography, and aggression was indexed by the feedback that children provided to a putative peer. Physically maltreated children exhibited greater negative affect and more aggressive behavior, compared to nonmaltreated children, and this relationship was mediated by children's allocation of attention to angry faces. These data suggest that physical maltreatment leads to inappropriate regulation of both negative affect and aggression, which likely place maltreated children at increased risk for the development and maintenance of externalizing behavior disorders.

Outer-2-independent domination in graphs

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

independent dominating set of a graph is a set of vertices of such that every vertex of ()\\ has a neighbor in and the maximum vertex degree of the subgraph induced by ()\\ is at most one. The outer-2-independent domination ...

Functional expression of the Na-K-2Cl cotransporter NKCC2 in mammalian cells fails to confirm the dominant-negative effect of the AF splice variant.

Science.gov (United States)

Hannemann, Anke; Christie, Jenny K; Flatman, Peter W

2009-12-18

The renal bumetanide-sensitive Na-K-2Cl cotransporter (NKCC2) is the major salt transport pathway in the apical membrane of the mammalian thick ascending limb. It is differentially spliced and the three major variants (A, B, and F) differ in their localization and transport characteristics. Most knowledge about its regulation comes from experiments in Xenopus oocytes as NKCC2 proved difficult to functionally express in a mammalian system. Here we report the cloning and functional expression of untagged and unmodified versions of the major splice variants from ferret kidney (fNKCC2A, -B, and -F) in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. Many NKCC2 antibodies used in this study detected high molecular weight forms of the transfected proteins, probably NKCC2 dimers, but not the monomers. Interestingly, monomers were strongly detected by phosphospecific antibodies directed against phosphopeptides in the regulatory N terminus. Bumetanide-sensitive (86)Rb uptake was significantly higher in transfected HEK-293 cells and could be stimulated by incubating cells in a medium containing a low chloride concentration prior the uptake measurements. fNKCC2 was less sensitive to the reduction in chloride concentration than NKCC1. Using HEK-293 cells stably expressing fNKCC2A we also show that co-expression of variant NKCC2AF does not have the dominant-negative effect on NKCC2A activity that was seen in Xenopus oocytes, nor is it trafficked to the cell surface. In addition, fNKCC2AF is neither complex glycosylated nor phosphorylated in its N terminus regulatory region like other variants.

Negative Ion In-Source Decay Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Sequencing Acidic Peptides

Science.gov (United States)

McMillen, Chelsea L.; Wright, Patience M.; Cassady, Carolyn J.

2016-05-01

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) in-source decay was studied in the negative ion mode on deprotonated peptides to determine its usefulness for obtaining extensive sequence information for acidic peptides. Eight biological acidic peptides, ranging in size from 11 to 33 residues, were studied by negative ion mode ISD (nISD). The matrices 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 2-aminobenzoic acid, 2-aminobenzamide, 1,5-diaminonaphthalene, 5-amino-1-naphthol, 3-aminoquinoline, and 9-aminoacridine were used with each peptide. Optimal fragmentation was produced with 1,5-diaminonphthalene (DAN), and extensive sequence informative fragmentation was observed for every peptide except hirudin(54-65). Cleavage at the N-Cα bond of the peptide backbone, producing c' and z' ions, was dominant for all peptides. Cleavage of the N-Cα bond N-terminal to proline residues was not observed. The formation of c and z ions is also found in electron transfer dissociation (ETD), electron capture dissociation (ECD), and positive ion mode ISD, which are considered to be radical-driven techniques. Oxidized insulin chain A, which has four highly acidic oxidized cysteine residues, had less extensive fragmentation. This peptide also exhibited the only charged localized fragmentation, with more pronounced product ion formation adjacent to the highly acidic residues. In addition, spectra were obtained by positive ion mode ISD for each protonated peptide; more sequence informative fragmentation was observed via nISD for all peptides. Three of the peptides studied had no product ion formation in ISD, but extensive sequence informative fragmentation was found in their nISD spectra. The results of this study indicate that nISD can be used to readily obtain sequence information for acidic peptides.

Naturally occurring dominant drug resistance mutations occur infrequently in the setting of recently acquired hepatitis C.

Science.gov (United States)

Applegate, Tanya L; Gaudieri, Silvana; Plauzolles, Anne; Chopra, Abha; Grebely, Jason; Lucas, Michaela; Hellard, Margaret; Luciani, Fabio; Dore, Gregory J; Matthews, Gail V

2015-01-01

Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are predicted to transform hepatitis C therapy, yet little is known about the prevalence of naturally occurring resistance mutations in recently acquired HCV. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and frequency of drug resistance mutations in the viral quasispecies among HIV-positive and -negative individuals with recent HCV. The NS3 protease, NS5A and NS5B polymerase genes were amplified from 50 genotype 1a participants of the Australian Trial in Acute Hepatitis C. Amino acid variations at sites known to be associated with possible drug resistance were analysed by ultra-deep pyrosequencing. A total of 12% of individuals harboured dominant resistance mutations, while 36% demonstrated non-dominant resistant variants below that detectable by bulk sequencing (that is, Resistance variants (resistance from all classes, with the exception of sofosbuvir. Dominant resistant mutations were uncommonly observed in the setting of recent HCV. However, low-level mutations to all DAA classes were observed by deep sequencing at the majority of sites and in most individuals. The significance of these variants and impact on future treatment options remains to be determined. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00192569.

Functional relationship between dominant and non-dominant hand in motor task - hand grip strength endurance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kljajić Dragana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to determine the functional relationship between dominant and non-dominant hand in the strength endurance motor task - hand grip, in the referent population of healthy and young persons. For the purpose of the research we have implemented the method of isometric dynamometry and standardized hand grip test. The study included 48 participants, 23 of them being of female and 25 of male gender. The analysis of variance (ANOVA was used to determine the difference between the sets of variables in the function of gender and functional dimorphism, while the Bonferroni criterion was applied to determine the differences between pairs of individual variables. The difference between the maximum hand grip of dominant and non-dominant hand in female participants amounted to 9.28%, and in male ones 7.39% in favor of the dominant hand. There is no statistically significant difference between nondominant and dominant hand regarding the force endurance time aspect at 30%, 50% and 80% out of the maximum hand grip level, as well as at the absolute and relative force impulse indicators as an endurance measure. The value of gender dimorphism in relation to the absolute indicators of force momentum at 30%, 50% and 80% out of the maximum hand grip level in female participants is 0.9714, 0.9145, 0.9301, and in male participants 0.9515, 0.8264 and 0.8606. The force momentum indicators value at 30%, 50% and 80% out of the maximum hand grip level in female participants is ImpF30%=21167.58±6923.67 Ns, ImpF50%=10846.94±3800.56 Ns and ImpF80%=5438.46±1993.12 Ns, and in male participants ImpF30%=17734.03±6881.92 Ns, ImpF50%=13903.61±3437.76 Ns and ImpF80%=5117.53±1894.78 Ns. The obtained results can be used as the criteria for further research in special education and rehabilitation, medical and professional rehabilitation.

Origin of negative resistance in anion migration controlled resistive memory

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Writam; Wu, Facai; Hu, Yuan; Wu, Quantan; Wu, Zuheng; Liu, Qi; Liu, Ming

2018-03-01

Resistive random access memory (RRAM) is one of the most promising emerging nonvolatile technologies for the futuristic memory devices. Resistive switching behavior often shows negative resistance (NR), either voltage controlled or current controlled. In this work, the origin of a current compliance dependent voltage controlled NR effect during the resetting of anion migration based RRAM devices is discussed. The N-type voltage controlled NR is a high field driven phenomena. The current conduction within the range of a certain negative voltage is mostly dominated by space charge limited current. But with the higher negative voltage, a field induced tunneling effect is generated in the NR region. The voltage controlled NR is strongly dependent on the compliance current. The area independent behavior indicates the filamentary switching. The peak to valley ratio (PVR) is > 5. The variation of PVR as a function of the conduction band offset is achieved. Compared to other reported works, based on the PVR, it is possible to distinguish the RRAM types. Generally, due to the higher electric field effect on the metallic bridge during RESET, the electrochemical metallization type RRAM shows much higher PVR than the valance change type RRAM.

Doripenem: an expected arrival in the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Poulakou, Garyphallia; Giamarellou, Helen

2008-05-01

Potent new drugs against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, namely Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. and pan-drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, which constitute an increasing medical threat, are almost absent from the future pharmaceutical pipeline. This drug evaluation focuses on the position of doripenem, a novel forthcoming carbapenem. Mechanisms of resistance and new drugs with anti-Gram-negative activity are also briefly reviewed. Literature search was performed for new carbapenems, new antibiotics, doripenem, metallo-beta-lactamase inhibitors, multidrug-resistant pathogens, antipseudomonal antibiotics and multidrug-resistant epidemiology. Doripenem possesses a broad spectrum of activity against Gram-negative bacteria, similar to that of meropenem, while retaining the spectrum of imipenem against Gram-positive pathogens. Against P. aeruginosa, doripenem exhibits rapid bactericidal activity with 2 - 4-fold lower MIC values, compared to meropenem. Exploitation of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic applications could offer a treatment opportunity against strains exhibiting borderline resistance to doripenem. Stability against numerous beta-lactamases, low adverse event potential and more potent in vitro antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa and A. baumanni compared to the existing carbapenems, are its principal features.

Hand dominance in upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiri, Rahman; Varonen, Helena; Heliövaara, Markku; Viikari-Juntura, Eira

2007-05-01

To investigate the role of hand dominance in common upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (UEMSD) in a population study. The target population consisted of a representative sample of people aged 30 years or older residing in Finland during 2000-2001. Of the 7977 eligible subjects, 6254 (78.4%) were included in the study. The prevalence of UEMSD was as follows: rotator cuff tendinitis 3.8%, bicipital tendinitis 0.5%, lateral epicondylitis 1.1%, medial epicondylitis 0.3%, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) 3.8%, and surgery due to CTS 1.3%. CTS was 2.5 times as prevalent in women as men, whereas the other UEMSD were as common in both sexes. Rotator cuff and bicipital tendinitis and medial epicondylitis were more prevalent in the dominant arm only in women, whereas lateral epicondylitis was more prevalent in the dominant elbow in both sexes. The higher prevalence of rotator cuff and bicipital tendinitis in the dominant side persisted beyond working age. The prevalence of CTS did not differ by hand dominance. Dominant hand had been operated more frequently for CTS in women. Our findings show that UEMSD are more prevalent in the dominant than nondominant arm mainly in women. For shoulder tendinitis, the difference persists throughout adult age. Physical load factors may have long-lasting effects on the shoulder and they may play a greater role in women than men.

Negative Interest Rates: Central Banks Initiated an Experiment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksey N. Burenin

2016-01-01

according to theory could not become lower than zero. By introducing negative rates, the central banks told in fact that the lower bound of the interest rate didn't exist any more. Thus, now investors find themselves in a situation of complete uncertainty, and risk becomes an absolute dominance. They can't averse it even in government securities. Such situation influences financial markets in a negative way. If we go up to a higher level of abstraction and imagine an economy as a live organism, which tries to rehabilitate itself, then the negative rates can be considered as a way through which the economy tries to solve the task of reducing liquidity. Studies show that so far the introduction of modestly negative rates have not affected the functioning of money markets much. In anticipation of the forthcoming cyclical crisis it is possible to give advice to the central banks to make one more step in the issue of the development of new tools of monetary regulation. Such new tools could be represented by futures contracts on interest rates securities.

Highly dominating, highly authoritarian personalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Altemeyer, Bob

2004-08-01

The author considered the small part of the population whose members score highly on both the Social Dominance Orientation scale and the Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale. Studies of these High SDO-High RWAs, culled from samples of nearly 4000 Canadian university students and over 2600 of their parents and reported in the present article, reveal that these dominating authoritarians are among the most prejudiced persons in society. Furthermore, they seem to combine the worst elements of each kind of personality, being power-hungry, unsupportive of equality, manipulative, and amoral, as social dominators are in general, while also being religiously ethnocentric and dogmatic, as right-wing authoritarians tend to be. The author suggested that, although they are small in number, such persons can have considerable impact on society because they are well-positioned to become the leaders of prejudiced right-wing political movements.

Multi-Dimensional Top-k Dominating Queries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yiu, Man Lung; Mamoulis, Nikos

2009-01-01

The top-k dominating query returns k data objects which dominate the highest number of objects in a dataset. This query is an important tool for decision support since it provides data analysts an intuitive way for finding significant objects. In addition, it combines the advantages of top......-k and skyline queries without sharing their disadvantages: (i) the output size can be controlled, (ii) no ranking functions need to be specified by users, and (iii) the result is independent of the scales at different dimensions. Despite their importance, top-k dominating queries have not received adequate...

Exciton-Dominated Core-Level Absorption Spectra of Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Lead Halide Perovskites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vorwerk, Christian [Institut für Physik and IRIS Adlershof, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, European Theoretical Spectroscopy; Hartmann, Claudia [Renewable Energy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 14109 Berlin, Germany; Cocchi, Caterina [Institut für Physik and IRIS Adlershof, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, European Theoretical Spectroscopy; Sadoughi, Golnaz [Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom; Habisreutinger, Severin N. [Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom; Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colorado, United States; Félix, Roberto [Renewable Energy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 14109 Berlin, Germany; Wilks, Regan G. [Renewable Energy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 14109 Berlin, Germany; Energy Materials In-Situ Laboratory Berlin (EMIL), Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany; Snaith, Henry J. [Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom; Bär, Marcus [Renewable Energy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 14109 Berlin, Germany; Energy Materials In-Situ Laboratory Berlin (EMIL), Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany; Draxl, Claudia [Institut für Physik and IRIS Adlershof, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, European Theoretical Spectroscopy

2018-03-23

In a combined theoretical and experimental work, we investigate X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy of the I L3 and the Pb M5 edges of the methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) hybrid inorganic-organic perovskite and its binary phase PbI2. The absorption onsets are dominated by bound excitons with sizable binding energies of a few hundred millielectronvolts and pronounced anisotropy. The spectra of both materials exhibit remarkable similarities, suggesting that the fingerprints of core excitations in MAPbI3 are essentially given by its inorganic component, with negligible influence from the organic groups. The theoretical analysis complementing experimental observations provides the conceptual insights required for a full characterization of this complex material.

Students-exhibits interaction at a science center

Science.gov (United States)

Botelho, Agostinho; Morais, Ana M.

2006-12-01

In this study we investigate students' learning during their interaction with two exhibits at a science center. Specifically, we analyze both students' procedures when interacting with exhibits and their understanding of the scientific concepts presented therein. Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse (1990, 2000) provided the sociological foundation to assess the exhibit-student interaction and allowed analysis of the influence of the characteristics of students, exhibits, and interactions on students' learning. Eight students (ages 12ndash;13 years of age) with distinct sociological characteristics participated in the study. Several findings emerged from the results. First, the characteristics of the students, exhibits, and interactions appeared to influence student learning. Second, to most students, what they did interactively (procedures) seems not to have had any direct consequence on what they learned (concept understanding). Third, the data analysis suggest an important role for designers and teachers in overcoming the limitations of exhibit-student interaction.

SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ovidiu Maican

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Article 82 (formerly 86 EC contains four essential elements (an undertaking, a dominant position, an abuse of that position and the abuse must affect trade between member states. The term undertakings is subject to the same broad interpretation as that applied to article 81 (formerly 85 EC and covers the same activities, both public and private.The Community interest must be also taken into account. Although it is not clear precisely what this element of article 86 requires, it will clearly curtail the scope of the exception provided under this article. Although abusive behavior of undertakings in a dominant position is prohibited, it must be recalled that merely being in a strong position is not a problem in itself. It is necessary for major players in a market to be aware of their position because practices which would not fall foul of article 82 (formerly 86 EC, where an undertaking is not dominant, will do so where dominance is established. A refusal to deal by a non-dominant undertaking would not be an abuse within article 82 (formerly 86 EC, but it will be so where the undertaking is dominant.

‘Looking for Civilisation, Discovering Clark’: ‘Kenneth Clark – Looking for Civilisation’, An Exhibition at Tate Britain, 20 May – 10 August 2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew C Potter

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This review focuses upon the art historiographical lessons to be learned from the ‘Kenneth Clark – Looking for Civilisation’ exhibition at Tate Britain. It considers the challenges represented by art galleries choosing to present displays centred on art historians generally and Clark in particular. The political contexts that existed during Clark’s career and the recent exhibition are mapped in order to explore both how the actions of this democratic patriarch were motivated by his understanding of the shortcomings of humanist and Marxist ideologies, and how an opportunity for reassessment has presented itself since the declining dominance of the New Art History.

Links between play and dominance and attachment dimensions of dog-human relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Rooney, Nicola J; Bradshaw, John W S

2003-01-01

It is often claimed that certain behavioral problems in domestic dogs can be triggered by the games played by dog and caregiver (owner). In this study, we examine possible links between the types of games played and dimensions of the dog-owner relationship that are generally considered to affect such problems. Fifty dog-owner partnerships were filmed during 3-min play sessions in which the owner was allowed to choose the games played. All partnerships then undertook a 1-hr test designed to measure elements of behavior commonly ascribed to "dominance" and "attachment." Principal components analysis of the data produced 2 dominance-related factors (Amenability and Confident Interactivity) and 4 factors describing aspects of attachment (Nonspecific Attention Seeking, Preference for Owner, Preference for Unfamiliar Person, and Separation-Related Behavior). Amenability, in particular, varied significantly between breeds. In the study, we then compared types of games played to each of these factors. Dogs playing rough-and-tumble scored higher for Amenability and lower on Separation-Related Behavior than did dogs playing other types of games. Dogs playing tug-of-war and fetch scored high on Confident Interactivity. Winning or losing these games had no consistent effect on their test scores. If the dog started the majority of the games, the dog was significantly less amenable and more likely to exhibit aggression. The results suggest that how dogs play reflects general attributes of their temperament and relationship with their owner. This study provides no evidence that games play a major deterministic role on dominance dimensions of dog-human relationships, but the results suggest that playing games involving considerable body contact may affect attachment dimensions.

Domination, self-determination and circular organizing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Romme, A.G.L.

2002-01-01

The emergence of self-organizing forms of control, based on the idea of self-determination, have challenged traditional forms of control based on the concept of domination. As such, self-determination has been put forward as an alternative rather than as a complement to domination. This paper

A technique of forecasting inefficient negative investments in Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataliya N. Andrienko

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper reviews a methodology of inefficient capital outflow forecasting in Ukraine, as one of the new instruments for investment activity revivification under the system crisis conditions. An analogy is made between the foreseeable and unexpected losses in crediting as well as the efficient and inefficient capital outflows in the form of reserve funds accrual and subsequent reverse procedure. Phenomenological approach and generalization of the experience in negative investment analysis are applied. Exposed is the substantiation of phenomenological approach in choosing one of the proposed beta distribution options with economic interpretation of this approach development. Considered is the maximum entropy principle as a stochastic dominance revealed therein.

Epigenetics of dominance for enzyme activity

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

and produce qualitatively different allozymes and the two alleles are expressed equally within and across all three genotypes and and play an equal role in the epigenetics of dominance. Subunit interaction in the heterodimer over a wide range of H+ concentrations accounts for the epigenetics of dominance for ...

Multivariate Discrete First Order Stochastic Dominance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tarp, Finn; Østerdal, Lars Peter

This paper characterizes the principle of first order stochastic dominance in a multivariate discrete setting. We show that a distribution  f first order stochastic dominates distribution g if and only if  f can be obtained from g by iteratively shifting density from one outcome to another...

Exhibition - Mathematics, A Beautiful Elsewhere

CERN Multimedia

2011-01-01

From 21 October 2011 to 18 March 2012, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will present the exhibition Mathematics: A Beautiful Elsewhere, an exhibition developed in association with the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) and under the patronage of UNESCO. For this unprecedented event, the foundation invited mathematicians to work with artists with whom it has previously worked to create an exhibition that allows visitors to see, hear, do, interpret and think about mathematics. By bringing mathematics into its premises, the Fondation Cartier is itself undergoing the “sudden change of scenery” described by mathematician Alexandre Grothendieck. More information is available here. Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain 261, boulevard Raspail 75014 Paris http://fondation.cartier.com Private Visit For professors, researchers and all the staff of Mathematics departments...

A Negative Thermal Expansion Material of ZrMgMo3O12

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Wen-Bo; Liang Er-Jun; Liu Xian-Sheng; Li Zhi-Yuan; Yuan Bao-He; Wang Jun-Qiao

2013-01-01

A material with the formula ZrMgMo 3 O 12 having negative thermal expansion is presented and characterized. It is shown that ZrMgMo 3 O 12 crystallizes in an orthorhombic symmetry with space group Pnma(62) or Pna2 1 (33) and exhibits negative thermal expansion in a large temperature range (α l = −3.8 × 10 −6 K −1 from 300K to 1000K by x-ray diffraction and α l = −3.73 × 10 −6 K −1 from 295K to 775K by dilatometer). ZrMgMo 3 O 12 remains the orthorhombic structure without phase transition or decomposition at least from 123K to 1200K and is not hygroscopic. These properties make it an excellent material with negative thermal expansion for a variety of applications

Epidemiology of infections caused by multiresistant gram-negatives: ESBLs, MBLs, panresistant strains.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossolini, Gian Maria; Mantengoli, Elisabetta; Docquier, Jean-Denis; Musmanno, Rosa Anna; Coratza, Grazietta

2007-07-01

Microbial drug resistance is a growing problem of global magnitude. In gram-negative pathogens, the most important resistance problems are encountered in Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter, with increasing trends observed for all major anti-gram-negative agents (beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides). A matter of major concern is the emergence of new beta-lactamases capable of degrading the expanded-spectrum cephalosporins and/or carbapenems, such as the extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and the carbapenemases. These beta-lactamase genes are often associated with resistance determinants to non-beta-lactam agents (e.g. aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones), and strains producing ESBLs or carbapenemases often exhibit complex multidrug resistant phenotypes and sometimes are panresistant. The problem is worsened by the dearth of new agents active on multidrug-resistant Gram-negatives in the pipeline. The importance to develop better strategies to control resistance is underscored.

Imbalance of positive and negative links induces regularity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamal, Neeraj Kumar; Sinha, Sudeshna

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → We consider the behaviour of a random weighted network with chaotic neuronal dynamics at the nodes. → We investigate the effect of the balance of positive and negative links on dynamical regularity. → We find that when the connections are predominantly excitatory or inhibitory, one obtains a spatiotemporal fixed point. → However, when the links are balanced, the chaotic nature of the nodal dynamics of the uncoupled case is preserved. → Further we observe that larger network size leads to greater spatiotemporal regularity. - Abstract: We investigate the effect of the interplay of positive and negative links, on the dynamical regularity of a random weighted network, with neuronal dynamics at the nodes. We investigate how the mean J-bar and the variance of the weights of links, influence the spatiotemporal regularity of this dynamical network. We find that when the connections are predominantly positive (i.e. the links are mostly excitatory, with J-bar>0) the spatiotemporal fixed point is stable. A similar trend is observed when the connections are predominantly negative (i.e. the links are mostly inhibitory, with J-bar<0). However, when the positive and negative feedback is quite balanced (namely, when the mean of the connection weights is close to zero) one observes spatiotemporal chaos. That is, the balance of excitatory and inhibitory connections preserves the chaotic nature of the uncoupled case. To be brought to an inactive state one needs one type of connection (either excitatory or inhibitory) to dominate. Further we observe that larger network size leads to greater spatiotemporal regularity. We rationalize our observations through mean field analysis of the network dynamics.

Computational Studies of Positive and Negative Streamers in Bubbles Suspended in Distilled Water

KAUST Repository

Sharma, Ashish

2017-01-05

We perform computational studies of nanosecond streamers generated in helium bubbles immersed in distilled water under high pressure conditions. The model takes into account the presence of water vapor in the gas bubble for an accurate description of the chemical kinetics of the discharge. We apply positive and negative trigger voltages much higher than the breakdown voltage and study the dynamic characteristics of the resulting discharge. We observe that, for high positive trigger voltages, the streamer moves along the surface of the gas bubble during the initial stages of the discharge. We also find a considerable difference in the evolution of the streamer discharge for positive and negative trigger voltages with more uniform volumetric distribution of species in the streamer channel for negative trigger voltages due to formation of multiple streamers. We also observe that the presence of water vapor does not influence the breakdown voltage of the discharge but greatly affects the composition of dominant species in the trail of the streamer channel.

Human Exhibitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreassen, Rikke

light on the staging of exhibitions, the daily life of the exhibitees, the wider connections between shows across Europe and the thinking of the time on matters of race, science, gender and sexuality. A window onto contemporary racial understandings, the book presents interviews with the descendants...... of displayed people, connecting the attitudes and science of the past with both our (continued) modern fascination with ‘the exotic’, and contemporary language and popular culture. As such, it will be of interest to scholars of sociology, anthropology and history working in the areas of gender and sexuality...

Anniversary Exhibition. Nechvolodov.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

- -

2006-03-01

Full Text Available On the 10th of August, 2005 in Tartu (the second biggest educational and cultural city in Estonia Stanislav Nechvolodov's exhibition was opened to show the 5-year cycle of his work, traditional for the author and his admirers. At the opening ceremony Nechvolodov said that the exhibition was the last one and appointed on his 70th anniversary.The architectural and building society in Irkutsk remembers Stanislav Nechvolodov as an architect working on dwelling and civil buildings in 1960-70s. Below are some extracts from the Estonian press.«Postimees» newspaper, December 1993. The interview «Expressionistic naturalist, conservative Nechvolodov» by journalist Eric Linnumyagi. He asks about all the details and describes the troubles experienced by Nechvolodov during the perestroika period in Estonia, for example: the Tartu University refused to install the sculpture of Socrat, the art school refused to engage him as an instructor, the sculpture of Socrat moved to Vrotzlav, Poland, and Nechvolodov moved to Poland to read lectures there.«Tartu» newspaper, November 2000. Mats Oun, artist, says in the article «Nechvolodov: a man of Renaissance»: «Nechvolodov works in Estonia, his works are placed in many local and foreign museums. Regardless some insignificant faults, he deserves a high estimation, and his manysided open exhibition can be an example for other artists. He is a man of Renaissance».

Observation of spin-parity 2+ dominance in the reaction γγ→ρ0ρ0 near threshold

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albrecht, H.; Ehrlichmann, H.; Glaeser, R.; Harder, G.; Krueger, A.; Nau, A.; Nilsson, A.W.; Nippe, A.; Oest, T.; Reidenbach, M.; Schaefer, M.; Schmidt-Parzefall, W.; Schroeder, H.; Schulz, H.D.; Sefkow, F.; Wurth, R.; Appuhn, R.D.; Drescher, A.; Hast, C.; Herrera, G.; Kolanoski, H.; Lange, A.; Lindner, A.; Mankel, R.; Scheck, H.; Schieber, M.; Schweda, G.; Spaan, B.; Walther, A.; Wegener, D.; Britton, D.I.; Charlesworth, C.E.K.; Edwards, K.W.; Kapitza, H.; Krieger, P.; Kutschke, R.; MacFarlane, D.B.; McLean, K.W.; Orr, R.S.; Parsons, J.A.; Patel, P.M.; Prentice, J.D.; Seidel, S.C.; Swain, J.D.; Tsipolitis, G.; Tzamariudaki, K.; Yoon, T.S.; Ruf, T.; Schael, S.; Schubert, K.R.; Strahl, K.; Waldi, R.; Weseler, S.; Childers, R.; Darden, C.W.

1991-01-01

The reaction γγ→π + π - π + π - has been studied with the ARGUS detector. The rate in the invariant mass region below 1.8 GeV/c 2 is found to be largely due to ρ 0 ρ 0 production. A spin-parity analysis shows a dominance of the partial wave (J P , J z )=(2 + , 2) with a small admixture from J P =0 + . The contribution of negative parity states is consistent with zero. The large ratio of cross sections σ(γγ→ρ 0 ρ 0 )/σ(γγ→ρ + ρ - )≅4, and the dominance of the J P =2 + wave in the reaction γγ→ρ 0 ρ 0 is a signature consistent with the production of an exotic (I=2) resonance. (orig.)

Creating Virtual Exhibitions for Educational and Cultural Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela DUMITRESCU

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents different tools and mechanisms to implement a virtual exhibition in different cultural areas, such as museums and libraries. Quality characteristics of virtual exhibitions are identified and described. The possibility to create native mobile applications for virtual exhibitions presentation is analyzed. The functional flow of creating a virtual exhibition is presented and discussed. The Seals - History Treasure exhibition is presented and significant historical documents are revealed.

Assessing appetitive, aversive, and negative ethanol-mediated reinforcement through an immature rat model.

Science.gov (United States)

Pautassi, Ricardo M; Nizhnikov, Michael E; Spear, Norman E

2009-06-01

The motivational effects of drugs play a key role during the transition from casual use to abuse and dependence. Ethanol reinforcement has been successfully studied through Pavlovian and operant conditioning in adult rats and mice genetically selected for their ready acceptance of ethanol. Another model for studying ethanol reinforcement is the immature (preweanling) rat, which consumes ethanol and exhibits the capacity to process tactile, odor and taste cues and transfer information between different sensorial modalities. This review describes the motivational effects of ethanol in preweanling, heterogeneous non-selected rats. Preweanlings exhibit ethanol-mediated conditioned taste avoidance and conditioned place aversion. Ethanol's appetitive effects, however, are evident when using first- and second-order conditioning and operant procedures. Ethanol also devalues the motivational representation of aversive stimuli, suggesting early negative reinforcement. It seems that preweanlings are highly sensitive not only to the aversive motivational effects of ethanol but also to its positive and negative (anti-anxiety) reinforcement potential. The review underscores the advantages of using a developing rat to evaluate alcohol's motivational effects.

Integral Field Spectroscopy of Balmer-dominated Shocks in the Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant N103B

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghavamian, Parviz [Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252 (United States); Seitenzahl, Ivo R.; Dopita, M. A. [Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2611 (Australia); Vogt, Frédéric P. A. [European Southern Observatory, Av. Alonso de Córdova 3107, 763 0355 Vitacura, Santiago (Chile); Terry, Jason P. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Georgia (United States); Williams, Brian J. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Winkler, P. Frank, E-mail: pghavamian@towson.edu [Department of Physics, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753 (United States)

2017-10-01

We present results of integral field spectroscopy of Balmer-dominated shocks in the LMC supernova remnant (SNR) N103B, carried out using the Wide Field Integral Spectrograph (WiFeS ) on the 2.3 m telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Existing X-ray studies of N103B have indicated an SN Ia origin. Radiative shock emission from clumpy material surrounding the SNR may result from interaction of the forward shock with relic stellar wind material, possibly implicating a thermonuclear explosion in a single-degenerate binary system. The recently discovered Balmer-dominated shocks mark the impact of the forward shock with low density, partially neutral CSM gas, and form a partial shell encircling clumps of material exhibiting radiative shocks. The WiFeS spectra of N103B reveal broad H α emission having a width as high as 2350 km s{sup −1} along the northern rim, and both H α and H β broad profiles having widths around 1300 km s{sup −1} along the southern rim. Fits to the H α line profiles indicate that in addition to the usual broad and narrow emission components, a third component of intermediate width exists in these Balmer-dominated shocks, ranging from around 125 km s{sup −1} up to 225 km s{sup −1} in width. This is consistent with predictions of recent Balmer-dominated shock models, which predict that an intermediate-width component will be generated in a fast neutral precursor. We derive a Sedov age of approximately 685 ± 20 years for N103B from the Balmer-dominated spectra, consistent with the young age of 380–860 years estimated from light echo studies.

Functional analysis of Waardenburg syndrome-associated PAX3 and SOX10 mutations: report of a dominant-negative SOX10 mutation in Waardenburg syndrome type II.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hua; Chen, Hongsheng; Luo, Hunjin; An, Jing; Sun, Lin; Mei, Lingyun; He, Chufeng; Jiang, Lu; Jiang, Wen; Xia, Kun; Li, Jia-Da; Feng, Yong

2012-03-01

Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is an auditory-pigmentary disorder resulting from melanocyte defects, with varying combinations of sensorineural hearing loss and abnormal pigmentation of the hair, skin, and inner ear. WS is classified into four subtypes (WS1-WS4) based on additional symptoms. PAX3 and SOX10 are two transcription factors that can activate the expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), a critical transcription factor for melanocyte development. Mutations of PAX3 are associated with WS1 and WS3, while mutations of SOX10 cause WS2 and WS4. Recently, we identified some novel WS-associated mutations in PAX3 and SOX10 in a cohort of Chinese WS patients. Here, we further identified an E248fsX30 SOX10 mutation in a family of WS2. We analyzed the subcellular distribution, expression and in vitro activity of two PAX3 mutations (p.H80D, p.H186fsX5) and four SOX10 mutations (p.E248fsX30, p.G37fsX58, p.G38fsX69 and p.R43X). Except H80D PAX3, which retained partial activity, the other mutants were unable to activate MITF promoter. The H80D PAX3 and E248fsX30 SOX10 were localized in the nucleus as wild type (WT) proteins, whereas the other mutant proteins were distributed in both cytoplasm and nucleus. Furthermore, E248fsX30 SOX10 protein retained the DNA-binding activity and showed dominant-negative effect on WT SOX10. However, E248fsX30 SOX10 protein seems to decay faster than the WT one, which may underlie the mild WS2 phenotype caused by this mutation.

Effect of Sediment Availability in Bedload-Dominated Rivers on Fluvial Geomorphic Equilibrium

Science.gov (United States)

Marti, M.

2016-12-01

Channels are known to compensate for changes in sediment supply via covariate changes in channel properties, yet the timescale for adjustment remains poorly constrained. We propose that reductions in sediment flux inhibit equilibrium re-establishment and thus impact the timescale of system adjustment. Using run-of-river dams as natural experiments, this study quantifies the geomorphic response of channels to sediment supply reduction. Channel traits that facilitate increased sediment trapping behind the dam, such as large reservoir storage capacity relative to annual inflow and low slope, were expected to inhibit a channel's ability to re-establish equilibrium following impoundment, lengthening the equilibrium establishment timescale to tens or hundreds of years. Reaches associated with increased trapping were therefore anticipated to exhibit non-equilibrium forms. Channel equilibrium was evaluated downstream of 8 ROR dams in New England with varying degrees of sediment trapping. Sites cover a range of watershed sizes (3-155 km2), channel slopes (.05-5%), 2-year discharges (1.5-60 m3/s) and storage capacity volumes. Because equilibrium channel form is just sufficient to mobilize grains under bankfull conditions in bedload-dominated rivers, the Shields parameter was used to assess equilibrium form. Unregulated, upstream Shields values and regulated, downstream values were calculated at 14 total cross-sections extending 300-450 m upstream and downstream of each dam. Sediment trapping was estimated using Brune's curve (1953). On the Charles Brown Brook (VT), a marginally significant (p=0.08) increase in Shields values from a mean of 0.14 upstream to 0.41 downstream of a 100+ year old dam was observed. In contrast, reaches downstream of the 100+ year old Pelham dam (MA) exhibit significantly lower Shields values. This suggests that trapping behind the dam inhibits the downstream channel from reaching an equilibrium state, but not always in the same way. Better

Neurons for hunger and thirst transmit a negative-valence teaching signal

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Rong; Magnus, Christopher J.; Yu, Yang; Sternson, Scott M.

2015-01-01

Homeostasis is a biological principle for regulation of essential physiological parameters within a set range. Behavioural responses due to deviation from homeostasis are critical for survival, but motivational processes engaged by physiological need states are incompletely understood. We examined motivational characteristics and dynamics of two separate neuron populations that regulate energy and fluid homeostasis by using cell type-specific activity manipulations in mice. We found that starvation-sensitive AGRP neurons exhibit properties consistent with a negative-valence teaching signal. Mice avoided activation of AGRP neurons, indicating that AGRP neuron activity has negative valence. AGRP neuron inhibition conditioned preference for flavours and places. Correspondingly, deep-brain calcium imaging revealed that AGRP neuron activity rapidly reduced in response to food-related cues. Complementary experiments activating thirst-promoting neurons also conditioned avoidance. Therefore, these need-sensing neurons condition preference for environmental cues associated with nutrient or water ingestion, which is learned through reduction of negative-valence signals during restoration of homeostasis. PMID:25915020

WO3 Nanowires on Graphene Sheets as Negative Electrode for Supercapacitors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available WO3 nanowires directly grown on graphene sheets have been fabricated by using a seed-mediated hydrothermal method. The morphologies and electrochemical performance of WO3 films prepared by different process were studied. The results show that the precoated nanoseeds and graphene sheets on graphite electrode provide more reactive centers for the nucleation and formation of uniform WO3 nanowires. The WO3 nanowires electrode exhibits a high area specific capacitance of 800 mF cm−2 over negative potential range from −1.0 V to 0 V versus SCE in 1 M Li2SO4 solution. A high performance electrochemical supercapacitor assembled with WO3 nanowires as negative electrode and PANI/MnO2 as positive electrodes over voltage range of 1.6 V displays a high volumetric capacitance of 2.5 F cm−3, which indicate great potential applications of WO3 nanowires on graphene sheets as negative electrode for energy storage devices.

Trait anxiety and attenuated negative affect differentiation: a vulnerability factor to consider?

Science.gov (United States)

Matt, Lindsey M; Fresco, David M; Coifman, Karin G

2016-11-01

Describing emotional experiences using distinct terms, or affect differentiation, has been associated with emotion regulation and adaptive behavior under stress. There is little data, however, examining the association between differentiation and dispositional factors underlying psychopathology. The current study examines the association between differentiation and trait anxiety (TA) given prior evidence of cognitive biases in TA relevant to higher order processing of emotional experiences. We examined cross-sectionally, via lab-based repeated assessment, the association between differentiation of negative and positive experiences and TA. Two hundred twenty-two adults completed an emotion reactivity task including repeated assessments of affect. We hypothesized that individuals higher in trait anxiety (HTA) would have greater difficulty differentiating their experiences. HTA individuals exhibited lower levels of negative affect (NA) differentiation even when controlling for depression. Although negative emotion intensity was consistently associated with lower differentiation, this did not account for the influence of HTA on differentiation. These data suggest that HTA individuals have greater difficulty differentiating negative emotions, regardless of negative emotion intensity and depression. As HTA is common to many emotional disorders; this evidence suggests that poor differentiation may also be an important transdiagnostic consideration in models of risk and of affective disease.

The exploration of the exhibition informatization

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jiankang

2017-06-01

The construction and management of exhibition informatization is the main task and choke point during the process of Chinese exhibition industry’s transformation and promotion. There are three key points expected to realize a breakthrough during the construction of Chinese exhibition informatization, and the three aspects respectively are adopting service outsourcing to construct and maintain the database, adopting advanced chest card technology to collect various kinds of information, developing statistics analysis to maintain good cutomer relations. The success of Chinese exhibition informatization mainly calls for mature suppliers who can provide construction and maintenance of database, the proven technology, a sense of data security, advanced chest card technology, the ability of data mining and analysis and the ability to improve the exhibition service basing on the commercial information got from the data analysis. Several data security measures are expected to apply during the process of system developing, including the measures of the terminal data security, the internet data security, the media data security, the storage data security and the application data security. The informatization of this process is based on the chest card designing. At present, there are several types of chest card technology: bar code chest card; two-dimension code card; magnetic stripe chest card; smart-chip chest card. The information got from the exhibition data will help the organizers to make relevant service strategies, quantify the accumulated indexes of the customers, and improve the level of the customer’s satisfaction and loyalty, what’s more, the information can also provide more additional services like the commercial trips, VIP ceremonial reception.

A dichotomy for upper domination in monogenic classes

KAUST Repository

AbouEisha, Hassan M.; Hussain, Shahid; Lozin, Vadim V.; Monnot, Jé rô me; Ries, Bernard

2014-01-01

An upper dominating set in a graph is a minimal (with respect to set inclusion) dominating set of maximum cardinality. The problem of finding an upper dominating set is NP-hard for general graphs and in many restricted graph families. In the present

Negative ions in the auroral mesosphere during a PCA event around sunset

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. F. del Pozo

Full Text Available This is a study of the negative ion chemistry in the mesosphere above Tromsø using a number of EISCAT observations of high energy proton precipitation events during the last solar maximum, and in particular around sunset on 23 October, 1989. In these conditions it is possible to look at the relative importance of the various photodetachment and photodissociation processes controlling the concentration of negative ions. The data analysed are from several UHF GEN11 determinations of the ion-plasma ACF together with the pseudo zero-lag estimate of the `raw' electron density, at heights between 55 km and 85 km, at less than 1 km resolution. The power profiles from the UHF are combined with the 55-ion Sodankylä model to obtain consistent estimates of the electron density, the negative ion concentrations, and the average ion mass with height. The neutral concentrations and ion temperature are given by the MSIS90 model. These parameters are then used to compare the calculated widths of the ion-line with the GEN11 determinations. The ion-line spectrum gives information on the effects of negative ions below 70 km where they are dominant; the spectral width is almost a direct measure of the relative abundance of negative ions.

Key words. Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere; ion chemistry and composition; particle precipitation.

Land-sea coupling of early Pleistocene glacial cycles in the southern North Sea exhibit dominant Northern Hemisphere forcing

Science.gov (United States)

Donders, Timme H.; van Helmond, Niels A. G. M.; Verreussel, Roel; Munsterman, Dirk; ten Veen, Johan; Speijer, Robert P.; Weijers, Johan W. H.; Sangiorgi, Francesca; Peterse, Francien; Reichart, Gert-Jan; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S.; Lourens, Lucas; Kuhlmann, Gesa; Brinkhuis, Henk

2018-03-01

synchronous between land and sea, but lead the relative sea level change by 3000-8000 years. The record provides evidence for a dominantly Northern Hemisphere-driven cooling that leads the glacial buildup and varies on the obliquity timescale. Southward migration of Arctic surface water masses during glacials, indicated by cool-water dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, is furthermore relevant for the discussion on the relation between the intensity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and ice sheet growth.

Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and the tridosha theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

2003-05-01

Ayurveda, the traditional Indian System of Medicine, deals with the theory of the three tridosha states (both physical and psychological): Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. They are the three major human constitutional types that both depend on psychological and physical characteristics. The Pitta state is described as a critical, discriminative, and rational psychological state of mind, while the Kapha state is described as being dominant for emotional stimuli. The Vata state is an intermediate unstable shifting state. The Pitta types are of average height and built with well developed musculature. The Vata types are thin individuals with low body mass index. The Kapha types are short stocky individuals that tend toward obesity, and who are sedentary. The study assessed the biochemical differences between right hemispheric dominant, bihemispheric dominant, and left hemispheric dominant individuals, and then compared this with the patterns obtained in the Vata, Pitta, and Kapha states. The isoprenoid metabolites (digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone), glycoconjugate metabolism, free radical metabolism, and the RBC membrane composition were studied. The hemispheric chemical dominance in various systemic diseases and psychological states was also investigated. The results showed that right hemispheric chemically dominant/Kapha state had elevated digoxin levels, increased free radical production and reduced scavenging, increased tryptophan catabolites and reduced tyrosine catabolites, increased glycoconjugate levels and increased cholesterol: phospholipid ratio of RBC membranes. Left hemispheric chemically dominant/Pitta states had the opposite biochemical patterns. The patterns were normal or intermediate in the bihemispheric chemically dominant/Vata state. This pattern could be correlated with various systemic and neuropsychiatric diseases and personality traits. Right hemispheric chemical dominance/Kapha state represents a hyperdigoxinemic state with membrane sodium

Benefits of dominance over additive models for the estimation of average effects in the presence of dominance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duenk, Pascal; Calus, Mario P.L.; Wientjes, Yvonne C.J.; Bijma, Piter

2017-01-01

In quantitative genetics, the average effect at a single locus can be estimated by an additive (A) model, or an additive plus dominance (AD) model. In the presence of dominance, the AD-model is expected to be more accurate, because the A-model falsely assumes that residuals are independent and

Digital Natives: Creating Emergent Exhibitions through Digital Technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, Rachel Charlotte; Iversen, Ole Sejer; Dindler, Christian

2011-01-01

. In this way, digital technology can contribute to the creation of emergent exhibitions in which the exhibition is created in dialogue between audiences and the museum. We present experiences from a current research project, the Digital Natives exhibition, in which digital technology was designed......Digital Technology can support the creation of dialogical spaces in the museum, both playful and reflective, that allow audiences to engage in the ongoing construction and reproduction of cultural heritage creating novel connections between self and others and between past, present and future...... as an integral part of the exhibition to encourage dialogue between audiences and the exhibition materials and thereby investigate how the exhibition emerge as a result of this dialogic co-construction inside the exhibition space. In short, the opportunities offered by digital technologies prompts us to consider...

Affective Norms for Italian Words in Older Adults: Age Differences in Ratings of Valence, Arousal and Dominance.

Science.gov (United States)

Fairfield, Beth; Ambrosini, Ettore; Mammarella, Nicola; Montefinese, Maria

2017-01-01

In line with the dimensional theory of emotional space, we developed affective norms for words rated in terms of valence, arousal and dominance in a group of older adults to complete the adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) for Italian and to aid research on aging. Here, as in the original Italian ANEW database, participants evaluated valence, arousal, and dominance by means of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) in a paper-and-pencil procedure. We observed high split-half reliabilities within the older sample and high correlations with the affective ratings of previous research, especially for valence, suggesting that there is large agreement among older adults within and across-languages. More importantly, we found high correlations between younger and older adults, showing that our data are generalizable across different ages. However, despite this across-ages accord, we obtained age-related differences on three affective dimensions for a great number of words. In particular, older adults rated as more arousing and more unpleasant a number of words that younger adults rated as moderately unpleasant and arousing in our previous affective norms. Moreover, older participants rated negative stimuli as more arousing and positive stimuli as less arousing than younger participants, thus leading to a less-curved distribution of ratings in the valence by arousal space. We also found more extreme ratings for older adults for the relationship between dominance and arousal: older adults gave lower dominance and higher arousal ratings for words rated by younger adults with middle dominance and arousal values. Together, these results suggest that our affective norms are reliable and can be confidently used to select words matched for the affective dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance across younger and older participants for future research in aging.

Negative Magnus lift on a rotating sphere at around the critical Reynolds number

Science.gov (United States)

Muto, Masaya; Tsubokura, Makoto; Oshima, Nobuyuki

2012-01-01

Negative Magnus lift acting on a sphere rotating about the axis perpendicular to an incoming flow was investigated using large-eddy simulation at three Reynolds numbers of 1.0 × 104, 2.0 × 105, and 1.14 × 106. The numerical methods used were first validated on a non-rotating sphere, and the spatial resolution around the sphere was determined so as to reproduce the laminar separation, reattachment, and turbulent transition of the boundary layer observed in the vicinity of the critical Reynolds number. The rotating sphere exhibited a positive or negative Magnus effect depending on the Reynolds number and the imposed rotating speed. At Reynolds numbers in the subcritical or supercritical regimes, the direction of the Magnus lift force was independent of the rotational speed. In contrast, the lift force was negative in the critical regime when particular rotating speeds were imposed. This negative Magnus effect was investigated in the context of suppression or promotion of boundary layer transition around the separation point.

Artefacts and the performance of an exhibition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svabo, Connie

2008-01-01

The article explores the role of mediating artefacts in children's encounters with a museum of natural history. Using actor network theory it explores how a specific artefact shapes the way users relate to exhibited objects and how the artefact guides users' movements in the exhibition....... The mediated performance of an exhibition is explored through an empirical case....

Multidrug resistance in enteric and other gram-negative bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

George, A M

1996-05-15

In Gram-negative bacteria, multidrug resistance is a term that is used to describe mechanisms of resistance by chromosomal genes that are activated by induction or mutation caused by the stress of exposure to antibiotics in natural and clinical environments. Unlike plasmid-borne resistance genes, there is no alteration or degradation of drugs or need for genetic transfer. Exposure to a single drug leads to cross-resistance to many other structurally and functionally unrelated drugs. The only mechanism identified for multidrug resistance in bacteria is drug efflux by membrane transporters, even though many of these transporters remain to be identified. The enteric bacteria exhibit mostly complex multidrug resistance systems which are often regulated by operons or regulons. The purpose of this review is to survey molecular mechanisms of multidrug resistance in enteric and other Gram-negative bacteria, and to speculate on the origins and natural physiological functions of the genes involved.

Foam topology. Bending versus stretching dominated architectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deshpande, V.; Ashby, M.; Fleck, N.

2000-01-01

Cellular solids can deform by either the bending or stretching of the cell walls. While most cellular solids are bending-dominated, those that are stretching-dominated are much more weight-efficient for structural applications. In this study we have investigated the topological criteria that dictate the deformation mechanism of a cellular solid by analysing the rigidity (or otherwise) of pin-jointed frameworks comprising inextensional struts. We show that the minimum node connectivity for a special class of lattice structured materials to be stretching-dominated is 6 for 2D foams and 12 for 3D foams. Similarly, sandwich plates comprising of truss cores faced with planar trusses require a minimum node connectivity of 9 to undergo stretching-dominated deformation for all loading states. (author)

The influence of prejudice and stereotypes on anticipated affect : feelings about a potentially negative interaction with another ethnic group

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gordijn, Ernestine; Finchilescu, Gillian; Brix, Louise; Wijnants, Nienke; Koomen, Willem

2008-01-01

In this research we investigated whether feelings about an imagined potentially negative interaction with a member of another ethnic group was affected more by valence than content of stereotypes, and whether the differential influence of perception and meta-perception was similar for dominant and

A content-oriented model for science exhibit engineering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Achiam, Marianne

2013-01-01

Recently, science museums have begun to review their educational purposes and redesign their pedagogies. At the most basic level, this entails accounting for the performance of individual exhibits, and indeed, in some cases, research indicates shortcomings in exhibit design: While often successful......: as a means to operationalize the link between exhibit features and visitor activities; and as a template to transform scientists’ practices in the research context into visitors’ activities in the exhibit context. The resulting model of science exhibit engineering is presented and exemplified, and its...... implications for science exhibit design are discussed at three levels: the design product, the design process, and the design methodology....

France at CERN – Industrial exhibition

CERN Multimedia

FP Department

2012-01-01

Industrial Exhibition Administration Building Bldg 61 – 1st Floor Tuesday 27 March: 9 a.m. – 5.30 p.m. Wednesday 28 March: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.   About thirty French companies are presenting their latest technological advances during the industrial exhibition "France at CERN", featuring products and technologies specifically related to CERN activities. Individual B2B meetings can be organized with the sales and technical representatives of participating firms and will take place at either the companies’ exhibition stands or in conference rooms in the Main Building. Individuals wishing to make contact with one or more companies must use the contact details available from each secretariat of department or by using this link. B2B meetings will be coordinated by UBIFRANCE. You will also find the list of exhibiting and participating companies online here. This event is sponsored by the French subsidiary of RS Components, the most important distri...

Right-hemispheric dominance for visual remapping in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Pisella, L; Alahyane, N; Blangero, A; Thery, F; Blanc, S; Pelisson, D

2011-02-27

We review evidence showing a right-hemispheric dominance for visuo-spatial processing and representation in humans. Accordingly, visual disorganization symptoms (intuitively related to remapping impairments) are observed in both neglect and constructional apraxia. More specifically, we review findings from the intervening saccade paradigm in humans--and present additional original data--which suggest a specific role of the asymmetrical network at the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) in the right hemisphere in visual remapping: following damage to the right dorsal posterior parietal cortex (PPC) as well as part of the corpus callosum connecting the PPC to the frontal lobes, patient OK in a double-step saccadic task exhibited an impairment when the second saccade had to be directed rightward. This singular and lateralized deficit cannot result solely from the patient's cortical lesion and, therefore, we propose that it is due to his callosal lesion that may specifically interrupt the interhemispheric transfer of information necessary to execute accurate rightward saccades towards a remapped target location. This suggests a specialized right-hemispheric network for visuo-spatial remapping that subsequently transfers target location information to downstream planning regions, which are symmetrically organized.

Inflaton decay and heavy particle production with negative coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greene, B.R.; Prokopec, T.; Roos, T.G.

1997-01-01

We study the decay of the inflaton in a general Z 2 xZ 2 symmetric two scalar theory. Since the dynamics of the system is dominated by states with large occupation numbers which admit a semiclassical description, the decay can be studied by solving the classical equations of motion on the lattice. Of particular interest is the case when the cross coupling between the inflaton and the second scalar field is negative, which is naturally allowed in many realistic models. While the inflaton decays via parametric resonance in the positive coupling case we find that for negative coupling there is a new mechanism of particle production which we call negative coupling instability. Because of this new mechanism the variances of the fields grow significantly larger before the production is shut off by the back reaction of the created particles, which could have important consequences for symmetry restoration by nonthermal phase transitions. We also find that heavy particles are produced much more efficiently with negative coupling, which is of prime importance for GUT baryogenesis. Using a simple toy model for baryogenesis and the results of our lattice simulations we show that for natural values of the cross coupling enough 10 14 GeV bosons are created to produce a baryon to entropy ratio consistent with observation. This is to be contrasted with the situation for positive coupling, where the value of the cross coupling required to produce such massive particles is technically unnatural. In addition to our numerical results we obtain analytical estimates for the maximum variances of the fields in an expanding universe for all cases of interest: massive and massless inflaton, positive and negative cross coupling, with and without significant self-interactions for the second field. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

2003-04-01

The isoprenoid path way produces endogenous digoxin, a substance that can regulate neurotransmitter and amino acid transport. Digoxin synthesis and neurotransmitter patterns were assessed in individuals with chronic insomnia. The patterns were compared in those with right hemispheric and left hemispheric dominance. The activity of HMG GoA reductase and serum levels of digoxin, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites, and tyrosine catabolites were measured in individuals with chronic insomnia and in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance. Digoxin synthesis was increased with upregulated tryptophan catabolism (increased levels of serotonin, strychnine, and nicotine), and downregulated tyrosine catabolism (decreased levels of dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine) in those with chronic insomnia and right hemispheric chemical dominance. Digoxin synthesis was reduced with downregulated tryptophan catabolism (decreased levels of serotonin, strychnine, and nicotine) and upregulated tyrosine catabolism (increased levels of dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine) in those with normal sleep patterns and left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hypothalamic digoxin plays a central role in the regulation of sleep behavior. Hemispheric chemical dominance in relation to digoxin status is also crucial.

Temporary and Travelling Exhibitions. Museums and Monuments, X.

Science.gov (United States)

Daifuku, Hiroshi; And Others

The permanent exhibition, the most typical form of museum exhibition, has failed to attract repeated visitation, since visitors quickly become familiar with the objects shown. The temporary exhibition evolved as a result for the need of repeated visitation. The temporary exhibition, set up for a period of one to six months, introduces fresh…

Field-induced negative differential spin lifetime in silicon.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jing; Qing, Lan; Dery, Hanan; Appelbaum, Ian

2012-04-13

We show that the electric-field-induced thermal asymmetry between the electron and lattice systems in pure silicon substantially impacts the identity of the dominant spin relaxation mechanism. Comparison of empirical results from long-distance spin transport devices with detailed Monte Carlo simulations confirms a strong spin depolarization beyond what is expected from the standard Elliott-Yafet theory even at low temperatures. The enhanced spin-flip mechanism is attributed to phonon emission processes during which electrons are scattered between conduction band valleys that reside on different crystal axes. This leads to anomalous behavior, where (beyond a critical field) reduction of the transit time between spin-injector and spin-detector is accompanied by a counterintuitive reduction in spin polarization and an apparent negative spin lifetime.

Iterative schemes for obtaining dominant alpha-modes of the neutron diffusion equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, K.P.; Modak, R.S.; Degweker, S.B.; Singh, Kanchhi

2009-01-01

Two new methods of obtaining dominant prompt alpha-modes (sometimes referred to as time-eigenfunctions) of the multigroup neutron diffusion equation are discussed. In the first of these, we initially compute the dominant K-eigenfunctions and K-eigenvalues (denoted by λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 ...λ 1 being equal to the K eff ) for the given nuclear reactor model, by existing method based on sub-space iteration (SSI) which is an improved version of power iteration method. Subsequently, a uniformly distributed (positive or negative) 1/v absorber of sufficient concentration is added so as to make a particular eigenvalue λ i equal to unity. This gives ith alpha-mode. This procedure is repeated to find all the required alpha-modes. In the second method, we solve the alpha-eigenvalue problem directly by SSI method. This is clearly possible for a sub-critical reactor for which the inverse of the dominant alpha-eigenvalues are also the largest in magnitude as required by the SSI method. Here, the procedure is made applicable even to a super-critical reactor by making the reactor model sub-critical by the addition of a 1/v absorber. Results of these calculations for a 3-D two group PHWR test-case are given. These results are validated against the results as obtained by a completely different approach based on Orthomin(1) algorithm published earlier. The direct method based on the sub-space iteration strategy is found to be a simple and reliable method for obtaining any number of alpha-modes. Also comments have been made on the relationship between fundamental α and k values.

Dominance rank causally affects personality and glucocorticoid regulation in female rhesus macaques

Science.gov (United States)

Kohn, Jordan N.; Snyder-Mackler, Noah; Barreiro, Luis B.; Johnson, Zachary P.; Tung, Jenny; Wilson, Mark E.

2017-01-01

Low social status is frequently associated with heightened exposure to social stressors and altered glucocorticoid regulation by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Additionally, personality differences can affect how individuals behave in response to social conditions, and thus may aggravate or protect against the effects of low status on HPA function. Disentangling the relative importance of personality from the effects of the social environment on the HPA axis has been challenging, since social status can predict aspects of behavior, and both can remain stable across the lifespan. To do so here, we studied an animal model of social status and social behavior, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). We performed two sequential experimental manipulations of dominance rank (i.e., social status) in 45 adult females, allowing us to characterize personality and glucocorticoid regulation (based on sensitivity to the exogenous glucocorticoid dexamethasone) in each individual while she occupied two different dominance ranks. We identified two behavioral characteristics, termed ‘social approachability’ and ‘boldness,’ which were highly social status-dependent. Social approachability and a third dimension, anxiousness, were also associated with cortisol dynamics in low status females, suggesting that behavioral tendencies may sensitize individuals to the effects of low status on HPA axis function. Finally, we found that improvements in dominance rank increased dexamethasone-induced acute cortisol suppression and glucocorticoid negative feedback. Our findings indicate that social status causally affects both behavioral tendencies and glucocorticoid regulation, and that some behavioral tendencies also independently affect cortisol levels, beyond the effects of rank. Together, they highlight the importance of considering personality and social status together when investigating their effects on HPA axis function. PMID:27639059

Marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial regression with application to dental caries.

Science.gov (United States)

Preisser, John S; Das, Kalyan; Long, D Leann; Divaris, Kimon

2016-05-10

The zero-inflated negative binomial regression model (ZINB) is often employed in diverse fields such as dentistry, health care utilization, highway safety, and medicine to examine relationships between exposures of interest and overdispersed count outcomes exhibiting many zeros. The regression coefficients of ZINB have latent class interpretations for a susceptible subpopulation at risk for the disease/condition under study with counts generated from a negative binomial distribution and for a non-susceptible subpopulation that provides only zero counts. The ZINB parameters, however, are not well-suited for estimating overall exposure effects, specifically, in quantifying the effect of an explanatory variable in the overall mixture population. In this paper, a marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial regression (MZINB) model for independent responses is proposed to model the population marginal mean count directly, providing straightforward inference for overall exposure effects based on maximum likelihood estimation. Through simulation studies, the finite sample performance of MZINB is compared with marginalized zero-inflated Poisson, Poisson, and negative binomial regression. The MZINB model is applied in the evaluation of a school-based fluoride mouthrinse program on dental caries in 677 children. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

CERN Industrials Exhibitions - Over 30 Years of Tradition

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

Industrial exhibitions have been part of the CERN landscape for 33 years. At least once each year several companies from the same country come to CERN to present their products and services. Now, a new scheme of one-day visits is giving potential exhibitors at CERN a lighter option. The United Kingdom inaugurated the Industrial Exhibitions in 1968, and it wasn't till 1971 that other countries staged exhibitions at CERN. This photo was taken in 1969, at the second British exhibition, where 16 companies were present. Four years after joining CERN, Poland inaugurated its first exhibition at CERN in 1995 in the presence of the former Director-General Chris Llewellyn-Smith. Almost all the Member States have held industrial exhibitions at the Organization. May '68 wasn't only revolutionary in Paris. For the very first time, an industrial exhibition took place at CERN. Great Britain was first to come with eight companies and remains until this day the most devoted country to the programme with 17 exhibitions and ...

Portfolios dominating indices: Optimization with second-order stochastic dominance constraints vs. minimum and mean variance portfolios

OpenAIRE

Keçeci, Neslihan Fidan; Kuzmenko, Viktor; Uryasev, Stan

2016-01-01

The paper compares portfolio optimization with the Second-Order Stochastic Dominance (SSD) constraints with mean-variance and minimum variance portfolio optimization. As a distribution-free decision rule, stochastic dominance takes into account the entire distribution of return rather than some specific characteristic, such as variance. The paper is focused on practical applications of the portfolio optimization and uses the Portfolio Safeguard (PSG) package, which has precoded modules for op...

Portfolios Dominating Indices: Optimization with Second-Order Stochastic Dominance Constraints vs. Minimum and Mean Variance Portfolios

OpenAIRE

Neslihan Fidan Keçeci; Viktor Kuzmenko; Stan Uryasev

2016-01-01

The paper compares portfolio optimization with the Second-Order Stochastic Dominance (SSD) constraints with mean-variance and minimum variance portfolio optimization. As a distribution-free decision rule, stochastic dominance takes into account the entire distribution of return rather than some specific characteristic, such as variance. The paper is focused on practical applications of the portfolio optimization and uses the Portfolio Safeguard (PSG) package, which has precoded modules for op...

A novel missense mutation in CCDC88C activates the JNK pathway and causes a dominant form of spinocerebellar ataxia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsoi, Ho; Yu, Allen C S; Chen, Zhefan S; Ng, Nelson K N; Chan, Anne Y Y; Yuen, Liz Y P; Abrigo, Jill M; Tsang, Suk Ying; Tsui, Stephen K W; Tong, Tony M F; Lo, Ivan F M; Lam, Stephen T S; Mok, Vincent C T; Wong, Lawrence K S; Ngo, Jacky C K; Lau, Kwok-Fai; Chan, Ting-Fung; Chan, H Y Edwin

2014-09-01

Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a group of clinically and genetically diverse and autosomal-dominant disorders characterised by neurological deficits in the cerebellum. At present, there is no cure for SCAs. Of the different distinct subtypes of autosomal-dominant SCAs identified to date, causative genes for only a fraction of them are currently known. In this study, we investigated the cause of an autosomal-dominant SCA phenotype in a family that exhibits cerebellar ataxia and pontocerebellar atrophy along with a global reduction in brain volume. Whole-exome analysis revealed a missense mutation c.G1391A (p.R464H) in the coding region of the coiled-coil domain containing 88C (CCDC88C) gene in all affected individuals. Functional studies showed that the mutant form of CCDC88C activates the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway, induces caspase 3 cleavage and triggers apoptosis. This study expands our understanding of the cause of autosomal-dominant SCAs, a group of heterogeneous congenital neurological conditions in humans, and unveils a link between the JNK stress pathway and cerebellar atrophy. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Memory and Mourning: An Exhibit History

Science.gov (United States)

Eberle, Scott G.

2005-01-01

Mounted by the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, in 1993, and traveling nationally thereafter, the exhibit Memory and Mourning provided historical and contemporary perspectives to help museum guests explore their own reactions to loss and grief. In the process the exhibit's development team encountered a range of philosophical, historical,…

Experimental and theoretical evidence of a supercritical-like transition in an organic semiconductor presenting colossal uniaxial negative thermal expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Lee, Arie; Roche, Gilles H; Wantz, Guillaume; Moreau, Joël J E; Dautel, Olivier J; Filhol, Jean-Sébastien

2018-04-28

Thermal expansion coefficients of most materials are usually small, typically up to 50 parts per million per kelvin, and positive, i.e. materials expand when heated. Some materials show an atypical shrinking behavior in one or more crystallographic directions when heated. Here we show that a high mobility thiophene-based organic semiconductor, BHH-BTBT , has an exceptionally large negative expansion between 95 and 295 K (-216 BTBT , a much studied organic semiconductor with a closely related molecular formula and 3D crystallographic structure. Complete theoretical characterization of BHH-BTBT using ab initio molecular dynamics shows that below ∼200 K two different α and β domains exist of which one is dominant but which dynamically exchange around and above 210 K. A supercritical-like transition from an α dominated phase to a β dominated phase is observed using DSC measurements, UV-VIS spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The origin of the extreme negative and positive thermal expansion is related to steric hindrance between adjacent tilted thiophene units and strongly enhanced by attractive S···S and S···C interactions within the highly anharmonic mixed-domain phase. This material could trigger the tailoring of optoelectronic devices highly sensitive to strain and temperature.

Playing with fire: effects of negative mood induction and working memory on vocabulary acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Zachary F; Fox, Jessica K; Moser, Jason S; Godfroid, Aline

2017-08-03

We investigated the impact of emotions on learning vocabulary in an unfamiliar language to better understand affective influences in foreign language acquisition. Seventy native English speakers learned new vocabulary in either a negative or a neutral emotional state. Participants also completed two sets of working memory tasks to examine the potential mediating role of working memory. Results revealed that participants exposed to negative stimuli exhibited difficulty in retrieving and correctly pairing English words with Indonesian words, as reflected in a lower performance on the prompted recall tests and the free recall measure. Emotional induction did not change working memory scores from pre to post manipulation. This suggests working memory could not explain the reduced vocabulary learning in the negative group. We argue that negative mood can adversely affect language learning by suppressing aspects of native-language processing and impeding form-meaning mapping with second language words.

An efficient non-dominated sorting method for evolutionary algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Hongbing; Wang, Qian; Tu, Yi-Cheng; Horstemeyer, Mark F

2008-01-01

We present a new non-dominated sorting algorithm to generate the non-dominated fronts in multi-objective optimization with evolutionary algorithms, particularly the NSGA-II. The non-dominated sorting algorithm used by NSGA-II has a time complexity of O(MN(2)) in generating non-dominated fronts in one generation (iteration) for a population size N and M objective functions. Since generating non-dominated fronts takes the majority of total computational time (excluding the cost of fitness evaluations) of NSGA-II, making this algorithm faster will significantly improve the overall efficiency of NSGA-II and other genetic algorithms using non-dominated sorting. The new non-dominated sorting algorithm proposed in this study reduces the number of redundant comparisons existing in the algorithm of NSGA-II by recording the dominance information among solutions from their first comparisons. By utilizing a new data structure called the dominance tree and the divide-and-conquer mechanism, the new algorithm is faster than NSGA-II for different numbers of objective functions. Although the number of solution comparisons by the proposed algorithm is close to that of NSGA-II when the number of objectives becomes large, the total computational time shows that the proposed algorithm still has better efficiency because of the adoption of the dominance tree structure and the divide-and-conquer mechanism.

Negative Peer Influence in Special Needs Classes--A Risk for Students with Problem Behaviour?

Science.gov (United States)

Muller, Christoph Michael

2010-01-01

Children and adolescents with aggressive and delinquent behaviours are often educated in special needs classes with others who exhibit the same kind of challenging behaviour. Beside the opportunities provided by this approach there are also risks, as several studies point to the problem of negative peer influence among this student population.…

Evidence of a dominance hierarchy in captive Caribbean flamingos and its relation to pair bonding and physiological measures of health.

Science.gov (United States)

Royer, Erica A; Anderson, Matthew J

2014-06-01

Caribbean flamingo social structure, how pair bonds affect the structure of the flock, and how social stress affects health measured by heterophil to lymphocyte ratios (H/L) were investigated at the Philadelphia Zoo. It was hypothesized that a hierarchy may become apparent by analyzing agonistic interactions and that paired individuals would share similar places within the hierarchy. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that a negative relationship between H/L ratio and dominance would exist. Forty observations were conducted and in 70% of interactions instigating bird(s) won the encounter, suggesting either some advantage for instigating birds or a prior expectation of an encounter's outcome based upon an understanding of the flock's hierarchy. The flock possessed a semi-linear hierarchy (in terms of wins/losses) and birds with higher pair-bond strengths maintained dominant positions, suggesting that pair-bonding may help individuals become more successful in agonistic encounters. Birds who won more often had higher lymphocytes percentages and analyses suggested a trend indicating dominant birds may be less stressed. A semi-linear hierarchy was also found in terms of initiation/being targeted, and a bird's rank on the dominance (wins/losses) and initiate/target hierarchies were positively correlated, suggesting that subdominant birds were targeted by dominant birds more frequently than vice versa. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dominant negative selection of vaccinia virus using a thymidine kinase/thymidylate kinase fusion gene and the prodrug azidothymidine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holzer, Georg W.; Mayrhofer, Josef; Gritschenberger, Werner; Falkner, Falko G.

2005-01-01

The Escherichia coli thymidine kinase/thymidylate kinase (tk/tmk) fusion gene encodes an enzyme that efficiently converts the prodrug 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (AZT) into its toxic triphosphate derivative, a substance which stops DNA chain elongation. Integration of this marker gene into vaccinia virus that normally is not inhibited by AZT allowed the establishment of a powerful selection procedure for recombinant viruses. In contrast to the conventional vaccinia thymidine kinase (tk) selection that is performed in tk-negative cell lines, AZT selection can be performed in normal (tk-positive) cell lines. The technique is especially useful for the generation of replication-deficient vaccinia viruses and may also be used for gene knock-out studies of essential vaccinia genes

Iron dominated magnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fischer, G.E.

1985-07-01

These two lectures on iron dominated magnets are meant for the student of accelerator science and contain general treatments of the subjects design and construction. The material is arranged in the categories: General Concepts and Cost Considerations, Profile Configuration and Harmonics, Magnetic Measurements, a few examples of ''special magnets'' and Materials and Practices. Extensive literature is provided

Portfolios Dominating Indices: Optimization with Second-Order Stochastic Dominance Constraints vs. Minimum and Mean Variance Portfolios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neslihan Fidan Keçeci

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The paper compares portfolio optimization with the Second-Order Stochastic Dominance (SSD constraints with mean-variance and minimum variance portfolio optimization. As a distribution-free decision rule, stochastic dominance takes into account the entire distribution of return rather than some specific characteristic, such as variance. The paper is focused on practical applications of the portfolio optimization and uses the Portfolio Safeguard (PSG package, which has precoded modules for optimization with SSD constraints, mean-variance and minimum variance portfolio optimization. We have done in-sample and out-of-sample simulations for portfolios of stocks from the Dow Jones, S&P 100 and DAX indices. The considered portfolios’ SSD dominate the Dow Jones, S&P 100 and DAX indices. Simulation demonstrated a superior performance of portfolios with SD constraints, versus mean-variance and minimum variance portfolios.

Study on the distribution of the dominant eye in people with myopia and astigmatism and the relationship between dominant eye and the two

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Li Duan

2015-11-01

Full Text Available AIM:To study the distribution of the dominant eye in people with myopia and astigmatism and the relationship between dominant eye and the two. METHODS:Three hundred and eighty patients who went our hospital for optometry consecutively were enrolled, using hole-in-card method to detect the dominant eye. The records of age, gender, vision acuity and other related information were analyzed by SPSS 11.0 software. RESULTS: 1Most of the dominant eyes were right eyes which accounted for 66.84%, and the ametropia degree on right eyes was relatively higher; 2Dominant eyes had no significant association with gender, age and uncorrected vision acuity(P>0.05; 3There was no significant correlation between the dominant eyes and ametropia degree(P>0.05. But in the group which the difference of cylinder degree between two eyes were ≥1D, only 20% of the dominant eyes had higher ametropia degree, which was different from the other two groups. CONCLUSION:High cylinder of anisometropia may affect the choice of the dominant eye. High sphere of anisometropia may be the result of the choice of dominant eye.

Truncating SLC5A7 mutations underlie a spectrum of dominant hereditary motor neuropathies.

Science.gov (United States)

Salter, Claire G; Beijer, Danique; Hardy, Holly; Barwick, Katy E S; Bower, Matthew; Mademan, Ines; De Jonghe, Peter; Deconinck, Tine; Russell, Mark A; McEntagart, Meriel M; Chioza, Barry A; Blakely, Randy D; Chilton, John K; De Bleecker, Jan; Baets, Jonathan; Baple, Emma L; Walk, David; Crosby, Andrew H

2018-04-01

To identify the genetic cause of disease in 2 previously unreported families with forms of distal hereditary motor neuropathies (dHMNs). The first family comprises individuals affected by dHMN type V, which lacks the cardinal clinical feature of vocal cord paralysis characteristic of dHMN-VII observed in the second family. Next-generation sequencing was performed on the proband of each family. Variants were annotated and filtered, initially focusing on genes associated with neuropathy. Candidate variants were further investigated and confirmed by dideoxy sequence analysis and cosegregation studies. Thorough patient phenotyping was completed, comprising clinical history, examination, and neurologic investigation. dHMNs are a heterogeneous group of peripheral motor neuron disorders characterized by length-dependent neuropathy and progressive distal limb muscle weakness and wasting. We previously reported a dominant-negative frameshift mutation located in the concluding exon of the SLC5A7 gene encoding the choline transporter (CHT), leading to protein truncation, as the likely cause of dominantly-inherited dHMN-VII in an extended UK family. In this study, our genetic studies identified distinct heterozygous frameshift mutations located in the last coding exon of SLC5A7 , predicted to result in the truncation of the CHT C-terminus, as the likely cause of the condition in each family. This study corroborates C-terminal CHT truncation as a cause of autosomal dominant dHMN, confirming upper limb predominating over lower limb involvement, and broadening the clinical spectrum arising from CHT malfunction.

Total dominator chromatic number of a graph

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adel P. Kazemi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Given a graph $G$, the total dominator coloring problem seeks a proper coloring of $G$ with the additional property that every vertex in the graph is adjacent to all vertices of a color class. We seek to minimize the number of color classes. We initiate to study this problem on several classes of graphs, as well as finding general bounds and characterizations. We also compare the total dominator chromatic number of a graph with the chromatic number and the total domination number of it.

Ethanol sensing properties and dominant sensing mechanism of NiO-decorated SnO2 nanorod sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Gun-Joo; Lee, Jae Kyung; Lee, Wan In; Dwivedi, Ram Prakash; Lee, Chongmu; Ko, Taegyung

2017-05-01

NiO-decorated SnO2 nanorods were synthesized by the thermal evaporation of Sn powders followed by the solvothermal deposition of NiO. A multi-networked p- n heterostructured nanorod sensor was fabricated by dropping the p-NiO-decorated n-SnO2 nanorods onto the interdigited electrode pattern and then annealing. The multi-networked p- n heterostructured nanorod sensor exhibited enhanced response to ethanol compared with the pristine SnO2 nanorod and NiO nanoparticle sensors. The former also exhibited a shorter sensing time for ethanol. Both sensors exhibited selectivity for ethanol over other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as HCHO, methanol, benzene and toluene and the decorated sensor exhibited superior selectivity to the other two sensors. In addition, the dominant sensing mechanism is discussed in detail by comparing the sensing properties and current-voltage characteristics of a p-NiO/ n-SnO2 heterostructured nanorod sensor with those of a pristine SnO2 nanorod sensor and a pristine NiO nanoparticle sensor. Of the two competing electronic mechanisms: a potential barrier-controlled carrier transport mechanism at a NiO-SnO2 p- n junction and a surface-depletio n-controlled carrier transport mechanism, the former has some contribution to the enhanced gas sensing performance of the p- n heterostructured nanorod sensor, however, its contribution is not as significant as that of the latter. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Electron and Negative Ion Densities in C2F6 and CHF3 Containing Inductively Coupled Discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

HEBNER, GREGORY A.; MILLER, PAUL A.

1999-01-01

Electron and negative ion densities have been measured in inductively coupled discharges containing C 2 F 6 and CHF 3 . Line integrated electron density was determined using a microwave interferometer, negative ion densities were inferred using laser photodetachment spectroscopy, and electron temperature was determined using a Langmuir probe. For the range of induction powers, pressures and bias power investigated, the electron density peaked at 9 x 10 12 cm -2 (line-integrated) or approximately 9 x 10 11 cm -3 . The negative ion density peaked at approximately 1.3 x 10 11 cm -3 . A maximum in the negative ion density as a function of induction coil power was observed. The maximum is attributed to a power dependent change in the density of one or more of the potential negative ion precursor species since the electron temperature did not depend strongly on power. The variation of photodetachment with laser wavelength indicated that the dominant negative ion was F - . Measurement of the decay of the negative ion density in the afterglow of a pulse modulated discharge was used to determine the ion-ion recombination rate for CF 4 , C 2 F 6 and CHF 3 discharges

Alternative stable states and alternative endstates of community assembly through intra- and interspecific positive and negative interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerla, Daan J; Mooij, Wolf M

2014-09-01

Positive and negative interactions within and between species may occur simultaneously, with the net effect depending on population densities. For instance, at low densities plants may ameliorate stress, while competition for resources dominates at higher densities. Here, we propose a simple two-species model in which con- and heterospecifics have a positive effect on per capita growth rate at low densities, while negative interactions dominate at high densities. The model thus includes both Allee effects (intraspecific positive effects) and mutualism (interspecific positive effects), as well as intra- and interspecific competition. Using graphical methods we derive conditions for alternative stable states and species coexistence. We show that mutual non-invasibility (i.e. the inability of each species to invade a population of the other) is more likely when species have a strong positive effect on the own species or a strong negative effect on the other species. Mutual non-invasibility implies alternative stable states, however, there may also be alternative stable states at which species coexist. In the case of species symmetry (i.e. when species are indistinguishable), such alternative coexistence states require that if the positive effect exerted at low densities at the own species is stronger than on the other species, the negative effect at higher densities is also stronger on the own species than on the other species, or, vice versa, if the interspecific positive effects at low densities are stronger than the intraspecific effects, the negative effects at higher densities are also stronger between species than within species. However, the reachability of alternative stable states is restricted by the frequency and density at which species are introduced during community assembly, so that alternative stable states do not always represent alternative endstates of community assembly. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of the femoral neck bone density, quantitative ultrasound and bone density of the heel between dominant and non-dominant side

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meszaros, Szilvia [First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Koranyi Sandor Str. 2/a, Budapest H-1083 (Hungary); Ferencz, Viktoria [First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Koranyi Sandor Str. 2/a, Budapest H-1083 (Hungary); Csupor, Emoke [Health Service, Budavar Local Authorities, Budapest (Hungary); Mester, Adam [Department of Radiology and Oncotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest (Hungary); Hosszu, Eva [Second Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest (Hungary); Toth, Edit [Department of Reumatology, Ferenc Flor County Hospital, Kerepestarcsa (Hungary); Horvath, Csaba [First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Koranyi Sandor Str. 2/a, Budapest H-1083 (Hungary)]. E-mail: horcsa@bel1.sote.hu

2006-11-15

Our study was initiated to evaluate whether there are differences between the two sides, depending on hand dominance, in densitometry values and quantitative ultrasound parameters (QUS) of the lower limb. One hundred and six women and 44 men were involved. The hand dominance was determined by interview. The bone mineral density (BMD) of the left and the right femoral necks and the calcanei were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorpiometry (DXA). The QUS examination consisted of measuring the attenuation (BUA), the speed of the ultrasound (SOS) and quantitative ultrasound index (QUI) transversing the left and right calcanei. The density of the neck of femur of the non-dominant side did not differ from that of the dominant side. On the other hand, BMD, BUA and the QUI of the calcaneus were higher on the non-dominant side in both genders (p < 0.05 for each parameter). No similar differences were seen for the SOS values. Our study has confirmed the side-to-side differences of the calcaneus in both genders, lower values were found on the dominant side. No similar differences were seen on the femur. The AUC values seemed to be higher on the dominant side, however, these differences were not strictly significant. In the case of peripheral site (heel) measurements, the practical significance of our observations is that they raise the possibility of performing peripheral DXA and QUS examinations of the calcaneus on the dominant side of the patient according to handedness.

STOCHASTIC DOMINANCE AND ANALYSIS OF ODI BATTING PERFORMANCE: THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAM, 1989-2005

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Uday Damodaran

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Relative to other team games, the contribution of individual team members to the overall team performance is more easily quantifiable in cricket. Viewing players as securities and the team as a portfolio, cricket thus lends itself better to the use of analytical methods usually employed in the analysis of securities and portfolios. This paper demonstrates the use of stochastic dominance rules, normally used in investment management, to analyze the One Day International (ODI batting performance of Indian cricketers. The data used span the years 1989 to 2005. In dealing with cricketing data the existence of 'not out' scores poses a problem while processing the data. In this paper, using a Bayesian approach, the 'not-out' scores are first replaced with a conditional average. The conditional average that is used represents an estimate of the score that the player would have gone on to score, if the 'not out' innings had been completed. The data thus treated are then used in the stochastic dominance analysis. To use stochastic dominance rules we need to characterize the 'utility' of a batsman. The first derivative of the utility function, with respect to runs scored, of an ODI batsman can safely be assumed to be positive (more runs scored are preferred to less. However, the second derivative needs not be negative (no diminishing marginal utility for runs scored. This means that we cannot clearly specify whether the value attached to an additional run scored is lesser at higher levels of scores. Because of this, only first-order stochastic dominance is used to analyze the performance of the players under consideration. While this has its limitation (specifically, we cannot arrive at a complete utility value for each batsman, the approach does well in describing player performance. Moreover, the results have intuitive appeal

Leaf economics spectrum-productivity relationships in intensively grazed pastures depend on dominant species identity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Norman W H; Orwin, Kate; Lambie, Suzanne; Woodward, Sharon L; McCready, Tiffany; Mudge, Paul

2016-05-01

Plant functional traits are thought to drive variation in primary productivity. However, there is a lack of work examining how dominant species identity affects trait-productivity relationships. The productivity of 12 pasture mixtures was determined in a 3-year field experiment. The mixtures were based on either the winter-active ryegrass (Lolium perenne) or winter-dormant tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). Different mixtures were obtained by adding forb, legume, and grass species that differ in key leaf economics spectrum (LES) traits to the basic two-species dominant grass-white clover (Trifolium repens) mixtures. We tested for correlations between community-weighted mean (CWM) trait values, functional diversity, and productivity across all plots and within those based on either ryegrass or tall fescue. The winter-dormant forb species (chicory and plantain) had leaf traits consistent with high relative growth rates both per unit leaf area (high leaf thickness) and per unit leaf dry weight (low leaf dry matter content). Together, the two forb species achieved reasonable abundance when grown with either base grass (means of 36% and 53% of total biomass, respectively, with ryegrass tall fescue), but they competed much more strongly with tall fescue than with ryegrass. Consequently, they had a net negative impact on productivity when grown with tall fescue, and a net positive effect when grown with ryegrass. Strongly significant relationships between productivity and CWM values for LES traits were observed across ryegrass-based mixtures, but not across tall fescue-based mixtures. Functional diversity did not have a significant positive effect on productivity for any of the traits. The results show dominant species identity can strongly modify trait-productivity relationships in intensively grazed pastures. This was due to differences in the intensity of competition between dominant species and additional species, suggesting that resource-use complementarity is a

CERN exhibition a big hit in Bulgaria

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

The first CERN exhibition in Bulgaria attracted many visitors. In the first ever CERN exhibition to be held in Bulgaria, over 1,400 visitors, many of them students and young physicists, visited the 10-day event in Sofia. The CERN mini-exhibition took place at the National Earth and Mankind Museum between 8 and 17 November. Permanently staffed by young physicists from Sofia University, there were exhibits on display about research activities at CERN, as well as four additional posters describing Bulgaria's participation. The inauguration took place on the morning of 8 November in the presence of the Vice-Minister for Science and Education, Mrs. Vanya Dobreva, and some 200 guests. A series of short speeches were followed by a visit to the exhibition. CERN's representative at the event, Ray Lewis, was then asked by Professor Matey Mateev, President of the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria, to say a few words on behalf of the Organization. Numerous journalists were also present at the inauguration. A painting enti...

CERN’s travelling exhibition goes to Austria

CERN Multimedia

Mélissa Lanaro

2011-01-01

Since April 2009 CERN’s travelling exhibition has been touring through some of the Organization's Member States. After Italy and Denmark it has been on show since February at Austria’s Hartberg Ökopark, a very popular science museum situated some one hundred kilometres from Vienna. To coincide with the CERN exhibition, Austria’s scientific community has organised a series of events for the general public which have had marked success. The exhibition's next destination will be Portugal and preparations are already underway to ensure that it is another resounding success   The travelling exhibition was designed in collaboration with the University of Geneva, as part of the celebrations for its 450th anniversary, and has already notched up a good number of kilometres as it travels from country to country. “In 2010 the exhibition already had around 55,000 visitors,” explains Rolf Landua, who heads the Education Group. Since its inauguration ...

“Accelerating Science” exhibition zooms to Turkey

CERN Multimedia

Joannah Caborn Wengler

2012-01-01

'Accelerating Science', CERN’s travelling science outreach exhibition, has just arrived at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey for a four-month stay there. This is the first time it has moved outside the circle of the Member States. The Turkish venue will inaugurate some new exhibits that have recently been developed by CERN’s software developers.   “It’s been a very busy day,” says Bilge Demirkoz, an associate professor of physics at METU and a member of AMS-02, who had been overseeing the unloading of the lorries when we spoke to her. “As the University doesn’t have a specific exhibition space, the CERN exhibits are going to be housed in the covered tennis courts just behind the cultural and congress centre. It’s a beautiful venue, and there are plenty of parking spaces.” The University has sent invitations to the exhibition to high schools and to about 100 ...

Heavy-ion dominance near Cluster perigees

Science.gov (United States)

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J.-C.; Kistler, L. M.; Spence, H. E.

2015-12-01

Time periods in which heavy ions dominate over H+ in the energy range of 1-40 keV were observed by the Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS)/COmposition DIstribution Function (CODIF) instrument onboard Cluster Spacecraft 4 at L values less than 4. The characteristic feature is a narrow flux peak at around 10 keV that extends into low L values, with He+ and/or O+ dominating. In the present work we perform a statistical study of these events and examine their temporal occurrence and spatial distribution. The observed features, both the narrow energy range and the heavy-ion dominance, can be interpreted using a model of ion drift from the plasma sheet, subject to charge exchange losses. The narrow energy range corresponds to the only energy range that has direct drift access from the plasma sheet during quiet times. The drift time to these locations from the plasma sheet is > 30 h, so that charge exchange has a significant impact on the population. We show that a simple drift/loss model can explain the dependence on L shell and MLT of these heavy-ion-dominant time periods.

Endoglin negatively regulates transforming growth factor beta1-induced profibrotic responses in intestinal fibroblasts.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Burke, J P

2012-02-01

BACKGROUND: Fibroblasts isolated from strictures in Crohn\\'s disease (CD) exhibit reduced responsiveness to stimulation with transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1. TGF-beta1, acting through the smad pathway, is critical to fibroblast-mediated intestinal fibrosis. The membrane glycoprotein, endoglin, is a negative regulator of TGF-beta1. METHODS: Intestinal fibroblasts were cultured from seromuscular biopsies of patients undergoing intestinal resection for CD strictures or from control patients. Endoglin expression was assessed using confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and western blot. The effect of small interfering (si) RNA-mediated knockdown and plasmid-mediated overexpression of endoglin on fibroblast responsiveness to TGF-beta1 was assessed by examining smad phosphorylation, smad binding element (SBE) promoter activity, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression and ability to contract collagen. RESULTS: Crohn\\'s stricture fibroblasts expressed increased constitutive cell-surface and whole-cell endoglin relative to control cells. Endoglin co-localized with filamentous actin. Fibroblasts treated with siRNA directed against endoglin exhibited enhanced TGF-beta1-mediated smad-3 phosphorylation, and collagen contraction. Cells transfected with an endoglin plasmid did not respond to TGF-beta1 by exhibiting SBE promoter activity or producing CTGF. CONCLUSION: Fibroblasts from strictures in CD express increased constitutive endoglin. Endoglin is a negative regulator of TGF-beta1 signalling in the intestinal fibroblast, modulating smad-3 phosphorylation, SBE promoter activity, CTGF production and collagen contraction.

SILICOMB PEEK Kirigami cellular structures: mechanical response and energy dissipation through zero and negative stiffness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Virk, K; Marsh, M; Monti, A; Trehard, T; Hazra, K; Boba, K; Remillat, C D L; Scarpa, F; Farrow, I R

2013-01-01

The work describes the manufacturing, testing and parametric analysis of cellular structures exhibiting zero Poisson’s ratio-type behaviour, together with zero and negative stiffness effects. The cellular structures are produced in flat panels and curved configurations, using a combination of rapid prototyping techniques and Kirigami (Origami and cutting) procedures for PEEK (Polyether Ether Ketone) thermoplastic composites. The curved cellular configurations show remarkable large deformation behaviours, with zero and negative stiffness regimes depending also on the strain rate applied. These unusual stiffness characteristics lead to a large increase of energy absorption during cyclic tests. (paper)

Negative snakes in JET: evidence for negative shear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gill, R.D.; Alper, B.; Edwards, A.W.

1994-01-01

The signature of the negative snakes from the soft X-ray cameras is very similar to the more usual snakes except that the localised region of the snake has, compared with its surroundings, decreased rather than increased emission. Circumstances where negative snakes have been seen are reviewed. The negative snake appears as a region of increased resistance and of increased impurity density. The relationship between the shear and the current perturbation is shown, and it seem probable that the magnetic shear is reversed at the point of the negative snake, i.e. that q is decreasing with radius. 6 refs., 6 figs

Negative snakes in JET: evidence for negative shear

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gill, R D; Alper, B; Edwards, A W [Commission of the European Communities, Abingdon (United Kingdom). JET Joint Undertaking; Pearson, D [Reading Univ. (United Kingdom)

1994-07-01

The signature of the negative snakes from the soft X-ray cameras is very similar to the more usual snakes except that the localised region of the snake has, compared with its surroundings, decreased rather than increased emission. Circumstances where negative snakes have been seen are reviewed. The negative snake appears as a region of increased resistance and of increased impurity density. The relationship between the shear and the current perturbation is shown, and it seem probable that the magnetic shear is reversed at the point of the negative snake, i.e. that q is decreasing with radius. 6 refs., 6 figs.

[Ageism: adaptation of the Fraboni of Ageism Scale-Revised to the French language and testing the effects of empathy, social dominance orientation and dogmatism on ageism].

Science.gov (United States)

Boudjemad, Valérian; Gana, Kamel

2009-12-01

ABSTRACTThis article presents two studies dealing with ageism. The objective of the first study was to adapt to French language and validate the Fraboni of Ageism Scale-Revised (FSA-R) which contains 23 items, while the objective of the second study was to test a structural model containing ageism as measured by the FSA-R and the "Big Three": empathy, social dominance orientation, and dogmatism, controlled for by sex and age. The results of the first study (n = 323) generated a version of the FSA-R comprising 14 items, of which the psychometric properties were very satisfactory. Using structural equation modelling and bootstrap procedure, the results of the second study (n = 284) showed a direct negative and significant effect of empathy on agism. They also showed that this negative effect was mediated by dogmatism and social dominance orientation, which both exerted a positive effect on ageism.

Why large cells dominate estuarine phytoplankton

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Cloern, James E.

2018-01-01

Surveys across the world oceans have shown that phytoplankton biomass and production are dominated by small cells (picoplankton) where nutrient concentrations are low, but large cells (microplankton) dominate when nutrient-rich deep water is mixed to the surface. I analyzed phytoplankton size structure in samples collected over 25 yr in San Francisco Bay, a nutrient-rich estuary. Biomass was dominated by large cells because their biomass selectively grew during blooms. Large-cell dominance appears to be a characteristic of ecosystems at the land–sea interface, and these places may therefore function as analogs to oceanic upwelling systems. Simulations with a size-structured NPZ model showed that runs of positive net growth rate persisted long enough for biomass of large, but not small, cells to accumulate. Model experiments showed that small cells would dominate in the absence of grazing, at lower nutrient concentrations, and at elevated (+5°C) temperatures. Underlying these results are two fundamental scaling laws: (1) large cells are grazed more slowly than small cells, and (2) grazing rate increases with temperature faster than growth rate. The model experiments suggest testable hypotheses about phytoplankton size structure at the land–sea interface: (1) anthropogenic nutrient enrichment increases cell size; (2) this response varies with temperature and only occurs at mid-high latitudes; (3) large-cell blooms can only develop when temperature is below a critical value, around 15°C; (4) cell size diminishes along temperature gradients from high to low latitudes; and (5) large-cell blooms will diminish or disappear where planetary warming increases temperature beyond their critical threshold.

Different patterns of spontaneous brain activity between tremor-dominant and postural instability/gait difficulty subtypes of Parkinson's disease: a resting-state fMRI study.

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Chen, Hui-Min; Wang, Zhi-Jiang; Fang, Jin-Ping; Gao, Li-Yan; Ma, Ling-Yan; Wu, Tao; Hou, Ya-Nan; Zhang, Jia-Rong; Feng, Tao

2015-10-01

Postural instability/gait difficulty (PIGD) and tremor-dominant (TD) subtypes of Parkinson's disease (PD) show different clinical manifestations; however, their underlying neural substrates remain incompletely understood. This study aimed at investigating the subtype-specific patterns of spontaneous brain activity in PD. Thirty-one patients with PD (12 TD/19 PIGD) and 22 healthy gender- and age-matched controls were recruited. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected, and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was measured. Voxelwise one-way analysis of covariance and post hoc analyses of ALFF were performed among the three groups, with age and gender as covariates (levodopa daily dosage and gray matter volume as additional covariates for validation analysis). Correlations of clinical variables (e.g., disease duration and PIGD/tremor subscale score) with ALFF values were examined. Compared with controls, patients with TD exhibited higher ALFF in the right cerebellar posterior lobe and patients with PIGD exhibited lower ALFF in the bilateral putamen and cerebellar posterior lobe, and higher values primarily in several cortical areas including the inferior and superior temporal gyrus, superior frontal, and parietal gyrus. Compared with patients with PIGD, patients with TD had higher ALFF in the bilateral putamen and the cerebellar posterior lobe, as well as lower ALFF in the bilateral temporal gyrus and the left superior parietal lobule. In all patients, ALFF in the bilateral cerebellar posterior lobe positively correlated with tremor score and ALFF in the bilateral putamen negatively correlated with PIGD score. Different patterns of spontaneous neural activity in the cerebellum and putamen may underlie the neural substrate of PD motor subtypes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Why social dominance theory has been falsified.

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Turner, John C; Reynolds, Katherine J

2003-06-01

Schmitt, Branscombe and Kappen (2003) and Wilson and Lui (2003) present a persuasive series of studies which raise major problems for the conceptualization of social dominance orientation in social dominance theory. Building on these and other data in the literature, this commentary summarizes six fundamental criticisms which can be made of the theory. We conclude that social dominance theory is flawed by conceptual inconsistencies and has been disconfirmed empirically in relation to its key hypothesis of behavioural asymmetry. The reaction of subordinate groups to the social hierarchy is better explained by social identity theory.