Lipid and Protein Transfer between Nanolipoprotein Particles and Supported Lipid Bilayers.

A nanolipoprotein particle (NLP) is a lipid bilayer disc stabilized by two amphipathic "scaffold" apolipoproteins. It has been most notably utilized as a tool for solubilizing a variety of membrane proteins while preserving structural and functional properties. Transfer of functional proteins from NLPs into model membrane systems such as supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) would enable new opportunities, for example, two-dimensional protein crystallization and studies on protein-protein interactions. This work used fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy to investigate the interaction between NLPs and SLBs. When incubated with SLBs, NLPs were found to spontaneously deliver lipid and protein cargo. The impact of membrane composition on lipid exchange was explored, revealing a positive correlation between the magnitude of lipid transfer and concentration of defects in the target SLB. Incorporation of lipids capable of binding specifically to polyhistidine tags encoded into the apolipoproteins also boosted transfer of NLP cargo. Optimal conditions for lipid and protein delivery from NLPs to SLBs are proposed based on interaction mechanisms

A Fleet of Miniature Cars for Experiments in Cooperative Driving

We introduce a unique experimental testbed that consists of a fleet of 16 miniature Ackermann-steering vehicles. We are motivated by a lack of available low-cost platforms to support research and education in multi-car navigation and trajectory planning. This article elaborates the design of our miniature robotic car, the Cambridge Minicar, as well as the fleet's control architecture. Our experimental testbed allows us to implement state-of-the-art driver models as well as autonomous control strategies, and test their validity in a real, physical multi-lane setup. Through experiments on our miniature highway, we are able to tangibly demonstrate the benefits of cooperative driving on multi-lane road topographies. Our setup paves the way for indoor large-fleet experimental research.We gratefully acknowledge the Isaac Newton Trust who are supporting Amanda Prorok through an Early Career Grant

Wearable silver nanowire dry electrodes for electrophysiological sensing

We present wearable dry electrodes made of silver nanowires for long-term electrophysiological sensing such as electrocardiography and electromyography

Semisimple FJRW theory of polynomials with two variables

We study the Dubrovin-Frobenius manifold in the Fan-Jarvis-Ruan-Witten theory of Landau-Ginzburg pairs (W, \), where $W$ is an invertible nondegenerate quasihomogeneous polynomial with two variables and $\$ is the minimal admissible group of$W$. We conjecture that the Dubrovin-Frobenius manifolds from these FJRW theory are semisimple. We show the conjecture holds true for simple singularities and almost all Brieskorn-Pham polynomials. For Brieskorn-Pham polynomials, the result follows from the calculation of a quantum Euler class in the FJRW theory. As a consequence, our result shows that for the FJRW theory of these Landau-Ginzburg pairs, both a Dubrovin type conjecture and a Virasoro conjecture hold true.Comment: 2nd version, 24 pages, a reference of Habermann is adde

Chinese-backed FinTech Lending Boom: How did Indonesia Respond?

Peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending has the potential to boost innovation and financial inclusion in emerging markets, yet it can also incur investment and borrower-related risks, such as privacy breaches. Driven by regulation control in China, Chinese investments flocked to Indonesia, causing a rapid expansion of online lending platforms. Similar to what happened in China prior to the regulatory crackdown, the P2P lending boom in Indonesia saw a rise in unethical and illegal business practices. The government responded by creating new regulations and institutions to mitigate risks without stifling the potential for financial inclusion. A proactive approach towards monitoring and regulating emerging high-tech industries should be sought by strengthening links with industry and civil society, and through international cooperation for policy and knowledge sharing

Governing the Gold Rush into Emerging Markets: A Case Study of Indonesia’s Regulatory Responses to the Expansion of Chinese-Backed Online P2P Lending

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending has the potential to boost financial inclusion in emerging markets. This paper contributes to the literature on fintech governance in emerging Asian markets. It examines the case of the Indonesian government’s approach in regulating the P2P lending sector using both primary interviews and secondary firm-level data. Driven by regulation tightening in China and regulatory gaps in Indonesia, Chinese investments became the largest in this sector contributing, however, to growing risks from illegal business practices. The Indonesian government responded by creating new regulations and institutions, mitigating risks without stifling the potential for financial inclusion. We conclude a proactive approach towards monitoring and regulating emerging high-tech industries should be sought by strengthening links with industry and civil society, and through international cooperation for policy and knowledge sharing

Library Use and Information-Seeking Behaviour of Academics at Lincoln University

Academics are an important user group for their university libraries. Academic libraries are trying very hard to balance limited funding and users’ needs, especially while the information-seeking behaviour of academics is being changed by electronic resources. This study was undertaken to discover the information-seeking behaviour of academics and their use of the library at Lincoln University of New Zealand. The results from this study will be useful to enhance the collection development and prioritise programs and services to meet academics’ needs more effectively. An online survey was used for this study. All academics from the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Faculty of Commerce and the Faculty of Environment, Society and Design were selected and 49 academics responded. The results indicated that a great number of academics depend on libraries for getting information. Academics are facing a big problem regarding the lack of time to obtain information. They also display great interest in using online journal articles and printed books from Lincoln University Library. However, academics are not interested in using the latest tools, such as smart phones, e-Pads etc. It was also established that academics from different disciplines have a very similar information-seeking behaviours. In addition, academics are satisfied with the library resources and services but they do not use it as much as they recommend it to students. Finally, academics have little contact with library staff. Based on these findings, it was recommended that library resources should continue to have both electronic resources and printed resources. Librarians and library systems must do better to improve the time lost in information-seeking by academics. There is a need to improve the communication and collaboration between librarians and academics to encourage academics to use more library resources in their teaching, and librarians should encourage academics to learn the latest information-seeking tools and skills, as well as promote the library services and resources more