538 research outputs found

    S05RS SGB No. 7 (Election Code)

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    A BILL TO AMEND SEVERAL PORTIONS OF THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTION CODE IN AN EFFORT TO CLARIFY VAGUE LANGUAG

    Flood Mapping of Recent Major Hurricane Events with Synthetic Aperture Radar, Commercial Imaging, and Aerial Observations

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    Floodwater mapping is an important remote sensing process that is used for disaster response, recovery, and damage assessment practices. Developing a system to read in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and perform land cover classification will allow for the production of near real-time inundation mapping, enabling government and emergency response entities to get a preliminary idea of the situation. SAR is a unique remote sensing tool. Data in this project was obtained by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratorys Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR (UAVSAR), an L-band radar mounted to a Gulfstream III jet. Data collected by UAVSAR is similar to what will be available from the NASA-Indian Space Research Organization (NISAR) mission starting in early 2022. Using Python and ArcGIS applications, a model was developed using training samples taken from NOAA post-event aerial photography and UAVSAR data gathered in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in September 2018

    The herpes simplex virus UL20 protein functions in glycoprotein K (gK) intracellular transport and virus-induced cell fusion are independent of UL20 functions in cytoplasmic virion envelopment

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    The HSV-1 UL20 protein (UL20p) and glycoprotein K (gK) are both important determinants of cytoplasmic virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. In this manuscript, we examined the effect of UL20 mutations on the coordinate transport and Trans Golgi Network (TGN) localization of UL20p and gK, virus-induced cell fusion and infectious virus production. Deletion of 18 amino acids from the UL20p carboxyl terminus (UL20 mutant 204t) inhibited intracellular transport and cell-surface expression of both gK and UL20, resulting in accumulation of UL20p and gK in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in agreement with the inability of 204t to complement UL20-null virus replication and virus-induced cell fusion. In contrast, less severe carboxyl terminal deletions of either 11 or six amino acids (UL20 mutants 211t and 216t, respectively) allowed efficient UL20p and gK intracellular transport, cell-surface expression and TGN colocalization. However, while both 211t and 216t failed to complement for infectious virus production, 216t complemented for virus-induced cell fusion, but 211t did not. These results indicated that the carboxyl terminal six amino acids of UL20p were crucial for infectious virus production, but not involved in intracellular localization of UL20p/gK and concomitant virus-induced cell fusion. In the amino terminus of UL20, UL20p mutants were produced changing one or both of the Y38 and Y49 residues found within putative phosphorylation sites. UL20p tyrosine-modified mutants with both tyrosine residues changed enabled efficient intracellular transport and TGN localization of UL20p and gK, but failed to complement for either infectious virus production, or virus-induced cell fusion. These results show that UL20p functions in cytoplasmic envelopment are separable from UL20 functions in UL20p intracellular transport, cell surface expression and virus-induced cell fusion

    An α-helical domain within the carboxyl terminus of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein B (gB) is associated with cell fusion and resistance to heparin inhibition of cell fusion

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    Previous studies from our laboratory indicated that a 28-amino-acid carboxyl-terminal truncation of gB caused extensive virus-induced cell fusion (Baghian et al., 1993, J Virol 67, 2396-2401). We tested the ability of additional truncations and mutations within gB to cause cell fusion in the recently established virus-free cell fusion assay (Turner et al., 1998, J. Virol. 72, 873-875). Deletion of the carboxyl-terminal 28 amino acids of gB (gBΔ28), which removed part of the predicted α-helical structure H17b, caused extensive cell fusion. A gB truncation specified by gBΔ36, which removed the entire H17b domain, caused as much cell fusion as the gBΔ28 truncation. Similarly, gB(A874P) containing a substitution of an Ala with Pro within H17b caused cell fusion. Heparin, a gB-specific inhibitor of virus-induced cell fusion, inhibited both wild-type gB and gB(syn3)-mediated cell fusion. In contrast, fusion of cells transfected with gB(Δ28), gB(Δ36), or gB(A874P) was resistant to heparin inhibition of cell fusion. We concluded the following: (1) The predicted α-helical structure of H17b within the carboxyl terminus of gB is involved in both virus-induced and virus-free cell fusion. (2) Heparin is a specific inhibitor of gB-mediated fusion in both systems. (3) Resistance to heparin inhibition of gB-mediated cell fusion is associated with the predicted α-helical structure H17b within the carboxyl terminus of gB. © 2001 Academic Press

    The State of the Art in Multilayer Network Visualization

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    Modelling relationship between entities in real-world systems with a simple graph is a standard approach. However, realityis better embraced as several interdependent subsystems (or layers). Recently, the concept of a multilayer network model hasemerged from the field of complex systems. This model can be applied to a wide range of real-world data sets. Examples ofmultilayer networks can be found in the domains of life sciences, sociology, digital humanities and more. Within the domainof graph visualization, there are many systems which visualize data sets having many characteristics of multilayer graphs.This report provides a state of the art and a structured analysis of contemporary multilayer network visualization, not only forresearchers in visualization, but also for those who aim to visualize multilayer networks in the domain of complex systems, as wellas those developing systems across application domains. We have explored the visualization literature to survey visualizationtechniques suitable for multilayer graph visualization, as well as tools, tasks and analytic techniques from within applicationdomains. This report also identifies the outstanding challenges for multilayer graph visualization and suggests future researchdirections for addressing them

    Genetic analysis of the SARS-coronavirus spike glycoprotein functional domains involved in cell-surface expression and cell-to-cell fusion

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    The SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is the etiological agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The SARS-CoV spike (S) glycoprotein mediates membrane fusion events during virus entry and virus-induced cell-to-cell fusion. To delineate functional domains of the SARS-CoV S glycoprotein, single point mutations, cluster-to-lysine and cluster-to-alanine mutations, as well as carboxyl-terminal truncations were investigated in transient expression experiments. Mutagenesis of either the coiled-coil domain of the S glycoprotein amino terminal heptad repeat, the predicted fusion peptide, or an adjacent but distinct region, severely compromised S-mediated cell-to-cell fusion, while intracellular transport and cell-surface expression were not adversely affected. Surprisingly, a carboxyl-terminal truncation of 17 amino acids substantially increased S glycoprotein-mediated cell-to-cell fusion suggesting that the terminal 17 amino acids regulated the S fusogenic properties. In contrast, truncation of 26 or 39 amino acids eliminating either one or both of the two endodomain cysteine-rich motifs, respectively, inhibited cell fusion in comparison to the wild-type S. The 17 and 26 amino-acid deletions did not adversely affect S cell-surface expression, while the 39 amino-acid truncation inhibited S cell-surface expression suggesting that the membrane proximal cysteine-rich motif plays an essential role in S cell-surface expression. Mutagenesis of the acidic amino-acid cluster in the carboxyl terminus of the S glycoprotein as well as modification of a predicted phosphorylation site within the acidic cluster revealed that this amino-acid motif may play a functional role in the retention of S at cell surfaces. This genetic analysis reveals that the SARS-CoV S glycoprotein contains extracellular domains that regulate cell fusion as well as distinct endodomains that function in intracellular transport, cell-surface expression, and cell fusion. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

    The effect of four commercially available steel decontamination processes on the performance of external coatings

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    External coatings used for corrosion protection often have to perform under severely corrosive environments. One major concern regarding coating performance is the negative effect of soluble salts on the steel substrate at the time of coating application, particularly for marine maintenance coating applications. These salts impact the ability of the applied coating systems to protect the steel in several ways including osmotic coating blistering, promotion of under-film metallic corrosion and coating disbondment. This paper focuses on removal of soluble salts contamination by commercially available decontamination processes in relation to external coating systems. We directly compare the effectiveness of four cleaning methods with the performance of ten coating systems. The methodology of surface contamination and preparation of test panels is discussed. After cleaning, sample evaluation for chloride ion contamination levels was carried out using Field method (commercial chloride ion test kit for surfaces) and Ion Chromatography method. Additionally, Scanning Electron Microscopy Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) and elemental surface mapping analysis were carried out. Laboratory testing of coating systems included Adhesion, Porosity, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis and cyclic UV/Salt Fog exposure. The performance of the ten coatings on all the substrates was good, but there were differences in gloss retention and on the degree of checking of the different coatings. The only significant difference in performance of the coatings compared to the method used for cleaning the substrate was higher undercreep observed for most of the coatings applied to the ultra-high pressure water jetted system. This shows the importance of substrate preparation due to the sensitivity of the coatings to even low levels of salt. Two coatings did not show increased undercreep and these may be more applicable for offshore maintenance applications where dry abrasive blasting is sometimes not used. The chemical treatment cleaning method used prior to coating application did not show any significant positive or negative effect on the performance of the applied coatings. The fact that the only differences in performance for the coatings applied to the differently prepared substrates was seen for undercreep suggests that the difference may be exacerbated for immersion situations. A follow up study to this one will examine the performance of internal coatings using immersion tests, and it will be interesting to see if these show increased effect on coating performance
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