On Kleinian mock modular forms

Alfes-Neumann C, Mertens M. On Kleinian mock modular forms. Research in the Mathematical Sciences. 2024.We give an explicit and computationally efficient construction of harmonic weak Maass forms which map to weight $2$ newforms under the $\xi$-operator. Our work uses a new non-analytic completion of the Kleinian $\zeta$-function from the theory of Abelian functions

The Episteme of the Gallic Past. French Historical Research in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century

Regazzoni L. The Episteme of the Gallic Past. French Historical Research in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century. London ; New York: Routledge; In Press

Mother of all bonds: Influences on spatial association across the lifespan in capuchins

Godoy I, Korsten P, Perry SE. Mother of all bonds: Influences on spatial association across the lifespan in capuchins. Developmental Science. 2024.In humans, being more socially integrated is associated with better physical and mental health and/or with lower mortality. This link between sociality and health may have ancient roots: sociality also predicts survival or reproduction in other mammals, such as rats, dolphins, and non‐human primates. A key question, therefore, is which factors influence the degree of sociality over the life course. Longitudinal data can provide valuable insight into how environmental variability drives individual differences in sociality and associated outcomes. The first year of life—when long‐lived mammals are the most reliant on others for nourishment and protection—is likely to play an important role in how individuals learn to integrate into groups. Using behavioral, demographic, and pedigree information on 376 wild capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator) across 20 years, we address how changes in group composition influence spatial association. We further try to determine the extent to which early maternal social environments have downstream effects on sociality across the juvenile and (sub)adult stages. We find a positive effect of early maternal spatial association, where female infants whose mothers spent more time around others also later spent more time around others as juveniles and subadults. Our results also highlight the importance of kin availability and other aspects of group composition (e.g., group size) in dynamically influencing spatial association across developmental stages. We bring attention to the importance of—and difficulty in—determining the social versus genetic influences that parents have on offspring phenotypes

Quantifying microbial robustness in dynamic environments using microfluidic single-cell cultivation

Blöbaum L, Torello Pianale L, Olsson L, Grünberger A. Quantifying microbial robustness in dynamic environments using microfluidic single-cell cultivation. Microbial Cell Factories . 2024;23(1): 44.BACKGROUND: Microorganisms must respond to changes in their environment. Analysing the robustness of functions (i.e. performance stability) to such dynamic perturbations is of great interest in both laboratory and industrial settings. Recently, a quantification method capable of assessing the robustness of various functions, such as specific growth rate or product yield, across different conditions, time frames, and populations has been developed for microorganisms grown in a 96-well plate. In micro-titer-plates, environmental change is slow and undefined. Dynamic microfluidic single-cell cultivation (dMSCC) enables the precise maintenance and manipulation of microenvironments, while tracking single cells over time using live-cell imaging. Here, we combined dMSCC and a robustness quantification method to a pipeline for assessing performance stability to changes occurring within seconds or minutes.; RESULTS: Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK113-7D, harbouring a biosensor for intracellular ATP levels, was exposed to glucose feast-starvation cycles, with each condition lasting from 1.5 to 48min over a 20h period. A semi-automated image and data analysis pipeline was developed and applied to assess the performance and robustness of various functions at population, subpopulation, and single-cell resolution. We observed a decrease in specific growth rate but an increase in intracellular ATP levels with longer oscillation intervals. Cells subjected to 48min oscillations exhibited the highest average ATP content, but the lowest stability over time and the highest heterogeneity within the population.; CONCLUSION: The proposed pipeline enabled the investigation of function stability in dynamic environments, both over time and within populations. The strategy allows for parallelisation and automation, and is easily adaptable to new organisms, biosensors, cultivation conditions, and oscillation frequencies. Insights on the microbial response to changing environments will guide strain development and bioprocess optimisation. © 2024. The Author(s)

Martin T. Dinter and Charles Guérin (Hg.): Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2023

Walter U. Martin T. Dinter and Charles Guérin (Hg.): Cultural Memory in Republican and Augustan Rome. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2023. Journal of Roman Studies. 2024

Mapping protein-RNA binding in plants with individual-nucleotide-resolution UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (plant iCLIP2)

Lewinski M, Brüggemann M, Köster T, et al. Mapping protein-RNA binding in plants with individual-nucleotide-resolution UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (plant iCLIP2). Nature Protocols. 2024.Despite crucial roles of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in plant physiology and development, methods for determining their transcriptome-wide binding landscape are less developed than those used in other model organisms. Cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) methods (based on UV-mediated generation of covalent bonds between RNAs and cognate RBPs in vivo, purification of the cross-linked complexes and identification of the co-purified RNAs by high-throughput sequencing) have been applied mainly in mammalian cells growing in monolayers or in translucent tissue. We have developed plant iCLIP2, an efficient protocol for performing individual-nucleotide-resolution CLIP (iCLIP) in plants, tailored to overcome the experimental hurdles posed by plant tissue. We optimized the UV dosage to efficiently cross-link RNA and proteins in plants and expressed epitope-tagged RBPs under the control of their native promoters in loss-of-function mutants. We select epitopes for which nanobodies are available, allowing stringent conditions for immunopurification of the RNA-protein complexes to be established. To overcome the inherently high RNase content of plant cells, RNase inhibitors are added and the limited RNA fragmentation step is modified. We combine the optimized isolation of RBP-bound RNAs with iCLIP2, a streamlined protocol that greatly enhances the efficiency of library preparation for high-throughput sequencing. Plant researchers with experience in molecular biology and handling of RNA can complete this iCLIP2 protocol in ~5 d. Finally, we describe a bioinformatics workflow to determine targets of Arabidopsis RBPs from iCLIP data, covering all steps from downloading sequencing reads to identifying cross-linking events ( https://github.com/malewins/Plant-iCLIPseq ), and present the R/Bioconductor package BindingSiteFinder to extract reproducible binding sites ( https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/BindingSiteFinder.html ). © 2024. Springer Nature Limited

Learning protocols in a digital lecture: Cognitive, but not metacognitive prompts enhance comprehension and transfer

Kubik V, Hefter MH, Nückles M, Berthold K. Learning protocols in a digital lecture: Cognitive, but not metacognitive prompts enhance comprehension and transfer. Presented at the 11. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Potsdam, Germany

EvoX: A Distributed GPU-Accelerated Framework for Scalable Evolutionary Computation

Huang B, Cheng R, Li Z, Jin Y, Tan KC. EvoX: A Distributed GPU-Accelerated Framework for Scalable Evolutionary Computation. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation. 2024:1-1.Inspired by natural evolutionary processes, Evolutionary Computation (EC) has established itself as a cornerstone of Artificial Intelligence. Recently, with the surge in data-intensive applications and large-scale complex systems, the demand for scalable EC solutions has grown significantly. However, most existing EC infrastructures fall short of catering to the heightened demands of large-scale problem solving. While the advent of some pioneering GPU-accelerated EC libraries is a step forward, they also grapple with some limitations, particularly in terms of flexibility and architectural robustness. In response, we introduce EvoX: a computing framework tailored for automated, distributed, and heterogeneous execution of EC algorithms. At the core of EvoX lies a unique programming model to streamline the development of parallelizable EC algorithms, complemented by a computation model specifically optimized for distributed GPU acceleration. Building upon this foundation, we have crafted an extensive library comprising a wide spectrum of 50+ EC algorithms for both single-and multi-objective optimization. Furthermore, the library offers comprehensive support for a diverse set of benchmark problems, ranging from dozens of numerical test functions to hundreds of reinforcement learning tasks. Through extensive experiments across a range of problem scenarios and hardware configurations, EvoX demonstrates robust system and model performances. EvoX is open-source and accessible at: https://github.com/EMI-Group/EvoX

Rescue of mitochondrial import failure by intercellular organellar transfer

Needs HI, Glover E, Pereira GC, et al. Rescue of mitochondrial import failure by intercellular organellar transfer. Nature Communications . 2024;15(1): 988.Mitochondria are the powerhouses of eukaryotic cells, composed mostly of nuclear-encoded proteins imported from the cytosol. Thus, problems with the import machinery will disrupt their regenerative capacity and the cell's energy supplies - particularly troublesome for energy-demanding cells of nervous tissue and muscle. Unsurprisingly then, import breakdown is implicated in disease. Here, we explore the consequences of import failure in mammalian cells; wherein, blocking the import machinery impacts mitochondrial ultra-structure and dynamics, but, surprisingly, does not affect import. Our data are consistent with a response involving intercellular mitochondrial transport via tunnelling nanotubes to import healthy mitochondria and jettison those with blocked import sites. These observations support the existence of a widespread mechanism for the rescue of mitochondrial dysfunction. © 2024. The Author(s)

In und nach der „goldenen Ära“. Die zweite Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts

Toro D. In und nach der „goldenen Ära“. Die zweite Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. In: Kümper H, Kümper H, eds. Letmathe. Land, Stadt, Menschen durch die Jahrhunderte. Vol Bd. 2. Oppenheim: Nünnerich-Asmus; In Press: 177–215