“I Got the Mics On, My People Speak”: On the Rise of Aboriginal Australian Hip Hop

In this paper, an Aboriginal rapper and settler-Australian Indigenous Studies lecturer collaborate to provide an overview of the Aboriginal Australian Hip Hop scene. We contextualize the development of Aboriginal Hip Hop as part of a long postcolonial tradition of Aboriginal engagement with Black transnationalism. By analysing rap lyrics, Hip Hop videos, and related commentary, we demonstrate the ways in which Aboriginal hip hoppers have adapted elements of Hip Hop culture to suit their own cultures, histories, and structural position as a colonized minority under the rule of a modern settler-colonial state. We conclude by considering Aboriginal engagement with Hip Hop culture as part of the ongoing development of Aboriginal cultures in an era of globalization

The Impact of High-Frequency Trading on Modern Securities Markets

High-frequency traders account for a significant part of overall price formation and liquidity provision in modern securities markets. In order to react within microseconds, high-frequency traders depend on specialized low latency infrastructure and fast connections to exchanges, which require significant IT investments. The paper investigates a technical failure of this infrastructure at a major exchange that prevents high-frequency traders from trading at low latency. This event provides a unique opportunity to analyze the impact of high-frequency trading on securities markets. The analysis clearly shows that although the impact on trading volume and the number of trades is marginal, the effects on liquidity and to a lesser extent on price volatility are substantial when high-frequency trading is interrupted. Thus, investments in high-frequency trading technology provide positive economic spillovers to the overall market since they reduce transaction costs not only for those who invest in this technology but for all market participants by enhancing the quality of securities markets

Decontamination in Electron Probe Microanalysis with a Peltier-Cooled Cold Finger

AbstractA prototype Peltier thermoelectric cooling unit has been constructed to cool a cold finger on an electron microprobe. The Peltier unit was tested at 15 and 96 W, achieving cold finger temperatures of −10 and −27°C, respectively. The Peltier unit did not adversely affect the analytical stability of the instrument. Heat conduction between the Peltier unit mounted outside the vacuum and the cold finger was found to be very efficient. Under Peltier cooling, the vacuum improvement associated with water vapor deposition was not achieved; this has the advantage of avoiding severe degradation of the vacuum observed when warming up a cold finger from liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperatures. Carbon contamination rates were reduced as cooling commenced; by −27°C contamination rates were found to be comparable with LN2-cooled devices. Peltier cooling, therefore, provides a viable alternative to LN2-cooled cold fingers, with few of their associated disadvantages.</jats:p

Who Is the Next “Wolf of Wall Street”? Detection of Financial Intermediary Misconduct

Financial intermediaries are essential for investors’ participation in financial markets. Because of their position within the financial system, intermediaries who commit misconduct not only harm investors but also undermine trust in the financial system, which ultimately has a significant negative impact on the economy as a whole. Building upon information manipulation theory and warranting theory and making use of self-disclosed data with different levels of external verification, we propose different classifiers to automatically detect financial intermediary misconduct. In particular, we focus on self-disclosed information by financial intermediaries on the business network LinkedIn. We match user profiles with regulator-disclosed information and use these data for classifier training and evaluation. We find that self-disclosed information provides valuable input for detecting financial intermediary misconduct. In terms of external verification, our classifiers achieve the best predictive performance when also taking regulator-confirmed information into account. These results are supported by an economic evaluation. Our findings are highly relevant for both investors and regulators seeking to identify financial intermediary misconduct and thus contribute to the societal challenge of building and ensuring trust in the financial system

A Taxonomy of Violations in Digital Asset Markets

Numerous frauds, market manipulations and other violations have recently shaken investor confidence in digital asset markets and digital assets themselves. Yet, investor confidence and market integrity are key requirements for the continued success of crypto and other digital assets. In order to facilitate the integrity of digital asset markets and avoid integrity incidents in the future, a systematic overview of violations and their main characteristics is needed to develop appropriate countermeasures. Therefore, we develop a taxonomy of violations in digital asset markets and evaluate the taxonomy based on real-world cases. Our results show that many types of market manipulation in traditional financial markets can also be observed in digital asset markets. However, there are new and additional violations in digital asset markets. We also find that many violations depend on specific capabilities of the violator, certain trading conditions, and asset-specific characteristics

Role of the C-terminal domain in the structure and function of tetrameric sodium channels.

Voltage-gated sodium channels have essential roles in electrical signalling. Prokaryotic sodium channels are tetramers consisting of transmembrane (TM) voltage-sensing and pore domains, and a cytoplasmic carboxy-terminal domain. Previous crystal structures of bacterial sodium channels revealed the nature of their TM domains but not their C-terminal domains (CTDs). Here, using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy combined with molecular dynamics, we show that the CTD of the NavMs channel from Magnetococcus marinus includes a flexible region linking the TM domains to a four-helix coiled-coil bundle. A 2.9 Å resolution crystal structure of the NavMs pore indicates the position of the CTD, which is consistent with the EPR-derived structure. Functional analyses demonstrate that the coiled-coil domain couples inactivation with channel opening, and is enabled by negatively charged residues in the linker region. A mechanism for gating is proposed based on the structure, whereby splaying of the bottom of the pore is possible without requiring unravelling of the coiled-coil

Role of the C-terminal domain in the structure and function of tetrameric sodium channels

Voltage-gated sodium channels have essential roles in electrical signalling. Prokaryotic sodium channels are tetramers consisting of transmembrane (TM) voltage-sensing and pore domains, and a cytoplasmic carboxy-terminal domain. Previous crystal structures of bacterial sodium channels revealed the nature of their TM domains but not their C-terminal domains (CTDs). Here, using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy combined with molecular dynamics, we show that the CTD of the NavMs channel from Magnetococcus marinus includes a flexible region linking the TM domains to a four-helix coiled-coil bundle. A 2.9 Å resolution crystal structure of the NavMs pore indicates the position of the CTD, which is consistent with the EPR-derived structure. Functional analyses demonstrate that the coiled-coil domain couples inactivation with channel opening, and is enabled by negatively charged residues in the linker region. A mechanism for gating is proposed based on the structure, whereby splaying of the bottom of the pore is possible without requiring unravelling of the coiled-coil

Evolution of Thermal Response Properties in a Cold-Activated TRP Channel

Animals sense changes in ambient temperature irrespective of whether core body temperature is internally maintained (homeotherms) or subject to environmental variation (poikilotherms). Here we show that a cold-sensitive ion channel, TRPM8, displays dramatically different thermal activation ranges in frogs versus mammals or birds, consistent with variations in these species' cutaneous and core body temperatures. Thus, somatosensory receptors are not static through evolution, but show functional diversity reflecting the characteristics of an organism's ecological niche

Unique V3 Loop Sequence Derived from the R2 Strain of HIV-Type 1 Elicits Broad Neutralizing Antibodies

DNA vaccines expressing the envelope (Env) of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) have been relatively ineffective at generating high-titer, long-lasting, neutralizing antibodies. In this study, DNA vaccines were constructed to express the gp120 subunit of Env from the isolate HIV-1R2 using both wild-type and codon- ptimized gene sequences. Three copies of the murine C3d were added to the carboxyl terminus to enhance the immunogenicity of the expressed fusion protein. Mice (BALB/c) vaccinated with DNA plasmid expressing the gp120R2 using codon-optimized Env sequences elicited high-titer anti-Env antibodies regardless of conjugation to C3d. In contrast, only mice vaccinated with DNA using wild-type gp120R2 sequences fused to mC3d3, had detectable anti- Env antibodies. Interestingly, mice vaccinated with DNA expressing gp120R2 from codon-optimized sequences elicited antibodies that neutralized both homologous and heterologous HIV-1 isolates. To determine if the unique sequence found in the crown of the V3 loop of the EnvR2 was responsible for the elicitation of the cross-clade neutralizing antibodies, the codons encoding for the Pro-Met (amino acids 313–314) were introduced into the sequences encoding the gp120ADA (R5) or gp12089.6 (R5X4). Mice vaccinated with gp120ADA–mC3d3–DNA with the Pro–Met mutation had antibodies that neutralized HIV-1 infection, but not the gp12089.6–mC3d3–DNA. Therefore, the use of the unique sequences in the EnvR2 introduced into an R5 tropic envelope, in conjunction with C3d fusion, was effective at broadening the number of viruses that could be neutralized. However, the introduction of this same sequence into an R5X4-tropic envelope was ineffective in eliciting improved cross-clade neutralizing antibodies. Originally published AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, Vol. 20, No. 11, Nov 200