High-Precision Scanning Water Vapor Radiometers for Cosmic Microwave Background Site Characterization and Comparison

The compelling science case for the observation of B-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is driving the CMB community to expand the observed sky fraction, either by extending survey sizes or by deploying receivers to potential new northern sites. For ground-based CMB instruments, poorly-mixed atmospheric water vapor constitutes the primary source of short-term sky noise. This results in short-timescale brightness fluctuations, which must be rejected by some form of modulation. To maximize the sensitivity of ground-based CMB observations, it is useful to understand the effects of atmospheric water vapor over timescales and angular scales relevant for CMB polarization measurements. To this end, we have undertaken a campaign to perform a coordinated characterization of current and potential future observing sites using scanning 183 GHz water vapor radiometers (WVRs). So far, we have deployed two identical WVR units; one at the South Pole, Antarctica, and the other at Summit Station, Greenland. The former site has a long heritage of ground-based CMB observations and is the current location of the Bicep/Keck Array telescopes as well as the South Pole Telescope. The latter site, though less well characterized, is under consideration as a northern-hemisphere location for future CMB receivers. Data collection from this campaign began in January 2016 at South Pole and July 2016 at Summit Station. Data analysis is ongoing to reduce the data to a single spatial and temporal statistic that can be used for one-to-one site comparison.Comment: Published in Proc. SPIE. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation Conference 10708: Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy XI, June 2018. 10 pages, 11 figure

Src Binds Cortactin Through An Sh2 Domain Cystine-Mediated Linkage

Tyrosine-kinase-based signal transduction mediated by modular protein domains is critical for cellular function. The Src homology (SH)2 domain is an important conductor of intracellular signaling that binds to phosphorylated tyrosines on acceptor proteins, producing molecular complexes responsible for signal relay. Cortactin is a cytoskeletal protein and tyrosine kinase substrate that regulates actin-based motility through interactions with SH2-domain-containing proteins. The Src kinase SH2 domain mediates cortactin binding and tyrosine phosphorylation, but how Src interacts with cortactin is unknown. Here we demonstrate that Src binds cortactin through cystine bonding between Src C185 in the SH2 domain within the phosphotyrosine binding pocket and cortactin C112/246 in the cortactin repeats domain, independent of tyrosine phosphorylation. Interaction studies show that the presence of reducing agents ablates Src-cortactin binding, eliminates cortactin phosphorylation by Src, and prevents Src SH2 domain binding to cortactin. Tandem MS/MS sequencing demonstrates cystine bond formation between Src C185 and cortactin C112/246. Mutational studies indicate that an intact cystine binding interface is required for Src-mediated cortactin phosphorylation, cell migration, and pre-invadopodia formation. Our results identify a novel phosphotyrosine-independent binding mode between the Src SH2 domain and cortactin. Besides Src, one quarter of all SH2 domains contain cysteines at or near the analogous Src C185 position. This provides a potential alternative mechanism to tyrosine phosphorylation for cysteine-containing SH2 domains to bind cognate ligands that may be widespread in propagating signals regulating diverse cellular functions

Predicting self‐declared movie watching behavior using Facebook data and information‐fusion sensitivity analysis

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of predicting whether yes or no a Facebook user has self-reported to have watched a given movie genre. Therefore, we apply a data analytical framework that (1) builds and evaluates several predictive models explaining self-declared movie watching behavior, and (2) provides insight into the importance of the predictors and their relationship with self-reported movie watching behavior. For the first outcome, we benchmark several algorithms (logistic regression, random forest, adaptive boosting, rotation forest, and naive Bayes) and evaluate their performance using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. For the second outcome, we evaluate variable importance and build partial dependence plots using information-fusion sensitivity analysis for different movie genres. To gather the data, we developed a custom native Facebook app. We resampled our dataset to make it representative of the general Facebook population with respect to age and gender. The results indicate that adaptive boosting outperforms all other algorithms. Time- and frequency-based variables related to media (movies, videos, and music) consumption constitute the list of top variables. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to fit predictive models of self-reported movie watching behavior and provide insights into the relationships that govern these models. Our models can be used as a decision tool for movie producers to target potential movie-watchers and market their movies more efficiently

When learning becomes a fetish: the pledge, turn and prestige of magic tricks

It is our contention that the process of higher education could be read as a commodity and in both Marxian and Freudian assumptions, a fetish. Instrumental in this discussion are; Marx’s theorising of the commodity fetish (1867) that deceives by conflating the distinction between use and exchange value, and Freud’s (1927) re-visiting of his theory of fetishism, where he considers the fetish in the context of dealing with separation and loss in everyday life. This paper highlights how the consequence of fetishised behaviour has led to violent outcomes, such as the policy decision to introduce a ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’ (TEF). We argue that the TEF may bring about the death of learning in HE and diminish the role of academic staff. Nevertheless, influenced by Winnicott, Cixous and Biesta, we offer a more hopeful ‘Teaching that is Good Enough Framework’

An Organic Spin Crossover Material in Water from a Covalently Linked Radical Dyad

A covalently linked viologen radical cation dyad acts as a reversible thermomagnetic switch in water. Cycling between diamagnetic and paramagnetic forms by heating and cooling is accompanied by changes in optical and magnetic properties with high radical fidelity. Thermomagnetic switches in water may eventually find use as novel biological thermometers and in temperature-responsive organic materials where the changes in properties originate from a change in electronic spin configuration rather than a change in structure

Essential Roles for Soluble Virion-Associated Heparan Sulfonated Proteoglycans and Growth Factors in Human Papillomavirus Infections

A subset of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections is causally related to the development of human epithelial tumors and cancers. Like a number of pathogens, HPV entry into target cells is initiated by first binding to heparan sulfonated proteoglycan (HSPG) cell surface attachment factors. The virus must then move to distinct secondary receptors, which are responsible for particle internalization. Despite intensive investigation, the mechanism of HPV movement to and the nature of the secondary receptors have been unclear. We report that HPV16 particles are not liberated from bound HSPG attachment factors by dissociation, but rather are released by a process previously unreported for pathogen-host cell interactions. Virus particles reside in infectious soluble high molecular weight complexes with HSPG, including syndecan-1 and bioactive compounds, like growth factors. Matrix mellatoproteinase inhibitors that block HSPG and virus release from cells interfere with virus infection. Employing a co-culture assay, we demonstrate HPV associated with soluble HSPG-growth factor complexes can infect cells lacking HSPG. Interaction of HPV-HSPG-growth factor complexes with growth factor receptors leads to rapid activation of signaling pathways important for infection, whereas a variety of growth factor receptor inhibitors impede virus-induced signaling and infection. Depletion of syndecan-1 or epidermal growth factor and removal of serum factors reduce infection, while replenishment of growth factors restores infection. Our findings support an infection model whereby HPV usurps normal host mechanisms for presenting growth factors to cells via soluble HSPG complexes as a novel method for interacting with entry receptors independent of direct virus-cell receptor interactions

Dietary n-3 fatty acids have suppressive effects on mucin upregulation in mice infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa

International audienceMucin hypersecretion and mucus plugging in the airways are characteristic features of chronic respiratory diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF) and contribute to morbidity and mortality. In CF, Pseudomonas aeruginosa superinfections in the lung exacerbate inflammation and alter mucus properties. There is increasing evidence that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) exhibit anti-inflammatory properties in many inflammatory diseases while n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (AA) favors inflammatory mediators such as eicosanoids prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) that may enhance inflammatory reactions. This suggests that n-3 PUFAs may have a protective effect against mucus over-production in airway diseases. Therefore, we hypothesized that n-3 PUFAs may downregulate mucins expression. We designed an absolute real-time PCR assay to assess the effect of a 5-week diet enriched either with n-3 or n-6 PUFAs on the expression of large mucins in the lungs of mice infected by P. aeruginosa. Dietary fatty acids did not influence mucin gene expression in healthy mice. Lung infection induced an increase of the secreted gel-forming mucin Muc5b and a decrease of the membrane bound mucin Muc4. These deregulations are modulated by dietary fatty acids with a suppressive effect of n-3 PUFAs on mucin (increase of Muc5b from 19-fold up to 3.6 x 10(5)-fold for the n-3 PUFAs treated group and the control groups, respectively, 4 days post-infection and decrease of Muc4 from 15-fold up to 3.2 x 10(4)-fold for the control and the n-3 PUFAs treated groups, respectively, 4 days post-infection). Our data suggest that n-3 PUFAs enriched diet represents an inexpensive strategy to prevent or treat mucin overproduction in pulmonary bacterial colonization

Modelo de otimização da gestão de risco em empresas não financeiras

Esta pesquisa apresenta o desenvolvimento de um modelo de otimização da gestão de riscos, através da identificação de uma estratégia de hedge que maximiza a esperança dos lucros. O modelo fundamenta-se na premissa de que fatores de riscos, além de afetar os resultados das empresas, podem, também, estar correlacionados com as oportunidades futuras de investimento. O modelo proposto incorpora os custos advindos de um endividamento adicional bem como os benefícios da disponibilidade de recursos internos. O trabalho está desenvolvido da seguinte forma: (1) discussão dos aspectos teóricos relacionados ao tema de gestão de riscos no contexto da teoria de finanças; (2) apresentação da metodologia adotada para o desenvolvimento do modelo; (3) derivação dos passos fundamentais que orientaram o modelo matemático, destacando as especificações das variáveis relevantes e os mecanismos de simulação e (4) apresentação dos principais resultados do modelo de hedge ótimo, dentre os quais se destacam: aumento da esperança dos lucros, redução da incerteza em relação aos investimentos, maior estabilidade do nível ótimo de investimento e de endividamento e menor flutuação dos resultados da empresa, decorrente da redução do nível de risco financeiro.This research presents an optimization model for risk management, through the development of a hedge strategy that maximizes the expected profit of a company. The model is based on the premise that a risk factor, besides affecting the results of the company, can also be correlated with future investment opportunities. The model incorporates the costs of an additional debt as well as the benefits of the availability of internal resources. The work is structured in the following way: (1) discussion of the theoretical aspects related to the theme of risk management in the context of the financial theory; (2) presentation of the methodology adopted for the development of the model; (3) derivation of the fundamental steps that guided the mathematical model, detaching the specifications of the important variables and the simulation mechanisms and (4) discussion of the main results of the hedge model, among which we highlight: increase in profit expectations, reduced uncertainty in relation to the investments, larger stability of investment and debt levels and smaller fluctuation of company results, due to lower financial risk levels