Role of ATP1A1 in Skeletal Muscle Growth and Metabolism

Skeletal muscle comprises approximately 30% of total body mass, and loss of muscle mass and dysfunctional muscle metabolism are implicated in multiple disease states, including type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and septic shock. As such, understanding the mechanisms of skeletal muscle growth and atrophy, including pharmaceutical targets that may prove safe and effective, is therefore an important goal of current research on skeletal muscle physiology. One potential target in skeletal muscle development and function that has not been fully explored is the Na/KATPase (NKA), especially the α1 isoform. This isoform has a unique signaling function that has previously been shown to regulate growth, metabolism, and organogenesis and comprises only 10% of the total NKA in skeletal muscle. We therefore investigated the role of this signaling isoform in skeletal muscle. To accomplish this, we utilized a global NKA α1 haplodeficient mouse (α1+/-). The oxidative soleus muscles of skα1+/- were 10% smaller than controls, while the glycolytic extensor digitorum longus mass was unchanged. This prompted us to analyze the metabolism of cells lacking NKA α1, which revealed that the α1 isoform is necessary for metabolic reserve and flexibility. A second mouse model was generated with a skeletal musclespecific ablation of NKA α1. These mice had a 35% reduction in skeletal muscle mass and a switch from oxidative to glycolytic fibers. Paradoxically, these mice were protected from dietinduced metabolic dysfunction including diet-induced insulin resistance. This provided the first genetic in vivo model of α1 signaling as a major regulator of metabolism and led to the hypothesis that the evolution of the Src binding sites in α1 in mammals may be linked to the development of increased metabolic reserve associated with the evolution of endothermy. These findings together confirm a vital role of NKA α1 in skeletal muscle development and metabolism, and link the evolution of endothermy to the evolution of the NKA α1 Src binding sites

Psychological Capital and Professional Identity: A Study of Professional Business Students

This research article reports the results and findings of an online survey questionnaire administered to 593 Masters of Business Administration (MBA) students using the MCPIS-9 and PCQ-12 instruments that measure Professional Identity (ProfId) and Psychological Capital (PsyCap), respectively. The results indicated a strong sense of ProfId (M = 4.2/5.0, SD = 0.66, N = 593), and a significant and positive relationship (p < .01, ΔR2adj = .25, N = 593) between PsyCap and ProfId. The results of this study represent a fruitful, albeit initial, foray into the ProfId and PsyCap of professional business students. The implications of these results inform and equip program stakeholders to devise curricular and pedagogical approaches to support students’ sense of self in their career trajectory

Atomic Interactions in Precision Interferometry Using Bose-Einstein Condensates

We present theoretical tools for predicting and reducing the effects of atomic interactions in Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) interferometry experiments. To address mean-field shifts during free propagation, we derive a robust scaling solution that reduces the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation to a set of three simple differential equations valid for any interaction strength. To model the other common components of a BEC interferometer---condensate splitting, manipulation, and recombination---we generalize the slowly-varying envelope reduction, providing both analytic handles and dramatically improved simulations. Applying these tools to a BEC interferometer to measure the fine structure constant (Gupta, et al., 2002), we find agreement with the results of the original experiment and demonstrate that atomic interactions do not preclude measurement to better than part-per-billion accuracy, even for atomic species with relatively large scattering lengths. These tools help make BEC interferometry a viable choice for a broad class of precision measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, revised based on reviewer comment

Orchestrating a Network of Mereo(topo)logical Theories: An Abridged Report

Parthood is used widely in ontologies across subject domains, specified in a multitude of mereological theories, and even more when combined with topology. To complicate the landscape, decidable languages put restrictions on the language features, so that only fragments of the mereo(topo)logical theories can be represented, even though those full features may be needed to check correctness during modelling. We address these issues by specifying a structured network of theories formulated in multiple logics that are glued together by the various linking constructs of the Distributed Ontology Language, DOL. For the KGEMT mereotopology and its five sub-theories, together with the DL-based OWL species and first- and second-order logic, this network in DOL orchestrates 28 ontologies

Proceedings of the Joint Ontology Workshops co-located with the Bolzano Summer of Knowledge (BOSK 2020)

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Tractable Combinations of Global Constraints

We study the complexity of constraint satisfaction problems involving global constraints, i.e., special-purpose constraints provided by a solver and represented implicitly by a parametrised algorithm. Such constraints are widely used; indeed, they are one of the key reasons for the success of constraint programming in solving real-world problems. Previous work has focused on the development of efficient propagators for individual constraints. In this paper, we identify a new tractable class of constraint problems involving global constraints of unbounded arity. To do so, we combine structural restrictions with the observation that some important types of global constraint do not distinguish between large classes of equivalent solutions.Comment: To appear in proceedings of CP'13, LNCS 8124. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1307.179

Orchestrating a Network of Mereo(topo)logical Theories

Parthood is used widely in ontologies across subject domains. Some modelling guidance can be gleaned from Ontology, yet it offers multiple mereological theories, and even more when combined with topology, i.e., mereotopology. To complicate the landscape, decidable languages put restrictions on the language features, so that only fragments of the mereo(topo)logical theories can be represented, yet during modelling, those full features may be needed to check correctness. We address these issues by specifying a structured network of theories formulated in multiple logics that are glued together by the various linking constructs of the Distributed Ontology Language, \DOL. For the KGEMT mereotopological theory and five sub-theories, together with the DL-based OWL species and first- and second-order logic, this network in \DOL orchestrates 28 ontologies. Further, we propose automated steps toward resolution of language feature conflicts when combining modules, availing of the new `OWL classifier' tool that pinpoints profile violations

Proprietary Reasons and Joint Action

Some of the reasons one acts on in joint action are shared with fellow participants. But others are proprietary: reasons of one’s own that have no direct practical significance for other participants. The compatibility of joint action with proprietary reasons serves to distinguish the former from other forms of collective agency; moreover, it is arguably a desirable feature of joint action. Advocates of “team reasoning” link the special collective intention individual participants have when acting together with a distinctive form of practical reasoning that purports to put individuals in touch with group or collective reasons. Such views entail the surprising conclusion that one cannot engage in joint action for proprietary reasons. Suppose we understand the contrast between minimal and robust forms of joint action in terms of the extent to which participants act on proprietary reasons as opposed to shared reasons. Then, if the team reasoning view of joint intention and action is correct, it makes no sense to talk of minimal joint action. As soon as the reason for which one participates is proprietary, then one is not, on this view, genuinely engaged in joint action