A Meaning of Baroque in terms of Space Syntax

A city is a spatial system that is generated in the process of searching for an ideal form. From the structure of a city, we can find paradigms of the past in which worldviews of the society are instilled. Baroque, to be studied in this paper, is interpreted as a change from ′limitation′ to ′infinity′. There are many studies that investigated Baroque but they see the change from a single viewpoint of either cosmology or practicality. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to combine these two viewpoints for a comprehensive understanding of what paradigm has formed Baroque cities. Practicality is revealed by means of Space Syntax and our new concept, Urban Entropy Coefficient (: UEC), which is then related to cosmology. We conclude that the intention of Baroque was to configure a Multi-Center layout for the dynamic function of the city

Structural basis for the sequence-specific RNA-recognition mechanism of human CUG-BP1 RRM3

The CUG-binding protein 1 (CUG-BP1) is a member of the CUG-BP1 and ETR-like factors (CELF) family or the Bruno-like family and is involved in the control of splicing, translation and mRNA degradation. Several target RNA sequences of CUG-BP1 have been predicted, such as the CUG triplet repeat, the GU-rich sequences and the AU-rich element of nuclear pre-mRNAs and/or cytoplasmic mRNA. CUG-BP1 has three RNA-recognition motifs (RRMs), among which the third RRM (RRM3) can bind to the target RNAs on its own. In this study, we solved the solution structure of the CUG-BP1 RRM3 by hetero-nuclear NMR spectroscopy. The CUG-BP1 RRM3 exhibited a noncanonical RRM fold, with the four-stranded b-sheet surface tightly associated with the N-terminal extension. Furthermore, we determined the solution structure of the CUG-BP1 RRM3 in the complex with (UG)3 RNA, and discovered that the UGU trinucleotide is specifically recognized through extensive stacking interactions and hydrogen bonds within the pocket formed by the b-sheet surface and the N-terminal extension. This study revealed the unique mechanism that enables the CUG-BP1 RRM3 to discriminate the short RNA segment from other sequences, thus providing the molecular basis for the comprehension of the role of the RRM3s in the CELF/Bruno-like family

Accurate and molecular-size-tolerant NMR quantitation of diverse components in solution.

木質バイオマス中の各成分の物質量を正確に決定する手法の開発に成功 --木質バイオマスからの効率的なバイオエネルギー・製品原料の獲得にはずみ--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2016-02-18.Determining the amount of each component of interest in a mixture is a fundamental first step in characterizing the nature of the solution and to develop possible means of utilization of its components. Similarly, determining the composition of units in complex polymers, or polymer mixtures, is crucial. Although NMR is recognized as one of the most powerful methods to achieve this and is widely used in many fields, variation in the molecular sizes or the relative mobilities of components skews quantitation due to the size-dependent decay of magnetization. Here, a method to accurately determine the amount of each component by NMR was developed. This method was validated using a solution that contains biomass-related components in which the molecular sizes greatly differ. The method is also tolerant of other factors that skew quantitation such as variation in the one-bond C-H coupling constant. The developed method is the first and only way to reliably overcome the skewed quantitation caused by several different factors to provide basic information on the correct amount of each component in a solution

Measuring the Cognitive Dimension of Space Integrating the user’s perception in the syntactic analysis of a house

Space syntax analysis postulates that a spatial system reveals its social meaning through its configuration. In the building analysis, defining the discreteness of each unit of space is the first step to measure its connectedness. In doing so, walls and partitions are the most reliable physical entities to demarcate convex spaces. This paper proposes that reality is more fine-grained than the partitioned space, and there are possible ways to incorporate this unexplored cognitive dimension in the spatial analysis. We took an urban vernacular house in Seoul built in 1930s as a case to experiment how a sequence of going into the house can be analysed in a higher resolution. Walking through the house, what fascinates visitors is the richness of perceptual sensation that can never be captured by merely looking at its floor plan. It will be explained how a journey through 6 partitioned spaces are experienced as 16 different spatial arrangements, each of which evokes changing mode of human behaviour. What generates this denser perception is the continuous change in floor levels and ceiling heights, a rhythmic pattern of ups and downs with varying degrees of pitches and lengths, resembling a musical score. By precisely measuring the intensity of each subdivided unit of space, this research shows how cognitive properties in space can be incorporated in the syntactic analysis