2,120 research outputs found
Reflecting on the experiential journey: Creating, developing and understanding leadership in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within a Faculty
London South Bank University (LSBU) appointed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) leads
in each of its Schools in 2021/22. The leadersā remit was to deliver and embed LSBUās EDI
strategy cognisant of the uniqueness of the Schools. LSBUās pioneering EDI strategy has
been recognised as a symbol of excellence and shortlisted for two national EDI awards. The
composition of LSBUās academic senior management does not yet fully reflect the
intersectional diversity of the organisation. Therefore, this session aims to share the
experience of LSBUās EDI leads and facilitate discussion about the benchmarks for
achieving leadership in EDI within a School
The Challenges and Opportunities of Analogue Game-Based Learning
The report will be built on best existing practice in the area of game-based teaching and assessment from experts from all over Europe. It will include materials, resources, research and documented case studies of game-based approaches to teaching. Also, it will describe the challenges experts were facing during implementation of the practice and an articulated set of advice on how to confront the above challenges
What can we learn from a race with one runner? A comment on Foreman-Peck and Zhou, āLate marriage as a contributor to the industrial revolution in Englandā
Foreman-Peck and Zhouās claim that late marriage was a major contributor to the Industrial Revolution in England cannot be sustained. They consider neither other influences on English industrialisation nor other European economies where marriage age was high throughout the early modern period but industrialisation came much later. It is not possible to argue that late marriage age was a major contributor to English industrialisation without analysing other possible contributing factors. Any consideration of this question must assess marriage age alongside other causes of industrialisation and explain why other European economies with higher marriage age industrialised much later than England
Is bicarbonate in Photosystem II the equivalent of the glutamate ligand to the iron atom in bacterial reaction centers?
Photosystem II of oxygen-evolving organisms exhibits a bicarbonate-reversible formate effect on electron transfer between the primary and secondary acceptor quinones, QA and QB. This effect is absent in the otherwise similar electron acceptor complex of purple bacteria, e.g. Rhodobacter sphaeroides. This distinction has led to the suggestion that the iron atom of the acceptor quinone complex in PS II might lack the fifth and sixth ligands provided in the bacterial reaction center (RC) by a glutamate residue at position 234 of the M-subunit in Rb. sphaeroides,RCs (M232 in Rps. viridis). By site-directed mutagenesis we have altered GluM234 in RCs from Rb. sphaeroides, replacing it with valine, glutamine and glycine to form mutants M234EV, M234EQ and M234EG, respectively. These mutants grew competently under phototrophic conditions and were tested for the formate-bicarbonate effect. In chromatophores there were no detectable differences between wild type (Wt) and mutant M234EV with respect to cytochrome b-561 reduction following a flash, and no effect of bicarbonate depletion (by incubation with formate). In isolated RCs, several electron transfer activities were essentially unchanged in Wt and M234EV, M234EQ and M234EG mutants, and no formate-bicarbonate effect was observed on: (a) the fast or slow phases of recovery of the oxidized primary donor (P+) in the absence of exogenous donor, i.e., the recombination of P+QAā or P+QBā, respectively; (b) the kinetics of electron transfer from QAā to QB; or (c) the flash dependent oscillations of semiquinone formation in the presence of donor to P+ (QB turnover). The absence of a formate-bicarbonate effect in these mutants suggests that GluM234 is not responsible for the absence of the formate-bicarbonate effect in Wt bacterial RCs, or at least that other factors must be taken into account. The mutant RCs were also examined for the fast primary electron transfer along the active (A-)branch of the pigment chain, leading to reduction of QA. The kinetics were resolved to reveal the reduction of the monomer bacteriochlorophyll (Ļ = 3.5 ps), followed by reduction of the bacteriopheophytin (Ļ = 0.9 ps). Both steps were essentially unaltered from the wild type. However, the rate of reduction of QA was slowed by a factor of 2 (Ļ = 410 Ā± 30 and 47 Ā± 30 ps for M234EQ and M234EV, respectively, compared to 220 ps in the wild type). EPR studies of the isolated RCs showed a characteristic g = 1.82 signal for the QA semiquinone coupled to the iron atom, which was indistinguishable from the wild type. It is concluded that GluM234 is not essential to the normal functioning of the acceptor quinone complex in bacterial RCs and that the role of bicarbonate in PS II is distinct from the role of this residue in bacterial RCs
Absence of Spontaneous Magnetic Fields Due to Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Bulk Superconducting UTe2
We have investigated the low-temperature local magnetic properties in the
bulk of molten salt-flux (MSF) grown single crystals of the candidate
odd-parity superconductor UTe2 by zero-field muon spin relaxation (muSR). In
contrast to previous muSR studies of UTe2 single crystals grown by a chemical
vapour transport (CVT) method, we find no evidence of magnetic clusters or
electronic moments fluctuating slow enough to cause a discernible relaxation of
the zero-field muSR asymmetry spectrum. Consequently, our measurements on
MSF-grown single crystals rule out the generation of spontaneous magnetic
fields in the bulk that would occur near impurities or lattice defects if the
superconducting state of UTe2 breaks time-reversal symmetry. This result
suggests UTe2 is characterized by a single-component superconducting order
parameter.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
A ChIP-Seq Benchmark Shows That Sequence Conservation Mainly Improves Detection of Strong Transcription Factor Binding Sites
Transcription factors are important controllers of gene expression and mapping transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) is key to inferring transcription factor regulatory networks. Several methods for predicting TFBS exist, but there are no standard genome-wide datasets on which to assess the performance of these prediction methods. Also, it is believed that information about sequence conservation across different genomes can generally improve accuracy of motif-based predictors, but it is not clear under what circumstances use of conservation is most beneficial.Here we use published ChIP-seq data and an improved peak detection method to create comprehensive benchmark datasets for prediction methods which use known descriptors or binding motifs to detect TFBS in genomic sequences. We use this benchmark to assess the performance of five different prediction methods and find that the methods that use information about sequence conservation generally perform better than simpler motif-scanning methods. The difference is greater on high-affinity peaks and when using short and information-poor motifs. However, if the motifs are specific and information-rich, we find that simple motif-scanning methods can perform better than conservation-based methods.Our benchmark provides a comprehensive test that can be used to rank the relative performance of transcription factor binding site prediction methods. Moreover, our results show that, contrary to previous reports, sequence conservation is better suited for predicting strong than weak transcription factor binding sites
Leftovers:The presence of manufacture-derived aquatic lipids in Alaskan Pottery
Lipids preserved within the walls of ancient pottery vessels are routinely analysed to reveal their original contents. The provenience of aquatic lipids in pottery is generally connected to vessel function (e.g., for cooking or storing fish, shellfish and aquatic mammals). However, ethnographic reports from early historic Alaska mention the use of aquatic oils for waterproofing low-fired pottery. Results of lipid residue studies on Alaskan pottery reflect an exclusive function of pottery to process aquatic resources. However, can one be sure these residues are the product of vessel function and not a remnant of the manufacturing process? The study presents the results of an experiment where the preservation of aquatic lipids during the firing process at different temperatures was measured. It was found that nearly all lipids were removed at firing temperatures of ā„ 400Ā°C. Petrographic analysis of Alaskan pottery samples indicates that firing temperatures were generally > 550Ā°C but < 800Ā°C. The contribution of pre-firing manufacture-derived lipids to samples fired at these temperatures may be regarded as negligible. While the possible presence of aquatic lipids from post-firing surface treatments cannot be excluded, such treatments appear unnecessary for well-fired pottery.</p
Regulatory Effects of Fenofibrate and Atorvastatin on Lipoprotein A-I and Lipoprotein A-I:A-II Kinetics in the Metabolic Syndrome
Designing medical technology for developing countries
Resource-poor countries have markedly different healthcare systems. Many developed nations donate medical supplies to these countries, but this often does not meet the needs of the recipients. Our goal is to develop simple healthcare solutions that can be produced in-country so the developing area does not depend on outside sources for its supplies. Our group works on many projects, including sustainable woven grass neck braces and a variety of low-cost sensors. Our designs do not require frequent donations, minimize the use of consumables, and provide better detection and/or treatment of prevalent medical concerns. Our baby monitor will detect skin temperature and control a heating element based on the needs of the infant. Our low-cost glucometer operates with the use of test strips that can be printed for a penny with a standard inkjet printer. This will allow the hospital or clinic to print the strips themselves rather than depend on donated strips. Our bacterial sensor will measure resistance to quickly detect the quantity of bacteria in a sample. We seek sustainable solutions for in-house manufacturing to advance more self-sufficient healthcare systems
- ā¦