Guidelines and recommendations on yeast cell death nomenclature

lucidating the biology of yeast in its full complexity has major implications for science, medicine and industry. One of the most critical processes determining yeast life and physiology is cel- lular demise. However, the investigation of yeast cell death is a relatively young field, and a widely accepted set of concepts and terms is still missing. Here, we propose unified criteria for the defi- nition of accidental, regulated, and programmed forms of cell death in yeast based on a series of morphological and biochemical criteria. Specifically, we provide consensus guidelines on the differ- ential definition of terms including apoptosis, regulated necrosis, and autophagic cell death, as we refer to additional cell death rou- tines that are relevant for the biology of (at least some species of) yeast. As this area of investigation advances rapidly, changes and extensions to this set of recommendations will be implemented in the years to come. Nonetheless, we strongly encourage the au- thors, reviewers and editors of scientific articles to adopt these collective standards in order to establish an accurate framework for yeast cell death research and, ultimately, to accelerate the pro- gress of this vibrant field of research

Mitralklappenendokarditis nach türkischem Opferfest

Zusammenfassung: Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae ist der Erreger des Schweinerotlaufs. Systemische Infektionen durch E.rhusiopathiae sind eine Rarität, jedoch häufig (zu 90%) mit Endokarditiden verbunden. Ungefähr 60% der Endokarditiden entwickeln sich auf nicht vorgeschädigten Klappen, und trotz adäquater antibiotischer Therapie benötigen etwa ein Drittel der Patienten einen Klappenersatz. Wir beschreiben den Fall einer Hausfrau, die nach Zubereitung von Fleisch für das türkische Opferfest eine Mitralklappenendokarditis durch E.rhusiopathiae entwickelt

Entropy coding for training deep belief networks with imbalanced and unlabeled data

Session 1aSCb - Speech Communication: Speech Processing Potpourri (Poster Session): no. 1aSCb1Training deep belief networks (DBNs) is normally done with large data sets. In this work, the goal is to predict traces of the surface of the tongue in ultrasoundimages of the mouth during speech. Performance on this task can be dramatically enhanced by pre-training a DBN jointly on human-supplied traces and ultrasoundimages, then training a modified version of the network to predict traces from ultrasound only. However, hand-tracing the entire dataset of ultrasoundimages is extremely labor intensive. Moreover, the dataset is highly imbalanced since many images are extremely similar. This work presents a bootstrapping method which takes advantage of this imbalance, iteratively selecting a small subset of images to be hand-traced, then (re)training the DBN, making use of an entropy-based diversity measure for the initial selection. With this approach, a three-fold reduction in human time required to trace an entire dataset with human-level accuracy was achieved.published_or_final_versio

Optimizing single-photon-source heralding efficiency at 1550 nm using periodically poled lithium niobate

We explore the feasibility of using high conversion-efficiency periodically-poled crystals to produce photon pairs for photon-counting detector calibrations at 1550 nm. The goal is the development of an appropriate parametric down-conversion (PDC) source at telecom wavelengths meeting the requirements of high-efficiency pair production and collection in single spectral and spatial modes (single-mode fibers). We propose a protocol to optimize the photon collection, noise levels and the uncertainty evaluation. This study ties together the results of our efforts to model the single-mode heralding efficiency of a two-photon PDC source and to estimate the heralding uncertainty of such a source.Comment: 14 pages, 2 tables and 3 figures, final version accepted by Metrologi

The path to fusion power†

The promise, status and challenges of developing fusion power are outlined. The key physics and engineering principles are described and recent progress quantified. As the successful demonstration of 16 MW of fusion in 1997 in the Joint European Torus showed, fusion works. The central issue is therefore to make it work reliably and economically on the scale of a power station. We argue that to meet this challenge in 30 years we must follow the aggressive programme known as the ‘Fast Track to Fusion’. This programme is described in some detail

High performance guided-wave asynchronous heralded single photon source

We report on a guided wave heralded photon source based on the creation of non-degenerate photon pairs by spontaneous parametric down conversion in a Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate waveguide. Using the signal photon at 1310 nm as a trigger, a gated detection process permits announcing the arrival of single photons at 1550 nm at the output of a single mode optical fiber with a high probability of 0.38. At the same time the multi-photon emission probability is reduced by a factor of 10 compared to poissonian light sources. Relying on guided wave technologies such as integrated optics and fiber optics components, our source offers stability, compactness and efficiency and can serve as a paradigm for guided wave devices applied to quantum communication and computation using existing telecom networks

The relative importance of personal beliefs, meta-stereotypes and societal stereotypes of age for the wellbeing of older people

Negative images of old age can harm older individuals' cognitive and physical functioning and health. Yet, older people may be confronted with age stereotypes that are inconsistent with their own personal beliefs. We examine the implications for older people's wellbeing of three distinct elements of age stereotypes: their personal beliefs about their age group, their perception about how others generally perceive older people (i.e. their meta-stereotypes) and the societal age stereotypes that are empirically widely shared in society. Using measures from the Stereotype Content Model and survey data of older people from the United Kingdom (UK) (Study 1, N = 171), we found only partial overlap between older people's personal beliefs and their meta-stereotypes. Personal beliefs were unrelated to wellbeing, but positive meta-stereotypes of older people's competence were linked to higher wellbeing. These findings were largely replicated with a sample of baby-boomers from Switzerland (Study 2, N = 400) controlling for socio-demographics. Study 3 used representative survey data (N = 10,803) across 29 European countries, to test and confirm that the link between positive competence meta-stereotypes and wellbeing can be generalised to different cultures, and that positive warmth meta-stereotypes were an additional predictor. At the country level, societal age stereotypes about competence were positively related to the wellbeing of older people, but only in countries that provide greater opportunities for competence attainment.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Theoretical analysis of the electronic structure of the stable and metastable c(2x2) phases of Na on Al(001): Comparison with angle-resolved ultra-violet photoemission spectra

Using Kohn-Sham wave functions and their energy levels obtained by density-functional-theory total-energy calculations, the electronic structure of the two c(2x2) phases of Na on Al(001) are analysed; namely, the metastable hollow-site structure formed when adsorption takes place at low temperature, and the stable substitutional structure appearing when the substrate is heated thereafter above ca. 180K or when adsorption takes place at room temperature from the beginning. The experimentally obtained two-dimensional band structures of the surface states or resonances are well reproduced by the calculations. With the help of charge density maps it is found that in both phases, two pronounced bands appear as the result of a characteristic coupling between the valence-state band of a free c(2x2)-Na monolayer and the surface-state/resonance band of the Al surfaces; that is, the clean (001) surface for the metastable phase and the unstable, reconstructed "vacancy" structure for the stable phase. The higher-lying band, being Na-derived, remains metallic for the unstable phase, whereas it lies completely above the Fermi level for the stable phase, leading to the formation of a surface-state/resonance band-structure resembling the bulk band-structure of an ionic crystal.Comment: 11 pages, 11 postscript figures, published in Phys. Rev. B 57, 15251 (1998). Other related publications can be found at http://www.rz-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm