4,169 research outputs found
Performing heritage: the use of live 'actors' in heritage presentations
This paper investigates the phenomenon of 'living history' presentations of heritage, using live 'actors' to portray historical characters. Its aim is to discuss these presentations in the context of what may be understood as 'heritage', and of the nature of 'performance'. Four case studies of heritage sites, each important as a tourist attraction, have been selected for detailed study, together with a number of other examples of heritage performance. It is clear from the empirical work that different performance strategies are employed within the heritage industry and by individual 'actors'. Most of the performers take part as a leisure activity, and many do not consider themselves to be 'performing' at all. The greatest concern of participants lies in the degree of authenticity of the performance. Through 'living history', the 'actors' are drawn into an experience of heritage which has real meaning for them, and which may contribute both to a sense of identity and to an enhanced understanding of society, past and present. The popularity of such presentations with visitors also indicates that similar benefits are perceived by the 'audience'
A striking correspondence between the dynamics generated by the vector fields and by the scalar parabolic equations
The purpose of this paper is to enhance a correspondence between the dynamics
of the differential equations on and those
of the parabolic equations on a bounded
domain . We give details on the similarities of these dynamics in the
cases , and and in the corresponding cases ,
and dim() respectively. In addition to
the beauty of such a correspondence, this could serve as a guideline for future
research on the dynamics of parabolic equations
Coupling MOAO with Integral Field Spectroscopy: specifications for the VLT and the E-ELT
[Abridged] We have developed an end-to-end simulation to specify the science
requirements of a MOAO-fed integral field spectrograph on either an 8m or 42m
telescope. Our simulations re-scales observations of local galaxies or results
from numerical simulations of disk or interacting galaxies. For the current
analysis, we limit ourselves to a local disk galaxy which exhibits simple
rotation and a simulation of a merger. We have attempted to generalize our
results by introducing the simple concepts of "PSF contrast" which is the
amount of light polluting adjacent spectra which we find drives the smallest EE
at a given spatial scale. The choice of the spatial sampling is driven by the
"scale-coupling", i.e., the relationship between the IFU pixel scale and the
size of the features that need to be recovered by 3D spectroscopy in order to
understand the nature of the galaxy and its substructure. Because the dynamical
nature of galaxies are mostly reflected in their large-scale motions, a
relatively coarse spatial resolution is enough to distinguish between a
rotating disk and a major merger. Although we used a limited number of
morpho-kinematic cases, our simulations suggest that, on a 42m telescope, the
choice of an IFU pixel scale of 50-75 mas seems to be sufficient. Such a coarse
sampling has the benefit of lowering the exposure time to reach a specific
signal-to-noise as well as relaxing the performance of the MOAO system. On the
other hand, recovering the full 2D-kinematics of z~4 galaxies requires high
signal-to-noise and at least an EE of 34% in 150 mas (2 pixels of 75 mas).
Finally, we carried out a similar study at z=1.6 with a MOAO-fed spectrograph
for an 8m, and find that at least an EE of 30% at 0.25 arcsec spatial sampling
is required to understand the nature of disks and mergers.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in the MNRA
The switch-like expression of heme-regulated kinase 1 mediates neuronal proteostasis following proteasome inhibition
We examined the feedback between the major protein degradation pathway, the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), and protein synthesis in rat and mouse neurons. When protein degradation was inhibited, we observed a coordinate dramatic reduction in nascent protein synthesis in neuronal cell bodies and dendrites. The mechanism for translation inhibition involved the phosphorylation of eIF2alpha, surprisingly mediated by eIF2alpha kinase 1, or heme-regulated kinase inhibitor (HRI). Under basal conditions, neuronal expression of HRI is barely detectable. Following proteasome inhibition, HRI protein levels increase owing to stabilization of HRI and enhanced translation, likely via the increased availability of tRNAs for its rare codons. Once expressed, HRI is constitutively active in neurons because endogenous heme levels are so low; HRI activity results in eIF2alpha phosphorylation and the resulting inhibition of translation. These data demonstrate a novel role for neuronal HRI that senses and responds to compromised function of the proteasome to restore proteostasis
HDAC6 mediates the acetylation of TRIM50
The E3 Ubiquitin ligase TRIM50 promotes the formation and clearance of aggresome-associated polyubiquitinated proteins through HDAC6 interaction, a tubulin specific deacetylase that regulates microtubule-dependent aggresome formation. In this report we showed that TRIM50 is a target of HDAC6 with Lys-372 as a critical residue for acetylation. We identified p300 and PCAF as two TRIM50 acetyltransferases and we further showed that a balance between ubiquitination and acetylation regulates TRIM50 degradatio
(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?
Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is
considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed
proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron
meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and
mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density.
Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on
its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog.
We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large
program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these
observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and
subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In
addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived
a bulk density of 3.99\,\,0.26\,gcm for Psyche. While such
density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites
(7.8\,gcm), it appears fully consistent with that of
stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density
4.25\,cm). In addition, we found no satellite in our images
and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of
1460\,\,200}\,m at 150\,km from Psyche (0.2\%\,\,R, the
Hill radius) and 800\,\,200\,m at 2,000\,km (3\%\,\,).
Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of
mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a
long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate
parent body for mesosiderites.Comment: 16 page
Electrosprayed shrimp and mushroom nanochitins on cellulose tissue for skin contact application
Cosmetics has recently focused on biobased skin-compatible materials. Materials from natural sources can be used to produce more sustainable skin contact products with enhanced bioactivity. Surface functionalization using natural-based nano/microparticles is thus a subject of study, aimed at better understanding the skin compatibility of many biopolymers also deriving from biowaste. This research investigated electrospray as a method for surface modification of cellulose tissues with chitin nanofibrils (CNs) using two different sources—namely, vegetable (i.e., from fungi), and animal (from crustaceans)—and different solvent systems to obtain a biobased and skin-compatible product. The surface of cellulose tissues was uniformly decorated with electrosprayed CNs. Biological analysis revealed that all treated samples were suitable for skin applications since human dermal keratinocytes (i.e., HaCaT cells) successfully adhered to the processed tissues and were viable after being in contact with released substances in culture media. These results indicate that the use of solvents did not affect the final cytocompatibility due to their effective evaporation during the electrospray process. Such treatments did not also affect the characteristics of cellulose; in addition, they showed promising anti-inflammatory and indirect antimicrobial activity toward dermal keratinocytes in vitro. Specifically, cellulosic substrates decorated with nanochitins from shrimp showed strong immunomodulatory activity by first upregulating then downregulating the pro-inflammatory cytokines, whereas nanochitins from mushrooms displayed an overall anti-inflammatory activity via a slight decrement of the pro-inflammatory cytokines and increment of the anti-inflammatory marker. Electrospray could represent a green method for surface modification of sustainable and biofunctional skincare products
Hard X-ray emission from the galaxy cluster A3667
We report the results of a long BeppoSAX observation of Abell 3667, one of
the most spectacular galaxy cluster in the southern sky. A clear detection of
hard X-ray radiation up to ~ 35 keV is reported, while a hard excess above the
thermal gas emission is present at a marginal level that should be considered
as an upper limit to the presence of nonthermal radiation. The strong hard
excesses reported by BeppoSAX in Coma and A2256 and the only marginal detection
of nonthermal emission in A3667 can be explained in the framework of the
inverse Compton model. We argue that the nonthermal X-ray detections in the PDS
energy range are related to the radio index structure of halos and relics
present in the observed clusters of galaxie.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, ApJL in pres
Electrosprayed chitin nanofibril/electrospun polyhydroxyalkanoate fiber mesh as functional nonwoven for skin application
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of bio-based polyesters that have found different biomedical applications. Chitin and lignin, byproducts of fishery and plant biomass, show antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity on the nanoscale. Due to their polarities, chitin nanofibril (CN) and nanolignin (NL) can be assembled into micro-complexes, which can be loaded with bioactive factors, such as the glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) and CN-NL/GA (CLA) complexes, and can be used to decorate polymer surfaces. This study aims to develop completely bio-based and bioactive meshes intended for wound healing. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/ Poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate-co-3-hydroxydecanoate), P(3HB)/P(3HO-co-3HD) was used to produce films and fiber meshes, to be surface-modified via electrospraying of CN or CLA to reach a uniform distribution. P(3HB)/P(3HO-co-3HD) fibers with desirable size and morphology were successfully prepared and functionalized with CN and CLA using electrospinning and tested in vitro with human keratinocytes. The presence of CN and CLA improved the indirect antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity of the electrospun fiber meshes by downregulating the expression of the most important pro-inflammatory cytokines and upregulating human defensin 2 expression. This natural and eco-sustainable mesh is promising in wound healing applications
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