New normality axioms and decompositions of normality

Generalizations of normality, called (weakly) (functionally) θ-normal spaces, are introduced and studied. This leads to decompositions of normality. It turns out that every paracompact space is θ-normal. Moreover, every Lindelof space as well as every almost compact space is weakly θ-normal. Preservation of θ-normality and its variants under mappings is studied. This in turn strengthens several known results pertaining to normality

New normality axioms and decompositions of normality

Generalizations of normality, called (weakly) (functionally) θ-normal spaces, are introduced and studied. This leads to decompositions of normality. It turns out that every paracompact space is θ-normal. Moreover, every Lindelof space as well as every almost compact space is weakly θ-normal. Preservation of θ-normality and its variants under mappings is studied. This in turn strengthens several known results pertaining to normality

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Over the past few decades, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been established as a critical tool for the evaluation of the environmental burdens of chemical processes and materials cycles. The increasing amount of plastic solid waste (PSW) in landfills has raised serious concern worldwide for the most effective treatment. Thermochemical post-treatment processes, such as pyrolysis, seem as the most appropriate method to treat this type of waste in an effective manner. This is because such processes lead to the production of useful chemicals or hydrocarbon oil of high calorific value (i.e. bio-oil in the case of pyrolysis). LCA seems as the most appropriate tool for the process design from an environmental context, however, addressed limitations including initial assumptions, functional unit and system boundaries, as well as lack of regional database and exclusion of socio-economic aspects, may hinder the final decision. This review aims to address the benefits of pyrolysis as a method for PSW treatment and raise the limitations and gaps of conducted research via an environmental standpoint

This Thing Called Fairness: Disciplinary Confusion Realizing a Value in Technology

The explosion in the use of software in important sociotechnical systems has renewed focus on the study of the way technical constructs reflect policies, norms, and human values. This effort requires the engagement of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines. And yet, these disciplines often conceptualize the operative values very differently while referring to them using the same vocabulary. The resulting conflation of ideas confuses discussions about values in technology at disciplinary boundaries. In the service of improving this situation, this paper examines the value of shared vocabularies, analytics, and other tools that facilitate conversations about values in light of these disciplinary specific conceptualizations, the role such tools play in furthering research and practice, outlines different conceptions of ``fairness''deployed in discussions about computer systems, and provides an analytic tool for interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations around the concept of fairness. We use a case study of risk assessments in criminal justice applications to both motivate our effort--describing how conflation of different concepts under the banner of ``fairness'' led to unproductive confusion--and illustrate the value of the fairness analytic by demonstrating how the rigorous analysis it enables can assist in identifying key areas of theoretical, political, and practical misunderstanding or disagreement, and where desired support alignment or collaboration in the absence of consensus

Glucose deprivation activates a metabolic and signaling amplification loop leading to cell death.

The altered metabolism of cancer can render cells dependent on the availability of metabolic substrates for viability. Investigating the signaling mechanisms underlying cell death in cells dependent upon glucose for survival, we demonstrate that glucose withdrawal rapidly induces supra-physiological levels of phospho-tyrosine signaling, even in cells expressing constitutively active tyrosine kinases. Using unbiased mass spectrometry-based phospho-proteomics, we show that glucose withdrawal initiates a unique signature of phospho-tyrosine activation that is associated with focal adhesions. Building upon this observation, we demonstrate that glucose withdrawal activates a positive feedback loop involving generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by NADPH oxidase and mitochondria, inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases by oxidation, and increased tyrosine kinase signaling. In cells dependent on glucose for survival, glucose withdrawal-induced ROS generation and tyrosine kinase signaling synergize to amplify ROS levels, ultimately resulting in ROS-mediated cell death. Taken together, these findings illustrate the systems-level cross-talk between metabolism and signaling in the maintenance of cancer cell homeostasis

Comparative genomic and proteomic analyses of PE/PPE multigene family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇Rv and H₃₇Ra reveal novel and interesting differences with implications in virulence

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, remains a leading infectious disease taking one human life every 15 s globally. The two well-characterized strains H37Rv and H37Ra, derived from the same parental strain M. tuberculosis H37, show dramatically different pathogenic phenotypes. PE/PPE gene family, comprising of 176 open reading frames and present exclusively in genus Mycobacterium, accounts for ∼10% of the M. tuberculosis genome. Our comprehensive in silico analyses of PE/PPE family of H37Ra and virulent H37Rv strains revealed genetic differences between these strains in terms of several single nucleotide variations and InDels and these manifested in changes in physico-chemical properties, phosphorylation sites, and protein: protein interacting domains of the corresponding proteomes. Similar comparisons using the 13 sigma factor genes, 36 members of the mammalian cell entry family, 13 mycobacterial membrane protein large family members and 11 two-component signal transduction systems along with 5 orphaned response regulators and 2 orphaned sensor kinases failed to reveal very significant difference between H37Rv and H37Ra, reinforcing the importance of PE/PPE genes. Many of these changes between H37Rv and H37Ra can be correlated to differences in pathogenesis and virulence of the two strains

Morpho-molecular assessment of Acetabularia jalakanyakae Sp. Nov. (Dasycladales, Chlorophyta) - a new species from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

701-708Acetabularia (Dasycladales) is an extant genus of a single-celled green alga. There are four species of this genus reported from India, three reported from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. For this study, Acetabularia isolate was collected from a rocky intertidal habitat in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Light microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy were used for the morphological characterization. The distinct traits of caps of the thalli were prioritized because, traditionally, species delimitations in Acetabularia mainly were based on cap morphology. Our isolate showed morphological similarity with Acetabularia crenulata. However, the number of hairs in the inner ring of lobes of caps and the stalk length were observed to be different from A. crenulata and other closely related species. The phylogenetic tree constructed for partial 18S rDNA using the Maximum Likelihood (ML) method revealed the evolutionary affinity of this new species with Acetabularia dentata. Based on morphological and molecular synapomorphy, a new species of Acetabularia, Acetabularia jalakanyakae is formally proposed herein, and the further implications of this species discovery are discussed

Ethyl 4-(4′-heptanoyloxyphenyl)-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one-5-carboxylate Prevents Progression of Monocrotaline-induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rats

Therapies to prevent onset and progression of pulmonary arterial pressure are not very effective yet. This study was designed to investigate the effects of a novel dihydropyrimidinone, ethyl 4-(4′-heptanoyloxyphenyl)-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one-5-carboxylate (H-DHPM) on pathogenesis of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). For the same purpose, rats were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) a single dose (60 mg/kg) of MCT which led to development of PAH in 21 days. MCT insult caused high mortality, pulmonary vascular and parenchymal remodelling. Since the course of PAH pathogenesis is characterised by an early onset and progression phases, H-DHPM was administered i.p. at 30 mg/kg dosage in MCT pre-injected animals either from day 0 through day 21 or day 14 though day 21 of MCT injection in two separate treatment groups. H-DHPM significantly improved survival, prevented remodelling of pulmonary vasculature and parenchyma and subsequently ameliorated PAH pathogenesis. Moreover, we observed significant decrease in right ventricle hypertrophy, measured by wet weight of right ventricle (RV) divided by wet weight of left ventricle plus septum (LV+S), in H-DHPM treated groups as compared to MCT injected animals. These findings suggest H-DHPM not only prevented development of PAH but also treated the PAH pathogenesis in progressive phase. In conclusion, our data determines H-DHPM, might be a future drug for the prevention of PAH