Ml proteins from Mesorhizobium loti and MucR from Brucella abortus: an AT-rich core DNA-target site and oligomerization ability

Mesorhizobium loti contains ten genes coding for proteins sharing high amino acid sequence identity with members of the Ros/MucR transcription factor family. Five of these Ros/MucR family members from Mesorhizobium loti (Ml proteins) have been recently structurally and functionally characterized demonstrating that Ml proteins are DNA-binding proteins. However, the DNA-binding studies were performed using the Ros DNA-binding site with the Ml proteins. Currently, there is no evidence as to when the Ml proteins are expressed during the Mesorhizobium loti life cycle as well as no information concerning their natural DNA-binding site. In this study, we examine the ml genes expression profile in Mesorhizobium loti and show that ml1, ml2, ml3 and ml5 are expressed during planktonic growth and in biofilms. DNA-binding experiments show that the Ml proteins studied bind a conserved AT-rich site in the promoter region of the exoY gene from Mesorhizobium loti and that the proteins make important contacts with the minor groove of DNA. Moreover, we demonstrate that the Ml proteins studied form higher-order oligomers through their N-terminal region and that the same AT-rich site is recognized by MucR from Brucella abortus using a similar mechanism involving contacts with the minor groove of DNA and oligomerization

Professional Learning Through Everyday Work: How Finance Professionals Self-Regulate Their Learning

Professional learning is a critical component of ongoing improvement and innovation and the adoption of new practices in the workplace. Professional learning is often achieved through learning embedded in everyday work tasks. However, little is known about how professionals self-regulate their learning through regular work activities. This paper explores how professionals in the finance sector (n-30) self-regulate their learning through day-to-day work. Analysis focuses on three sub-processes of self-regulated learning that have been identified as significant predictors of good self-regulated learning at work. A key characteristic of good self-regulation is viewing learning as a form of long-term, personalised self-improvement. This study provides a foundation for future policy and planning in organisations aiming to encourage self-regulated learning

Compendium of Structural Testing Data for 20-Psi Coal Mine Seals

This report presents nearly all structural data available from explosion tests of 20-psi mine ventilation seals and concrete-block ventilation stoppings that were conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health during 1997-2008. Although the seals tested were designed to meet the former federal 20-psi pressure design standard, the structural information contained herein on these seal tests will facilitate the analysis and design of coal mine seals that meet the new explosion pressure design criteria of 50 and 120 psi as set forth in the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)\u27s final rule on Sealing of Abandoned Areas. The seal testing data are organized into six broad categories of seal structures based on the materials used and the construction method for those 20-psi seals: 1. Concretelike materials with steel reinforcement and reinforcement bar anchorage to rock; 2. Pumpable cementitious materials of varying compressive strengths with no steel reinforcement and no hitching; 3. Articulated structures such as solid-concrete-block seals and ventilation stoppings made of solid and hollow-core concrete blocks; 4. Polymer and aggregate materials without hitching; 5. Wood-crib-block seals with or without hitching; 6. Articulated structures such as lightweight blocks with or without hitching. This summary contains data on 52 different structures in the above categories - 44 seals and 8 ventilation stoppings. The structural data sets include the applied loading on the tested seal represented by a pressure-time curve and, when available, the measured seal response represented by a displacement-time curve. The structural data sets enable the calibration and verification of numerical models of seal behavior at the 20-psi level, which may then facilitate future structural analyses of seal designs for the new 50- and 120-psi explosion pressure design criteria

Passive Mine Blast Attenuators Constructed of Rock Rubble for Protecting Ventilation Seals

The design requirements for mine ventilation seals have undergone a radical transformation in recent years, and these revisions have greatly increased the cost of the seal designs and their construction. For example, in the past two years, new federal regulations have increased the minimum design requirement to withstand explosion pressures from 138 kPa (20 psig) to 345 kPa (50 psig) or 827 kPa (120 psig), depending on whether the sealed mine volume is monitored continuously or not. Moreover, there is still a possibility that under certain conditions (such as detonations) even higher pressure requirements may be necessary. The ability of a monolithic, stand-alone mine seal to reliably withstand the full range of current and future pressures is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. In an effort to develop a practical alternative, the West Virginia Office of Miners\u27 Health Safety and Training (WVOMHST) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have collaborated in a research effort to develop a practical, economic, and safe mine sealing technique that can enable mines seals to meet the full range of new explosion pressure design requirements. The basic idea is to use a barrier of common mine gob and rubble in combination with a conventional mine seal so that the pressure resulting from a gas explosion is reflected, absorbed, and attenuated, so the pressure on the ventilation seal is reduced. This paper discusses some concepts and preliminary test results for a Passive Mine Blast Attenuator (PMBA) that can provide a useful alternative to increasingly larger and stronger stand-alone mine seals. Numerical models and full-scale experiments conducted at the NIOSH Lake Lynn Laboratory Experimental Mine (LLEM) show that the use of a PMBA can signficantly reduce the blast pressure and impulse on conventional ventilation seals. DISCLAIMER: This information is distributed solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. It has not been formally disseminated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy

The role of simulation in pedagogies of higher education for the health professions: through a practice-based lens

The preparation of future professionals for practice is a key focus of higher education institutions. Among a range of approaches is the use of simulation pedagogies. While simulation is often justified as a direct bridge between higher education and professional practice, this paper questions this easy assumption. It develops a conceptually driven argument to cast new light on simulation and its unarticulated potential in professional formation. The argument unfolds in, and is illustrated via, three accounts of a simulation event in an Australian undergraduate nursing program. This begins with a familiar approach, moves to one that problematizes this through a focus on disruption, culminating in a third that draws on socio-material theorisations. Here, simulation is conceived as emergent, challenging stable notions of fidelity, common in simulation literature. New possibilities of simulation in the production of agile practitioners and learners in practice are surfaced. This paper extends and enriches thinking by providing distinctive new ways of understanding simulation and the relationship it affords between education and professional practice, and by illuminating the untapped potential of simulation for producing agile practitioners