Daytime lidar measurements of tidal winds in the mesospheric sodium layer at Urbana, Illinois

For more than 15 years lidar systems have been used to study the chemistry and dynamics of the mesospheric sodium layer. Because the layer is an excellent tracer of atmospheric wave motions, sodium lidar has proven to be particularly useful for studying the influence of gravity waves and tides on mesospheric dynamics. These waves, which originate in the troposphere and stratosphere, propagate through the mesosphere and dissipate their energy near the mesopause making important contributions to the momentum and turbulence budget in this region of the atmosphere. Recently, the sodium lidar was modified for daytime operation so that wave phenomena and chemical effects could be monitored throughout the complete diurnal cycle. The results of continuous 24 hour lidar observations of the sodium layer structure are presented alond with measurement of the semidiurnal tidal winds

Adopting basic principles of the United Nations Academic Impact initiative (UNAI): Can cultural differences be predicted from value orientations and globalization?

© 2017 Nechtelberger, Renner, Nechtelberger, Supeková, Hadjimarkou, Offurum, Ramalingam, Senft and Redfern. The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) Initiative has set forth 10 Basic Principles for higher education. In the present study, a 10 item self-report questionnaire measuring personal endorsement of these principles has been tested by self-report questionnaires with university and post-graduate students from Austria, China, Cyprus, India, Nigeria, and Slovakia (total N = 976, N = 627 female, mean age 24.7 years, s = 5.7). Starting from the assumptions of Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), we expected that personal attitudes toward the UNAI Basic Principles would be predicted by endorsement of various moral foundations as suggested by MFT and by the individual's degree of globalization. Whereas for the Austrian, Cypriot, and Nigerian sub- samples this assumption was largely confirmed, for the Chinese, Indian, and Slovak sub- samples only small amounts of the variance could be explained by regression models. All six sub-samples differed substantially with regard to their overall questionnaire responses: by five discriminant functions 83.6% of participants were classified correctly. We conclude that implementation of UNAI principles should adhere closely to the cultural requirements of the respective society and, where necessary should be accompanied by thorough informational campaigns about UN educational goals

The Free-play Sandbox: a Methodology for the Evaluation of Social Robotics and a Dataset of Social Interactions

conference paperEvaluating human-robot social interactions in a rigorous manner is notoriously difficult: studies are either conducted in labs with constrained protocols to allow for robust measurements and a degree of replicability, but at the cost of ecological validity; or in the wild, which leads to superior experimental realism, but often with limited replicability and at the expense of rigorous interaction metrics. We introduce a novel interaction paradigm, designed to elicit rich and varied social interactions while having desirable scientific properties (replicability, clear metrics, possibility of either autonomous or Wizard-of-Oz robot behaviours). This paradigm focuses on child-robot interactions, and builds on a sandboxed free-play environment. We present the rationale and design of the interaction paradigm, its methodological and technical aspects (including the open-source implementation of the software platform), as well as two large open datasets acquired with this paradigm, and meant to act as experimental baselines for future research

In non-transformed cells Bak activates upon loss of anti-apoptotic Bcl-X-L and Mcl-1 but in the absence of active BH3-only proteins

Mitochondrial apoptosis is controlled by proteins of the B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family. Pro-apoptotic members of this family, known as BH3-only proteins, initiate activation of the effectors Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) and Bcl-2 homologous antagonist/killer (Bak),which is counteracted by anti-apoptotic family members. How the interactions of Bcl-2 proteins regulate cell death is still not entirely clear. Here, we show that in the absence of extrinsic apoptotic stimuli Bak activates without detectable contribution from BH3-only proteins, and cell survival depends on anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 molecules. All anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins were targeted via RNA interference alone or in combinations of two in primary human fibroblasts. Simultaneous targeting of B-cell lymphoma-extra large and myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 led to apoptosis in several cell types. Apoptosis depended on Bak whereas Bax was dispensable. Activator BH3-only proteins were not required for apoptosis induction as apoptosis was unaltered in the absence of all BH3-only proteins known to activate Bax or Bak directly, Bcl-2-interacting mediator of cell death, BH3-interacting domain death agonist and p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis. These findings argue for auto-activation of Bak in the absence of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins and provide evidence of profound differences in the activation of Bax and Bak

In non-transformed cells Bak activates upon loss of anti-apoptotic Bcl-X-L and Mcl-1 but in the absence of active BH3-only proteins

Mitochondrial apoptosis is controlled by proteins of the B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family. Pro-apoptotic members of this family, known as BH3-only proteins, initiate activation of the effectors Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) and Bcl-2 homologous antagonist/killer (Bak),which is counteracted by anti-apoptotic family members. How the interactions of Bcl-2 proteins regulate cell death is still not entirely clear. Here, we show that in the absence of extrinsic apoptotic stimuli Bak activates without detectable contribution from BH3-only proteins, and cell survival depends on anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 molecules. All anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins were targeted via RNA interference alone or in combinations of two in primary human fibroblasts. Simultaneous targeting of B-cell lymphoma-extra large and myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 led to apoptosis in several cell types. Apoptosis depended on Bak whereas Bax was dispensable. Activator BH3-only proteins were not required for apoptosis induction as apoptosis was unaltered in the absence of all BH3-only proteins known to activate Bax or Bak directly, Bcl-2-interacting mediator of cell death, BH3-interacting domain death agonist and p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis. These findings argue for auto-activation of Bak in the absence of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins and provide evidence of profound differences in the activation of Bax and Bak

Rate theory for correlated processes: Double-jumps in adatom diffusion

We study the rate of activated motion over multiple barriers, in particular the correlated double-jump of an adatom diffusing on a missing-row reconstructed Platinum (110) surface. We develop a Transition Path Theory, showing that the activation energy is given by the minimum-energy trajectory which succeeds in the double-jump. We explicitly calculate this trajectory within an effective-medium molecular dynamics simulation. A cusp in the acceptance region leads to a sqrt{T} prefactor for the activated rate of double-jumps. Theory and numerical results agree

She’s so vain? A Q Study of Selfies and the curation of an online self.

Selfie posting is now a well-established practice, particularly for young women. However, it is nevertheless much maligned in popular discourses. As a counterpoint to digital narcissism, selfie posting is also constituted as relational. This Q methodological study explored how young women make sense of selfie practices. Twenty-seven young women aged 18-23 sorted a set of statements about selfies into a quasi-normal grid. These sorts were factor analysed to identify shared patterns. Four factors were identified which were subsequently analysed qualitatively, producing a narrative for each. These included, (1) ‘Presenting…Me!’ (2) ‘I am what I am’, (3) ‘Sharing is caring’ and (4) ‘The In-crowd – beautiful and popular’. The complexity of identity curation evidenced in this study highlights the importance of moving beyond both polarised characterisations and the pathologisation of young women selfie takers in order to explicate the interplay between normative femininities and the digital self