Prefrontal cortex oscillations update and stabilize consciousness during binocular rivalry

In this issue of Neuron, Dwarakanath et al.1 demonstrate that perceptual changes in binocular rivalry are predicted by low-frequency activity and beta-band oscillations in the prefrontal cortex, speaking to access consciousness being gated by oscillatory neuronal dynamics in the prefrontal cortex.</p

On Optimal Production and the Market to Book Ratio Given Limited Shareholder Diversification

Our purpose is to examine a firm\u27s optimal output decision and valuation when its shareholders hold a limited number of risky assets. The primary theoretical result indicates that the market-to-book ratio is a function of the degree of shareholder diversification. Our theory suggests a negative relationship between a firm\u27s market-to-book ratio and shareholder diversification

Modelado de Materiales Compuestos por Elementos Finitos usando Restricciones Cinemáticas

The purpose of this article is to present simulations of the behavior of composite materials based on kinematic restrictions between the same fibers and between the fibers and the surrounding resin. In the literature review, the authors have found that kinematic restrictions have not been fully exploited to model composite materials, probably due to their high computational cost. The purpose of this article is to expose the implementation and results of such a model, using Finite Element Analysis of prescribed geometric constraints to the resin and fiber nodes. Analytical descriptions of the behavior of composite materials rarely appear. Many approaches to describe composite materials in layers are based on the theory of functions C1Z and C0 Z, such as the Classical Layer Theory (CLT). These theories of functions contain significant simplifications of the material, especially for woven compounds. A hybrid approach to modeling composite materials with Finite Elements (FEA) was developed by Sidhu and Averill and adapted by Li and Sherwood for composite materials woven with glass polypropylene.El propósito de este artículo es presentar simulaciones del comportamiento de materiales compuestos basado en restricciones cinemáticas entre las mismas fibras y entre las fibras y la resina circundante. En la revisión de literatura, los autores han encontrado que las restricciones cinemáticas no han sido plenamente explotadas para modelar materiales compuestos, probablemente debido a su alto costo computacional. El propósito de este articulo es exponer la implementación y resultados de tal modelo, usando Análisis por Elementos Finitos de restricciones geométricas prescritas a los nodos de la resina y las fibras. Las descripciones analíticas del comportamiento de materiales compuestos raramente aparecen. Muchas aproximaciones para describir materiales compuestos en capas son basadas en la teoría de funciones C1Z y C0 Z, tal como la Teoría Clásica de Capas (CLT). Estas teorías de funciones contienen significativas simplificaciones del material, especialmente para compuestos tejidos. Una aproximación hibrida para modelar materiales compuestos con Elementos Finitos (FEA) fue desarrollada por Sidhu y Averill y adaptada por Li y Sherwood para materiales compuestos tejidos con polipropileno de vidrio

Selvstendighet og tilrettelegging - en gyllen middelvei?

Når navnet på studieprogrammene som kvalifiserer til høyere utdanning heter studieforberedende programmer, er det interessant å ta et dypere dykk inn i hva studieforberedende egentlig betyr. Den videregående skolen er en omfattende institusjon der mange ulike aktører har sine viktige roller. Den viktigste rollen har likevel kanskje lærerne, som står på «gulvet» og planlegger og utfører undervisningen. Hva forstår egentlig lærerne med begrepet studieforberedt, og hvordan arbeider de med å studieforberede sine elever? På bakgrunn av dette har vi formulert følgende todelte problemstilling: I. Hva forstår samfunnsfags-, historie-, religions-, og psykologilærere i Agder og Rogaland med det å være studieforberedt? II. Hvordan arbeider de med å forberede elevene sine til videre studier? Som teoretisk grunnlag for oppgaven vil vi benytte oss av læringsteori hva gjelder selvregulert læring og metakognitive perspektiver. Vi vil også lene oss tungt på noe av den relativt begrensede empirien og tidligere forskningen som finnes på temaområdet, fortrinnsvis på NIFUs rapport Studieforberedt etter studieforberedende? fra 2015, Greek & Jonsmoens Hvilken tekstkyndighet har studenter med seg fra videregående skole? fra 2016, så vil vi også kort inkludere Yang & Wangs artikkel «The Role of Academic Resilience, Motivational Intensity and Their Relationship in EFL Learners' Academic Achievement» fra 2022. For å belyse vår problemstilling har vi valgt å benytte oss av en kvalitativ tilnærming, der vi har intervjuet til sammen 12 lærere i tre ulike videregående skoler i Agder og Rogaland. Intervjuene valgte vi å holde semi-strukturerte, slik at vi kunne få svar på det vi lurte på, samtidig som lærerne også fikk stor frihet til å velge retning på intervjuene selv. Dette tjente oss vel, og vi fikk et datagrunnlag som fortalte oss mye, både om hva de forstår med begrepet studieforberedt, men også hvordan de arbeider i klasserommet med å fremme dette målet. Våre funn tilsier at våre lærere har en forståelse av hva det vil si å være studieforberedt, noe som også påvirker hvordan de arbeider med dette i sine klasser. Våre lærere mener at det å beherske de grunnleggende ferdighetene, være selvstendig og selvregulert, samt være bevisst sine læringsstrategier, er viktige egenskaper å bære med seg inn i høyere utdanning. Våre lærere er også opptatt av dybdelæring og hvordan de skal skape slik læring hos sine elever. Spesielt jobber våre lærere med å utvikle elevenes selvstendighet, og de ser sin egen institusjon som en overgang mellom grunnskolen og høyere utdanning – et siste steg før elev blir til student. Hvordan våre lærere legger til rette for disse ferdighetene og arbeidet med selvstendighet preges av ulike tanker om hvor mye selvstendighet man faktisk skal legge opp til. Finnes det en gyllen middelvei

Marginal zone B cells emerge as a critical component of pregnancy well-being

The success of eutherian mammal evolution was certainly supported by the ability of the already existing immune system to adapt to the presence of the semi-allogeneic fetus without losing the capability to defend the mother against infections. This required the acquisition of highly regulated and coordinated immunological mechanisms. Failures in the development of these strategies not only lead to the interruption of pregnancy but also compromise maternal health. Alongside changes on the cytokine profile - expansion of tolerogenic dendritic and regulatory T cells - a profound adaptation of the B cell compartment during pregnancy was recently described. Among others, the suppression of B cell lymphopoiesis and B cell lymphopenia were proposed to be protective mechanisms tending to reduce the occurrence of autoreactive B cells that might recognize fetal structures and put pregnancy on risk. On the other hand, expansion of the pre-activated marginal zone (MZ) B cell phenotype was described as a compensatory strategy launched to overcome B cell lymphopenia thus ensuring a proper defense. In this work, using an animal model of pregnancy disturbances, we demonstrated that the suppression of B cell lymphopoiesis as well as splenic B cell lymphopenia occur independently of pregnancy outcome. However, only animals undergoing normal pregnancies, but not those suffering from pregnancy disturbances, could induce an expansion and activation of the MZ B cells. Hence, our results clearly show that MZ B cells, probably due to the production of natural protective antibodies, participate in the fine balance of immune activation required for pregnancy well-being.Fil: Muzzio, Damián Oscar. University of Greifswald; AlemaniaFil: Ziegler, Katharina B.. University of Greifswald; AlemaniaFil: Ehrhardt, Jens. University of Greifswald; AlemaniaFil: Zygmunt, Marek. University of Greifswald; AlemaniaFil: Jensen, Cristian Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; Argentina. University of Greifswald; Alemania. Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche; Argentin

Seagrass sedimentary deposits as security vaults and time capsules of the human past

Seagrass meadows form valuable ecosystems, but are considered to have low cultural value due to limited research efforts in this field. We provide evidence that seagrass deposits play a hitherto unrealized central role in preserving valuable submerged archaeological and historical heritage across the world, while also providing an historical archive of human cultural development over time. We highlight three case studies showing the significance of seagrass in protecting underwater cultural heritage in Denmark, the Mediterranean and Australia. Moreover, we present an overview of additional evidence compiled from the literature. We emphasize that this important role of seagrasses is linked to their capacity to form thick sedimentary deposits, accumulating over time, thereby covering and sealing submerged archaeological heritage. Seagrass conservation and restoration are key to protecting this buried heritage while also supporting the role of seagrass deposits as carbon sinks as well as the many other important ecosystem functions of seagrasses. © 2018, The Author(s)

Sequestration of macroalgal carbon: the elephant in the blue carbon room

Macroalgae form the most extensive and productive benthic marine vegetated habitats globally but their inclusion in Blue Carbon (BC) strategies remains controversial. We review the arguments offered to reject or include macroalgae in the BC framework, and identify the challenges that have precluded macroalgae from being incorporated so far. Evidence that macroalgae support significant carbon burial is compelling. The carbon they supply to sediment stocks in angiosperm BC habitats is already included in current assessments, so that macroalgae are de facto recognized as important donors of BC. The key challenges are (i) documenting macroalgal carbon sequestered beyond BC habitat, (ii) tracing it back to source habitats, and (iii) showing that management actions at the habitat lead to increased sequestration at the sink site. These challenges apply equally to carbon exported from BC coastal habitats. Because of the large carbon sink they support, incorporation of macroalgae into BC accounting and actions is an imperative. This requires a paradigm shift in accounting procedures as well as developing methods to enable the capacity to trace carbon from donor to sink habitats in the ocean

Mean Field Theory of Sandpile Avalanches: from the Intermittent to the Continuous Flow Regime

We model the dynamics of avalanches in granular assemblies in partly filled rotating cylinders using a mean-field approach. We show that, upon varying the cylinder angular velocity $\omega$, the system undergoes a hysteresis cycle between an intermittent and a continuous flow regimes. In the intermittent flow regime, and approaching the transition, the avalanche duration exhibits critical slowing down with a temporal power-law divergence. Upon adding a white noise term, and close to the transition, the distribution of avalanche durations is also a power-law. The hysteresis, as well as the statistics of avalanche durations, are in good qualitative agreement with recent experiments in partly filled rotating cylinders.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 3.0, postscript figures 1, 3 and 4 appended

Permanent Neonatal Diabetes and Enteric Anendocrinosis Associated With Biallelic Mutations in NEUROG3

Artículo de publicación ISIOBJECTIVE—NEUROG3 plays a central role in the development of both pancreatic islets and enteroendocrine cells. Homozygous hypomorphic missense mutations in NEUROG3 have been recently associated with a rare form of congenital malabsorptive diarrhea secondary to enteroendocrine cell dysgenesis. Interestingly, the patients did not develop neonatal diabetes but childhood-onset diabetes. We hypothesized that null mutations in NEUROG3 might be responsible for the disease in a patient with permanent neonatal diabetes and severe congenital malabsorptive diarrhea. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The single coding exon of NEUROG3 was amplified and sequenced from genomic DNA. The mutant protein isoforms were functionally characterized by measuring their ability to bind to an E-box element in the NEUROD1 promoter in vitro and to induce ectopic endocrine cell formation and cell delamination after in ovo chicken endoderm electroporation. RESULTS—Two different heterozygous point mutations in NEUROG3 were identified in the proband [c.82G.T (p.E28X) and c.404T.C (p.L135P)], each being inherited from an unaffected parent. Both in vitro and in vivo functional studies indicated that the mutant isoforms are biologically inactive. In keeping with this, no enteroendocrine cells were detected in intestinal biopsy samples from the patient. CONCLUSIONS—Severe deficiency of neurogenin 3 causes a rare novel subtype of permanent neonatal diabetes. This finding confirms the essential role of NEUROG3 in islet development and function in humans

Past and Future Methods for Controlling Echinococcus Granulosus in South America

The various Countries of South America (Peru, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina) all haveproblems with Echinococcus granulosus s.l in humans. Control of the disease in dogs and grazinganimals began in Uruguay in 1879, and continues in all countries from various beginnings until2022. Our objective is to describe the new vaccine to prevent grazing animals from acquiringE.granulosus s.l., and to predict the possible high degree of control using the addition of thevaccine to the normal control procedures even when programmes address many practicaldifficulties.The recombinant vaccine was used under field conditions using the same protocol in sheep,goats and llamas older than 2 months and up to 6 years: Two injections, one month apartand annual booster. The baseline and the final evaluation were carried out by necropsy incontrol programmes included in Argentina (Chubut, 2007-2013; Río Negro 2009-2017) and inChile (Alto Biobio, 2016-2020; Aysen 2020-2022).Elimination of echinococcosis have been successful only in insular countries. In consequence, tovalidate a model supporting the One Health approach that might be reproducible successfullyin different regions of South America is required. Including the socio-cultural understandingand the environmental context is mandatory to optimize the use of the vaccine under theseoperational conditions.The EG95 vaccine, made in Argentina, has been tested, and continues to be tested, inArgentina and Chile, and more recently in Peru. Furthermore, the vaccine, now available,is being made in large quantities in Argentina and China, and appears to be an additionalcontrol technology that may allow elimination of E.granulosus s.l. from South America. Thebest control strategies appear to be dog treatments and regular vaccination of sheep andgoats for 10 years until all old sheep have been removed. If dogs or grazing animals enterfrom outside the controlled environment, treatments will need to be continued. The vaccinealso seems to reduce E.granulosus s.l. cysts reaching infectivity for dogs, and has some effectagainst Fasciola hepatica.Fil: Poggio, Thelma Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología "Dr. César Milstein". Fundación Pablo Cassará. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología "Dr. César Milstein"; ArgentinaFil: Jensen, Oscar. Centro de Investigacion En Zoonosis; ArgentinaFil: Chacon Saravia, Tomas. Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Alimento. Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria; ArgentinaFil: Pino Nuñez, Alejandro. No especifíca;Fil: Boado, Lorena Analía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología "Dr. César Milstein". Fundación Pablo Cassará. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología "Dr. César Milstein"; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Jose Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología "Dr. César Milstein". Fundación Pablo Cassará. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología "Dr. César Milstein"; ArgentinaFil: Heath, David. No especifíca