Method of measuring carbon dioxide sequestration

A method of measuring a rate of mineralization, including: positioning a seismic sensor and/or a harmonic sensor in acoustic communication with a rock formation; injecting carbon dioxide into a borehole in the rock formation; reacting the carbon dioxide with the rock formation to form mineralized carbon dioxide; measuring an acoustic activity generated in the rock formation with the seismic sensor and/or harmonic sensor during the reacting; calculating the rate of mineralization based on the acoustic activity; and adjusting a rate of carbon dioxide injection into the rock formation based on the calculated rate of mineralization

Leveraging relaxation-optimized ¹H–¹³C_F correlations in 4-¹⁹F-phenylalanine as atomic beacons for probing structure and dynamics of large proteins

NMR spectroscopy of biomolecules provides atomic level information into their structure, dynamics and interactions with their binding partners. However, signal attenuation from line broadening caused by fast relaxation and signal overlap often limits the application of NMR to large macromolecular systems. Here we leverage the slow relaxation properties of 13C nuclei attached to 19F in aromatic 19F–13C spin pairs as well as the spin–spin coupling between the fluorinated 13C nucleus and the hydrogen atom at the meta-position to record two-dimensional 1H–13CF correlation spectra with transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy selection on 13CF. To accomplish this, we synthesized [4-19F13Cζ; 3,5-2H2ε] Phe, engineered for optimal relaxation properties, and adapted a residue-specific route to incorporate this residue globally into proteins and a site-specific 4-19F Phe encoding strategy. This approach resulted in narrow linewidths for proteins ranging from 30 kDa to 180 kDa, enabling interaction studies with small-molecule ligands without requiring specialized 19F-compatible probes. (Figure presented.)</p

What is an ecologically or biologically significant area?

The first iteration of the ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSA) process, which aims to ascribe ecological value to marine and coastal regions, has drawn to a close. This Convention on Biological Diversity process has collated vast amounts of information to describe 338 EBSAs that span from estuaries to ocean trenches. To increase the utility and accessibility of the ocean of knowledge generated by the EBSA process, and to support appropriate application of the dataset, clarity is required around the types of areas described, the biodiversity they hold, and the rationale for their selection. In this study, we provide a holistic answer to the question: What is an EBSA? We identify geographic and taxonomic gaps in EBSA descriptions, trends in the levels of protection observed, and ways forward to improve the uptake and appropriate use of the outputs of this singular intergovernmental process

Schott term in the binding energy for compact binaries on circular orbits at fourth post-Newtonian order

The phasing for compact binary systems on circular orbits was obtained in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 121402 (2023)] at fourth-and-a-half post-Newtonian (4.5PN) order thanks to two main ingredients: the 4PN conservative energy (associated to a nonradiative spacetime) in terms of the orbital frequency and the 4.5PN flux in terms of the waveform frequency [i.e., the half-frequency of the (ℓ

Multi-functional application of recycled carbon fibres in hybrid composites for notch sensitivity reduction and damage monitoring

It is challenging to reuse recycled carbon fibres (rCF) alone as reinforcement material in composites for structural application due to its discontinuous and non-aligned fibre architecture. This study investigates innovative usage of rCF when hybridized with other reinforcement fibres in a hybrid composite for multi-functional application. A rCF non-woven is embedded in an E-glass fabric composite laminate to demonstrate its multi-functionality in open-hole specimens with various hole sizes under monotonic tensile loading. Instead of brittle failure, the rCF fails in a progressive manner due to the in-situ effect offered by the neighbouring glass fibre sublaminates. Following damage initiation in the rCF layer, delamination takes place along the rCF and glass fabric interfaces, enabling stress redistribution around the hole. This leads to reduced stress concentration, resulting in a notch-insensitive hybrid composite when compared to the non-hybrid glass fabric composite. By monitoring the change in electrical resistance of the rCF layer, the progressive damage events around the hole can be inferred. Regardless of the hole size, a simple damage self-sensing system can be developed to inform the damage severity of the hybrid composite. In this study, the rCF layer gives a damage tolerant notched composite and simultaneously offers damage monitoring functionality

Playthings and playtimes: play, affect, and material culture in the ludic world

In 2024 at the Barbican Art Gallery in London, the Mexico-based Belgian artist Francis Alÿs exhibited films of children from across the world playing with sticks, hoops, marbles and other toys. The implication was clear: play feels and looks like a universal language but takes on specific local forms. Using this as a starting point, Playthings and Playtimes explores the conflict and contradictions that circulate when play is simultaneously recognized as a species attribute (part of human nature) and as something crucially differentiated across time and space by design, technology, sentiment, pedagogic values and so on. The chapters in this volume demonstrate this interplay between the fixed and the mutable. Topics range from the elaborate miniature worlds made by H. G. Wells and his sons to digitized fidget spinners, from avant-garde Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres-García’s wooden blocks to the playground spaces of Kuwait, from the much-maligned plastic toy to the new museum Young V&amp;A. Together, they bring play and the world of feelings into sustained contact with the history of material culture and design, psychoanalysis, childhood studies and other disciplines concerned with play culture. In the process, Playthings and Playtimes investigates elements central to a humanities approach to the modern world through the prism of play’s affective materiality.<br/

Human NMDA receptors: Functional insights into the two isoforms of the human GluN2A subunit.

Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and plays an essential role in cognition and memory formation. This function is enacted through binding with glutamate receptors found at glutamatergic excitatory synapses. One such receptor is the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). NMDARs form ion channels and play key roles in neuronal development, synaptic communication, and mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Their function depends on the coincidence of pre- and post-synaptic activity, which relieves the voltage-dependent Mg2+ blockade and permits Ca2+ influx. While the GluN2A subunit is well-characterised, recent evidence suggests the existence of an alternatively spliced isoform, GluN2A-Short (GluN2A-S), distinguished by a truncated C-terminal domain and a unique C-terminus. Expression of constructs containing cDNA for human GluN2A results in a mixed expression of GluN2A-Long (GluN2A-L) and GluN2A-S isoforms, limiting insight into their individual contributions to function. This thesis investigates whether the two human GluN2A isoforms can be studied independently to determine their specific functional properties within the NMDAR complex. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we disrupted the splice acceptor site responsible for generating both isoforms, enabling the selective expression of GluN2A-L. Applying this tool, we examined whether GluN2A-S confers distinct functional properties to the NMDAR under both physiological and disease-associated conditions. We studied both wild-type (WT) and mutant forms of human GluN2A-S with association with neurological disease in humans. Using electrophysiology and a bioluminescence-based Ca2+ assay, we found that WT GluN2A-S contributes enhanced voltage-dependent Mg2+ blockade compared to GluN2A-L. This finding pointing at an isoform-specific function of NMDARs containing either GluN2A-L or GluN2A-S in physiological conditions.We further assessed how GluN2A-S functions in disease-associated mutations such as the epilepsy-associated GRIN2A mutation: L812M. When investigating this gain-of-function mutation, we found that GluN2A-S mitigates the decrease in voltage-dependent Mg2+ blockade but does not alleviate the increase in glutamate potency. This suggests an isoform-specific gain-of-function effect of the L812M mutation.Furthermore, the epilepsy-associated G483R mutation exhibited an isoform-dependent effect, resulting in a loss-of-function in GluN2A-L but a gain-of-function in GluN2A-S. Specifically, while the G483R mutation caused a strong decrease in Ca2+ conductance through GluN2A-L-containing NMDARs, it led to a marked increase in conductance through GluN2A-S-containing receptors.These findings underscore the clinical relevance of each individual human GluN2A isoforms. Studying them separately may provide deeper insight into their distinct contributions to NMDAR function in both synaptic physiology and neurological disease. In the context of the epilepsy-associated mutations explored in this thesis, upregulation of the human GluN2A-S isoform and/or suppression of GluN2A-L expression could be a potential strategy for managing the dysfunction imposed by L812M. Similarly, increasing GluN2A-S expression in patients carrying the G483R mutation may help rescue the loss-of-function imposed by the mutation