7,239 research outputs found
Qualitative archives and biographical research methods. An introduction to the FQS special issue
The use of archival materials as a point of departure when designing and launching social research takes for granted that a culture of archiving (for sharing and re-use) has rooted time ago in our complex societies. This mentality and research practice first flourished and is fairly well installed in the case of statistics, surveys and certain other primary or secondary documents. On the contrary, it is less frequent and certainly not a routine activity for qualitative data. Only some of the raw and elaborated materials gathered during qualitative research become part of an archive for further reanalysis. These can include the backstage practices and experiences of a project, raw materials such as field notes, audio and visual recordings, and other documents produced during the research process. This issue presents a colorful range of articles that deal with experiences, challenges and opportunities of archiving and re-using qualitative material, particularly under the umbrella of biographical and narrative research. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of archiving in qualitative social research and highlights some of the new methodological reflections and approaches that have been and that are being developed within the European landscape. We hope that the articles in this issue will help promote further communication and exchange among qualitative archival practitioners from different countries and with different sensitivities and conceptual horizons. © 2011 FQS
The Architecture of MEG Simulation and Analysis Software
MEG (Mu to Electron Gamma) is an experiment dedicated to search for the
decay that is strongly suppressed in the Standard
Model but predicted in several Super Symmetric extensions of it at an
accessible rate. MEG is a small-size experiment ( physicists at
any time) with a life span of about 10 years. The limited human resource
available, in particular in the core offline group, emphasized the importance
of reusing software and exploiting existing expertise. Great care has been
devoted to provide a simple system that hides implementation details to the
average programmer. That allowed many members of the collaboration to
contribute to the development of the software of the experiment with limited
programming skill. The offline software is based on two frameworks: {\bf REM}
in FORTRAN 77 used for the event generation and detector simulation package
{\bf GEM}, based on GEANT 3, and {\bf ROME} in C++ used in the readout
simulation {\bf Bartender} and in the reconstruction and analysis program {\bf
Analyzer}. Event display in the simulation is based on GEANT 3 graphic
libraries and in the reconstruction on ROOT graphic libraries. Data are stored
in different formats in various stage of the processing. The frameworks include
utilities for input/output, database handling and format conversion transparent
to the user.Comment: Presented at the IEEE NSS Knoxville, 2010 Revised according to
referee's remarks Accepted by European Physical Journal Plu
UBV-IR photometry and optical spectroscopy of the galactic OB association Bochum 7
The lack of tightly bound and easily identifiable young open clusters leads to the quest for OB associations as tracers of spiral arms. Massive stars are usually found in groups, and the presence of a WolfRayet star, WR12 in the catalogue of galactic WR stars (van der Hucht 2001), at α=8h44m47.2s , ÎŽ=â45âŠ58â55.5â (J2000.0), triggered the search for an surrounding OB association, now known as Bochum7 (Moffat & Vogt 1975)
Analysis of the mid-latitude weather regimes in the 200-year control integration of the SINTEX model
Recent results indicate that climate predictions require models which can simulate accurately natural circulation
regimes and their associated variability. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether (and how) a
coupled model can simulate the real world weather regimes. A 200-year control integration of a coupled GCM
(the «SINTEX model») is considered. The output analysed consists of monthly mean values of Northern Hemisphere
extended winter (November to April) 500-hPa geopotential heights. An Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF)
analysis is first applied in order to define a reduced phase space based on the leading modes of variability. Therefore
the principal component PDF in the reduced phase space spanned by two leading EOFs is computed. Based on a
PDF analysis in the phase space spanned by the leading EOF1 and REOF2, substantial evidence of the nongaussian
regime structure of the SINTEX northern winter circulation is found. The model Probability Density
Function (PDF) exhibits three maxima. The 500-hPa height geographical patterns of these density maxima are
strongly reminiscent of well-documented Northern Hemisphere weather regimes. This result indicates that the
SINTEX model can not only simulate the non-gaussian structure of the climatic attractor, but is also able to
reproduce the natural modes of variability of the system
Resistance profiles and genetic diversity of Escherichia coli strains isolated from acute bovine mastitis
Between March 2011 and February 2012 83 E. coli strains were isolated from mastitis milk samples from 83 different animals (67 farms) and tested for their sensitivity to various antibiotics by means of disk diffusion method and genotyped by determination of the phylogenetic groups as well as by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The antibiotics were chosen on the basis of their licenses for intramammary application in Switzerland. As many as 16.9 % of the isolates were resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents. Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, gentamicin and third generation cephalosporins proved effective against the majority of these strains. Nevertheless, one blaCTX-M-14 harbouring extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase producing strain was found. Genetic analysis grouped most of the strains (87 %) into phylogenetic groups A and B1. PFGE genotyping demonstrated that E. coli from cows with mastitis even from the same farm were genotypically very diverse. = Entre mars 2011 et fĂ©vrier 2012, 83 souches d'E. coli issues de 83 vaches diffĂ©rentes provenant de 67 exploitations ont Ă©tĂ© collectĂ©es et testĂ©es quant Ă leur sensibilitĂ© vis-Ă -vis de divers antibiotiques. Ces antibiotiques ont Ă©tĂ© choisis sur la base de leurs autorisations pour l'application intra mammaire en Suisse et le test a Ă©tĂ© effectuĂ© par diffusion sur gel d'agar. En outre toutes les souches ont Ă©tĂ© typisĂ©es quant Ă leur appartenance aux groupes phylogĂ©nĂ©tiques. 16.9 % des souches prĂ©sentaient une rĂ©sistance Ă un ou plusieurs antibiotiques. L'amoxicilline-acide clavulanique, la gentamicine et les cĂ©phalosporines de troisiĂšmes gĂ©nĂ©rations se montraient efficaces contre la majoritĂ© des souches d'E. coli. On a toutefois trouvĂ© une souche fabriquant un extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase qui portait le gĂšne blaCTX-M-14. L'analyse gĂ©nĂ©tique groupait la majoritĂ© des souches (87 %) dans les groupes phylogĂ©nĂ©tiques A et B1. La gĂ©notypisation par PFGE montrait une grande diversitĂ© entre les souches, mĂȘme si elles provenaient de la mĂȘme exploitation. = Zwischen MĂ€rz 2011 und Februar 2012 wurden 83 E. coli StĂ€mme von 83 verschiedenen KĂŒhen aus 67 Betrieben gesammelt und auf ihre Empfindlichkeit gegenĂŒber verschiedenen Antibiotika getestet. Die Antibiotika wurden aufgrund der Zulassung fĂŒr eine intramammĂ€re Applikation in der Schweiz ausgesucht und die Empfindlichkeitstestung mittels Agardiffusions-Methode durchgefĂŒhrt. Zudem wurden alle StĂ€mme hinsichtlich ihrer Zugehörigkeit zu den phylogenetischen Gruppen wie auch mittels Pulsfeldgelelektrophorese (PFGE) genotypisiert. 16.9 % aller StĂ€mme zeigten Resistenzen gegenĂŒber einem oder mehreren Antibiotika. Amoxicillin-ClavulansĂ€ure, Gentamicin und Cephalosporine der dritten Generation erwiesen sind als wirksam gegen die Mehrheit der E. coli StĂ€mme. Jedoch wurde ein extended-Spectrum-beta-Lactamase Bildner, welcher das blaCTX-M-14-Gen trĂ€gt, gefunden. Die genetische Analyse gruppierte das Gros der StĂ€mme (87 %) in die phylogentischen Guppen A und B1. Die weitere Genotypisierung mittels PFGE zeigte eine grosse DiversitĂ€t unter den E. coli StĂ€mmen, auch wenn diese vom selben Betrieb stammten
Two new pulsating low-mass pre-white dwarfs or SX Phenix stars?*
Context. The discovery of pulsations in low-mass stars opens an opportunity
for probing their interiors and to determine their evolution, by employing the
tools of asteroseismology. Aims. We aim to analyze high-speed photometry of
SDSSJ145847.02070754.46 and SDSSJ173001.94070600.25 and discover
brightness variabilities. In order to locate these stars in the diagram we fit optical spectra (SDSS) with synthetic non-magnetic
spectra derived from model atmospheres. Methods. To carry out this study, we
used the photometric data obtained by us for these stars with the 2.15m
telescope at CASLEO, Argentina. We analyzed their light curves and we apply the
Discrete Fourier Transform to determine the pulsation frequencies. Finally, we
compare both stars in the diagram, with known two
pre-white dwarfs, seven pulsating pre-ELM white dwarf stars, Scuti and
SX Phe stars. Results. We report the discovery of pulsations in
SDSSJ145847.02070754.46 and SDSSJ173001.94070600.25. We determine their
effective temperature and surface gravity to be = 7 972 200
K, = 4.25 0.5 and = 7 925 200 K, =
4.25 0.5, respectively. With these parameters these new pulsating
low-mass stars can be identified with either ELM white dwarfs (with ~ 0.17 Mo)
or more massive SX Phe stars. We identified pulsation periods of 3 278.7 and 1
633.9 s for SDSSJ145847.02070754.46 and a pulsation period of 3 367.1 s for
SDSSJ173001.94070600.25. These two new objects together with those of Maxted
et al. (2013, 2014) indicate the possible existence of a new instability domain
towards the late stages of evolution of low-mass white dwarf stars, although
their identification with SX Phe stars cannot be discarded.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&A
iPSCs-Based Neural 3D Systems: A Multidimensional Approach for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-based two-dimensional (2D) protocols have offered invaluable insights into the pathophysiology of neurological diseases. However, these systems are unable to reproduce complex cytoarchitectural features, cell-cell and tissue-tissue interactions like their in vivo counterpart. Three-dimensional (3D)-based culture protocols, though in their infancy, have offered new insights into modeling human diseases. Human neural organoids try to recapitulate the cellular diversity of complex tissues and can be generated from iPSCs to model the pathophysiology of a wide spectrum of pathologies. The engraftment of iPSCs into mice models and the improvement of differentiation protocols towards 3D cultures has enabled the generation of more complex multicellular systems. Consequently, models of neuropsychiatric disorders, infectious diseases, brain cancer and cerebral hypoxic injury can now be investigated from new perspectives. In this review, we consider the advancements made in modeling neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases with iPSC-derived organoids and their potential use to develop new drugs
Preconditioning and Cellular Engineering to Increase the Survival of Transplanted Neural Stem Cells for Motor Neuron Disease Therapy
Despite the extensive research effort that has been made in the field, motor neuron diseases, namely, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophies, still represent an overwhelming cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Exogenous neural stem cell-based transplantation approaches have been investigated as multifaceted strategies to both protect and repair upper and lower motor neurons from degeneration and inflammation. Transplanted neural stem cells (NSCs) exert their beneficial effects not only through the replacement of damaged cells but also via bystander immunomodulatory and neurotrophic actions. Notwithstanding these promising findings, the clinical translatability of such techniques is jeopardized by the limited engraftment success and survival of transplanted cells within the hostile disease microenvironment. To overcome this obstacle, different methods to enhance graft survival, stability, and therapeutic potential have been developed, including environmental stress preconditioning, biopolymers scaffolds, and genetic engineering. In this review, we discuss current engineering techniques aimed at the exploitation of the migratory, proliferative, and secretive capacity of NSCs and their relevance for the therapeutic arsenal against motor neuron disorders and other neurological disorders
Silence superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1): a promising therapeutic target for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disorder that targets upper and lower motor neurons and leads to fatal muscle paralysis. Mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene are responsible for 15% of familial ALS cases, but several studies have indicated that SOD1 dysfunction may also play a pathogenic role in sporadic ALS. SOD1 induces numerous toxic effects through the pathological misfolding and aggregation of mutant SOD1 species, hence a reduction of the levels of toxic variants appears to be a promising therapeutic strategy for SOD1-related ALS. Several methods are used to modulate gene expression in vivo; these include RNA interference, antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Areas covered: This paper examines the current approaches for gene silencing and the progress made in silencing SOD1 in vivo. It progresses to shed light on the key results and pitfalls of these studies and highlights the future challenges and new perspectives for this exciting research field. Expert opinion: Gene silencing strategies targeting SOD1 may represent effective approaches for familial and sporadic ALS-related neurodegeneration; however, the risk of off-target effects must be minimized, and effective and minimally invasive delivery strategies should be fine-tuned
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