Visual Representations of Digital Connectivity in Everyday Life

This paper draws on data from the empirical study Photographing Eve-ryday Life: Ageing, Lived Experiences, Time and Space funded by the ESRC, UK. The focus of the project was to explore the significance of the ordinary and day-to-day and focus on the everyday meanings, lived experiences, practical ac-tivities and social contexts in which people in mid to later life live their daily lives. The research involved a diverse sample of 62 women and men aged 50 years and over who took photographs of their different daily routines to create a weekly visual diary. This diary was then explored through in-depth photo-elici-tation interviews to make visible the rhythms, patterns and meanings that underlie habitual and routinized everyday worlds. The data was analysed using the soft-ware Atlas Ti. The analysis highlighted: (1) the increasing importance of digital connectivity and the ways in which people in mid to later life actively engage (and resist) technologies of communication in their daily lives; and (2) the sig-nificance of embodied co-presence and the immediacy of shared space and/or time. Exploring the routines, meanings, and patterns that underpin everyday life has therefore enabled us to make visible how people build, maintain and experi-ence their social and virtual connections, and the ways in which digital devices and information technologies are being incorporated into (and resisted) within daily life.This research was supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Coun-cil / ESRC [grant number RES-061-25-0459] in the United Kingdom. We would like to thank our research participants for the generosity of their extensive time taken to participate in this research. Pseudonyms are given in this paper. Thank you also to our advisory group for their support and guidance, to Dr Veronika Williams who worked on earlier parts of the project, and to Dr Christina Silver for her invaluable technical and analytical support

Inferring HIV Transmission Dynamics from Phylogenetic Sequence Relationships

New insights into HIV transmission dynamics, say the authors, are likely to come from analyzing the viral sequence information that is being routinely collected during HIV genotyping

Smart & savvy students

We, the Smart & Savvy Students (SSS), provide studying and general life tips to Clemson University students. We have a Twitter feed and a Facebook page to spread the information to the student body. Each tweet contains a 140 character tip written in a dialogue format. The tweets include links to the Facebook page, which has more information. The Facebook page provides links to scientific sources that support our claims. These links provide students with the opportunity to learn more about the topics. SSS posts tips to Twitter and Facebook 3 to 5 times a week. Using popular social media, SSS provides students quick tips about topics including study skills, exercise and diet, recreation, social life, emotional health, and healthy habits. This project is sponsored by the Creative Inquiry Program at Clemson University

A Forward-Design Approach to Increase the Production of Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate in Genetically Engineered Escherichia coli

Biopolymers, such as poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P(3HB)) are produced as a carbon store in an array of organisms and exhibit characteristics which are similar to oil-derived plastics, yet have the added advantages of biodegradability and biocompatibility. Despite these advantages, P(3HB) production is currently more expensive than the production of oil-derived plastics, and therefore, more efficient P(3HB) production processes would be desirable. In this study, we describe the model-guided design and experimental validation of several engineered P(3HB) producing operons. In particular, we describe the characterization of a hybrid phaCAB operon that consists of a dual promoter (native and J23104) and RBS (native and B0034) design. P(3HB) production at 24 h was around six-fold higher in hybrid phaCAB engineered Escherichia coli in comparison to E. coli engineered with the native phaCAB operon from Ralstonia eutropha H16. Additionally, we describe the utilization of non-recyclable waste as a low-cost carbon source for the production of P(3HB)

Analysis of mutations causing familial hypercholesterolaemia in black South African patients of different ancestry

Background. Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is usually caused by mutations in three genes (LDLR, APOB and PCSK9).Objective. To identify the spectrum of FH-causing mutations in black South African (SA) patients.Methods. DNA samples of 16 unrelated South African FH patients with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, tendon xanthomas and corneal arcus (3 clinically homozygous FH and 13 heterozygous FH) of ethnic African origin were screened for mutations in the LDLR (coding region, promoter and intron/exon boundaries), APOB (part of exon 26) and PCSK9 genes (exon 7), using high-resolution melting.Results. Eight LDLR mutations were identified, for an overall detection rate of 8/19 predicted FH-causing alleles (42.1%). The previously reported six base pair deletion p.(D47_G48del) was found in two patients, and two novel variants (c.1187-25T>C and c.1664T>G p.(L555R)) were found, both predicted to be pathogenic using in silico web-based predictive algorithms. No pathogenic variants in APOB or PCSK9 were found.Conclusions. These findings contribute to the knowledge of allelic heterogeneity in the spectrum of FH-causing mutations in black SA patients, signifying their ancestral diversity. The relatively low overall detection rate may reflect locus heterogeneity of the FH phenotype in black SA FH patients

Isotopic Production Cross Sections in Proton-Nucleus Collisions at 200 MeV

Intermediate mass fragments (IMF) from the interaction of $^{27}$Al, $^{59}$Co and $^{197}$Au with 200 MeV protons were measured in an angular range from 20 degree to 120 degree in the laboratory system. The fragments, ranging from isotopes of helium up to isotopes of carbon, were isotopically resolved. Double differential cross sections, energy differential cross sections and total cross sections were extracted.Comment: accepted by Phys. Rev.