PhyME: A probabilistic algorithm for finding motifs in sets of orthologous sequences

BACKGROUND: This paper addresses the problem of discovering transcription factor binding sites in heterogeneous sequence data, which includes regulatory sequences of one or more genes, as well as their orthologs in other species. RESULTS: We propose an algorithm that integrates two important aspects of a motif's significance – overrepresentation and cross-species conservation – into one probabilistic score. The algorithm allows the input orthologous sequences to be related by any user-specified phylogenetic tree. It is based on the Expectation-Maximization technique, and scales well with the number of species and the length of input sequences. We evaluate the algorithm on synthetic data, and also present results for data sets from yeast, fly, and human. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that the new approach improves motif discovery by exploiting multiple species information

Large Mass Diphotons From Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

We evaluate the production of large mass diphotons from quark annihilation at BNL RHIC and CERN LHC energies from central collisions of gold nuclei. The collision is assumed to lead to either a thermally and chemically equilibrated quark gluon plasma, or a free-streaming quark gluon gas having an identical initial entropy, or a chemically equilibrating quark gluon system, with the same entropy at $T=T_c$. We also obtain an estimate of hard photon pairs from initial state quark annihilation and find that the thermal production dominates the yield up to $M \approx$ 4 GeV at RHIC, and up to 6 GeV at LHC. A simulation study of decay versus thermal diphotons is presented.Comment: Latex file; to appear in Physics Letters

Contemporary visions of masculinity

Актуальность исследования связана с пересмотром образа «настоящего мужчины» в современном обществе. Во второй половине XX в. явно проявляется кризис маскулинности, который выражается в размывании/противоречивости требований традиционного канона маскулинности, а также в отсутствии самой возможности у современных мужчин соответствовать классическим требованиям. Это влияет на поведение и самоощущения взрослых мужчин и меняет процессы социализации подрастающего поколения мальчиков. Парадигмальной основой данного исследования выступает теория социального конструктивизма. Рассматриваются представления о наполнении образа «мужественности» - подходы к определению понятия, анализируются факторы трансформации феномена маскулинности, приводятся данные эмпирического исследования. Эмпирические данные получены с помощью социологических исследований в рамках качественной парадигмы. Использованы два метода: фокус-группы, где информантами выступали женщины, воспитывающие сыновей, и полуструктурированные интервью с молодыми мужчинами. В результате обнаруживается отсутствие не только единых представлений о содержательной наполненности образа маскулинно- сти, но и отсутствие единодушия относительно самого наличия сугубо мужских качеств. Хотя в целом можно выявить некие характеристики, которые конвенционально должны быть свойственны «настоящим мужчинам», значительная часть качеств признается относительной. К тому же анализ не позволяет выявить какие-либо качества, которые признаются как исключительно принадлежащие мужчинам и не требующиеся для женщин в современном обществе.Contemporary society offers a revised version of the true masculinity. The revision occurred in the second half of the XXth century and manifested itself through the internal contradictions in the canon of masculinity. These were further aggravated by sheer impossibility for men to qualify as masculine in classical sense. The situation affects both grown men's self esteem and behavior and modifies boy's socialization. Using constructivism as a framework, the authors analyse the components and interpretations of «masculinity» and the factors transforming the latter. The data used in the article include focus-group and personal interview transcripts. The focus-groups involved single boy-raising mothers while the interviewees were young adult males. The methods revealed both the lack of coherent composition of the model masculinity and the absence of mutual opinion concerning the sheer existence of masculine qualities. Although some characteristics could be more or less consensually perceived as «true masculine», most were recognized as at least relative. Furthermore, the analysis did not reveal any features recognized as purely masculine because of their high relevance for a successful contemporary woman

Structural and electrical properties of CuAlMo thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

The structural and electrical properties of a low resistivity CuAlMo thin film resistor material were investigated. The thin films were grown on Al2O3 and glass substrates by direct current (dc) magnetron sputtering. The key electrical properties of sheet resistance, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and resistance stability were investigated as a function of sputtering pressure and post-deposition heat treatment time and temperature. A low sputtering pressure range of 0.13 to 0.40 Pa produced CuAlMo films with sheet resistance in the range 0.1 to 0.2 Ω/□ and resistance stability of 0.45 to 0.65% with a TCR of − 90 ppm/°C which could be shifted to zero following annealing in air at 425 °C. Films grown at higher sputtering pressures of 0.53 to 0.80 Pa had increased sheet resistance in the range 0.4 to 0.6 Ω/□ and inferior stability of 0.8 to 1.7% with a more negative TCR of − 110 to − 180 ppm/°C which could not be shifted to zero following annealing. The stability of the films grown at 0.13 and 0.40 Pa could be further improved to < 0.25% with heat treatment, due to the formation of a protective aluminium oxide layer. A minimum dwell time of 3 h at 425 °C was required to stabilise the films and set the electrical properties

OPENMINDS: CREATING A MENTAL HEALTH WORKSHOP FOR TEENAGERS TO TACKLE STIGMA AND RAISE AWARENESS

As a group of four clinical medical students from Cambridge University, we undertook a Student Selected Module (SSC- "OpenMinds") whereby we designed and delivered a workshop about mental health to year 9 pupils. The aim of our SSC was to produce an interactive, informative lesson which addressed the complex issues of stigma and discrimination against those suffering from a mental illness as well as teaching the pupils how to recognise mental health problems and provide them with guidance on how to seek help. We split a fifty minute session into the following sections: tackling stigma; how common mental illness is; celebrity examples; real life examples; role play; and small group work. To engage the pupils we used a combination of teaching modalities targeting all learning. We delivered the workshop to four separate classes and received feedback from the pupils after each. We used this feedback to adapt and improve our presentation and assess the efficacy. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive with the striking results of 101/109 pupils saying that they would recommend the workshop to a friend and 68/109 pupils saying they enjoyed all aspects. Our SSC built upon work by a contingent of trainee Psychiatrists who undertook a similar project of mental health education for teenagers, called "Heads above the rest", in Northern Ireland with great success. By continuing their work we were able to demonstrate that medical students can successfully complete the same project under the guidance of a Psychiatrist, thus increasing the sustainability of the project by reducing the time burden on the Psychiatrists. Participating in the project was also valuable to our own personal development of teaching skills

Diagnosis of Supersymmetry Breaking Mediation Schemes by Mass Reconstruction at the LHC

If supersymmetry is discovered at the LHC, the next question will be the determination of the underlying model. While this may be challenging or even intractable, a more optimistic question is whether we can understand the main contours of any particular paradigm of the mediation of supersymmetry breaking. The determination of superpartner masses through endpoint measurements of kinematic observables arising from cascade decays is a powerful diagnostic tool. In particular, the determination of the gaugino sector has the potential to discriminate between certain mediation schemes (not all schemes, and not between different UV realizations of a given scheme). We reconstruct gaugino masses, choosing a model where anomaly contributions to supersymmetry breaking are important (KKLT compactification), and find the gaugino unification scale. Moreover, reconstruction of other superpartner masses allows us to solve for the parameters defining the UV model. The analysis is performed in the stop and stau coannihilation regions where the lightest neutralinos are mainly gauginos, to additionally satisfy dark matter constraints. We thus develop observables to determine stau and stop masses to verify that the coannihilation mechanism is indeed operational, and solve for the relic density.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures. Figure 7 updated to show top peak. Minor changes to other figure