Circadian Rhythms: Hijacking the Cyanobacterial Clock

SummaryUsing basic research to advance a practical application, a recent study demonstrates that the circadian clock in cyanobacteria can be ‘reprogrammed’ to improve yields of heterologous protein production — a green future surely beckons

Wave-number Selection by Target Patterns and Side Walls in Rayleigh-Benard Convection

We present experimental results for Rayleigh-Benard convection patterns in a cylindrical container with static side-wall forcing induced by a heater. This forcing stabilized a pattern of concentric rolls (a target pattern) with the central roll (the umbilicus) at the center of the cell after a jump from the conduction to the convection state. A quasi-static increase of the control parameter (epsilon) beyond 0.8 caused the umbilicus of the pattern to move off center. As observed by others, a further quasi-static increase of epsilon up to 15.6 caused a sequence of transitions. Each transition began with the displacement of the umbilicus and then proceeded with the loss of one convection roll at the umbilicus and the return of the umbilicus to a location near the center of the cell. Alternatively, with decreasing epsilon new rolls formed at the umbilicus but large umbilicus displacements did not occur. In addition to quantitative measurements of the umbilicus displacement, we determined and analyzed the entire wave-director field of each image. The wave numbers varied in the axial direction, with minima at the umbilicus and at the cell wall and a maximum at a radial position close to 2/3 Gamma. The wave numbers at the maximum showed hysteretic jumps at the transitions, but on average agreed well with the theoretical predictions for the wave numbers selected in the far field of an infinitely extended target pattern.Comment: ReVTeX, 11 pages, 16 eps figures include

FKBP12 associates tightly with the skeletal muscle type 1 ryanodine receptor, but not with other intracellular calcium release channels

AbstractThis study compared the relative levels of ryanodine receptor (RyR) isoforms, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) isoforms, and calcineurin, plus their association with FKBP12 in brain, skeletal and cardiac tissue. FKBP12 demonstrated a very tight, high affinity association with skeletal muscle microsomes, which was displaced by FK506. In contrast, FKBP12 was not tightly associated with brain or cardiac microsomes and did not require FK506 for removal from these organelles. Furthermore, of the proteins solubilised from skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle and brain microsomes, only skeletal muscle RyR1 bound to an FKBP12–glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein, in a high affinity FK506 displaceable manner. These results suggest that RyR1 has distinctive FKBP12 binding properties when compared to RyR2, RyR3, all IP3R isoforms and calcineurin

Learning Anatomy with Augmented Reality: learning design and app design for optimal learning

An Augmented Reality (AR) application was developed to help students at SDU to learn the anatomy of the human body (mediastinum). This research project intended to evaluate whether AR strengthened the students’ self-efficacy and motivation, improved learning, and provided a good learning experience. This study focusses on how AR can help students to translate two-dimensional into three-dimensional understanding and evaluates formats of the app (the use of quizzes) together with the didactic design of the teaching sessions with AR. The objectives were to examine A. the effectiveness of using AR on student’s short, long term, and transfer learning outcome compared with traditional teaching, B. the effect of quizzes, and C. app design in relation to didactic design. In the AR world students saw a standardized hologram body combined with selected images from a computed tomography (CT) scan. The CT images were presented at the proper spatial positions in a hologram body. The user could select which structures to be shown at the body (e.g. skin, the vascular system, etc.). They could approach the body, circumvent it, study structures in details and compare the concurrent presentation with the different CT images. During class one group received traditional teaching and two groups studied CT scans in Augmented Reality. One AR-group complemented the AR app with quiz questions and received corrective feedback. The other AR group did not use quiz questions but studied content on their own hand. A teacher was present and ready to help students in all groups. The aim of this paper is to share lessons learned from this intervention and suggest solutions for app design and learning design to facilitate deeper learning processes and scaffold learners’ needs with AR as a learning resource

Overcoming the Barriers to Successful Completion of GED Programs among Prison and Jail Inmates

This study examines the barriers faced by inmates participating in General Educational Development (GED) courses in prisons and jails, with the goal of proposing strategies for the removal of these barriers. By examining the literature surrounding prison and jail GED programs, the factors are categorized as those unique to each inmate (inmate factors), those experienced within the prison environment (environmental factors), and barriers that arise as a result of social conditions (outside factors). By examining various similar examples in the literature, solutions are discussed that have helped prison inmates overcome similar barriers

Introducing school-based teacher-led assessments in the Irish school context: challenging the practice of favouring centralized, externally-conducted assessment

The discussion in Ireland around post-primary teachers (catering for students aged between 12- and 18-years of age) being responsible for assessing their own students’ work continues. The Junior Cycle Reform (covering the first three years of post-primary education) is concerned with making fundamental changes in approaches to learning, teaching, curriculum and assessment, with school-based assessment as an important element of the reform. This presentation maps and discusses the area of mediation of assessment policy in a changing and contested assessment environment in the Republic of Ireland. To do this, the presentation tells the story of assessment in junior cycle. The story evolves as one in which government policy was intent on promoting a teacher-lead, learning-oriented assessment practice which was actively resisted by the Irish post-primary teacher unions through their insistence that a centralized, externally-conducted assessment at the earlier stages of post-primary education was preferable to school-based, teacher-led assessments

A spectral solver for evolution problems with spatial S3-topology

We introduce a single patch collocation method in order to compute solutions of initial value problems of partial differential equations whose spatial domains are 3-spheres. Besides the main ideas, we discuss issues related to our implementation and analyze numerical test applications. Our main interest lies in cosmological solutions of Einstein's field equations. Motivated by this, we also elaborate on problems of our approach for general tensorial evolution equations when certain symmetries are assumed. We restrict to U(1)- and Gowdy symmetry here.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, uses psfrag and hyperref, large parts rewritten in order to match to the requirements of the journal, conclusions unchanged; J. Comput. Phys. (2009

Do alcohol use disorders impact on long term outcomes from intensive care?

Introduction: There is limited evidence regarding the impact of alcohol use disorders on long term outcomes from intensive care. The aims of this study were to analyse the nature and complications of alcohol related admissions to intensive care and determine whether alcohol use disorders impact on survival at six months post ICU discharge.<p></p> Method: This was an 18 month prospective observational cohort study in a 20 bedded mixed ICU, in a large teaching hospital in Scotland. On admission patients were allocated to one of three alcohol groups: low risk, harmful/hazardous, or alcohol dependency.<p></p> Results: 34.4% of patients were admitted with an alcohol use disorder. Those with an alcohol related admission (either harmful/hazardous or alcohol dependent) had an increased odds of developing septic shock during their admission, compared with the low risk group (OR 1.67; 95% CI 1.13-2.47, p = 0.01). After adjustment for all lifestyle factors which were significantly different between the groups, alcohol dependence was associated with more than a twofold increased odds of ICU mortality (OR 2.28; 95% CI 1.2-4.69, p = 0.01) and hospital mortality (OR 2.43; 95% CI 1.28-4.621, p = 0.004). After adjustment for deprivation category and age, alcohol dependence was associated with an almost two fold increased odds of mortality at six months post ICU discharge (HR 1.86; CI 1.30-2.70, p = 0.001).<p></p> Conclusion: Alcohol use disorders are a significant risk factor for the development of septic shock in intensive care. Further, alcohol dependency is independently associated with poorer long term outcomes from intensive care.<p></p&gt

Student Ensemble: Wind Symphony

Center for the Performing ArtsNovember 17, 2011Thursday Evening8:00 p.m

A Systematic Search for X-ray Cavities in the Hot Gas of Galaxy Groups

We have performed a systematic search for X-ray cavities in the hot gas of 51 galaxy groups with Chandra archival data. The cavities are identified based on two methods: subtracting an elliptical beta model fitted to the X-ray surface brightness, and performing unsharp masking. 13 groups in the sample 25% are identified as clearly containing cavities, with another 13 systems showing tentative evidence for such structures. We find tight correlations between the radial and tangential radii of the cavities, and between their size and projected distance from the group center, in quantitative agreement with the case for more massive clusters. This suggests that similar physical processes are responsible for cavity evolution and disruption in systems covering a large range in total mass. We see no clear association between the detection of cavities and the current 1.4 GHz radio luminosity of the central brightest group galaxy, but there is a clear tendency for systems with a cool core to be more likely to harbor detectable cavities. To test the efficiency of the adopted cavity detection procedures, we employ a set of mock images designed to mimic typical Chandra data of our sample, and find that the model-fitting approach is generally more reliable than unsharp masking for recovering cavity properties. Finally, we find that the detectability of cavities is strongly influenced by a few factors, particularly the signal-to-noise ratio of the data, and that the real fraction of X-ray groups with prominent cavities could be substantially larger than the 25--50% suggested by our analysis.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, accepted by Ap