Postcopulatory sexual selection

The female reproductive tract is where competition between the sperm of different males takes place, aided and abetted by the female herself. Intense postcopulatory sexual selection fosters inter-sexual conflict and drives rapid evolutionary change to generate a startling diversity of morphological, behavioural and physiological adaptations. We identify three main issues that should be resolved to advance our understanding of postcopulatory sexual selection. We need to determine the genetic basis of different male fertility traits and female traits that mediate sperm selection; identify the genes or genomic regions that control these traits; and establish the coevolutionary trajectory of sexes

Statistical Inference for Valued-Edge Networks: Generalized Exponential Random Graph Models

Across the sciences, the statistical analysis of networks is central to the production of knowledge on relational phenomena. Because of their ability to model the structural generation of networks, exponential random graph models are a ubiquitous means of analysis. However, they are limited by an inability to model networks with valued edges. We solve this problem by introducing a class of generalized exponential random graph models capable of modeling networks whose edges are valued, thus greatly expanding the scope of networks applied researchers can subject to statistical analysis

Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

Composite structural motifs of binding sites for delineating biological functions of proteins

Most biological processes are described as a series of interactions between proteins and other molecules, and interactions are in turn described in terms of atomic structures. To annotate protein functions as sets of interaction states at atomic resolution, and thereby to better understand the relation between protein interactions and biological functions, we conducted exhaustive all-against-all atomic structure comparisons of all known binding sites for ligands including small molecules, proteins and nucleic acids, and identified recurring elementary motifs. By integrating the elementary motifs associated with each subunit, we defined composite motifs which represent context-dependent combinations of elementary motifs. It is demonstrated that function similarity can be better inferred from composite motif similarity compared to the similarity of protein sequences or of individual binding sites. By integrating the composite motifs associated with each protein function, we define meta-composite motifs each of which is regarded as a time-independent diagrammatic representation of a biological process. It is shown that meta-composite motifs provide richer annotations of biological processes than sequence clusters. The present results serve as a basis for bridging atomic structures to higher-order biological phenomena by classification and integration of binding site structures.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figure

Role of Condom Negotiation on Condom use among Women of Reproductive Age in three Districts in Tanzania.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS remains being a disease of great public health concern worldwide. In regions such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where women are disproportionately infected with HIV, women are reportedly less likely capable of negotiating condom use. However, while knowledge of condom use for HIV prevention is extensive among men and women in many countries including Tanzania, evidence is limited about the role of condom negotiation on condom use among women in rural Tanzania. METHODS: Data originate from a cross-sectional survey of random households conducted in 2011 in Rufiji, Kilombero and Ulanga districts in Tanzania. The survey assessed health-seeking behaviour among women and children using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. A total of 2,614 women who were sexually experienced and aged 15--49 years were extracted from the main database for the current analysis. Linkage between condom negotiation and condom use at the last sexual intercourse was assessed using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Prevalence of condom use at the last sexual intercourse was 22.2% overall, ranging from12.2% among married women to 54.9% among unmarried (single) women. Majority of the women (73.4%) reported being confident to negotiate condom use, and these women were significantly more likely than those who were not confident to have used a condom at the last sexual intercourse (OR = 3.13, 95% CI 2.22-4.41). This effect was controlled for marital status, age, education, religion, number of sexual partners, household wealth and knowledge of HIV prevention by condom use. CONCLUSION: Confidence to negotiate condom use is a significant predictor of actual condom use among women in rural Tanzania. Women especially unmarried ones or those in multiple partnerships should be empowered with condom negotiation skills to enhance their sexual and reproductive health outcomes

A case study of possible future summer convective precipitation over the UK and Europe from a regional climate projection

Climate change caused by green house gas emissions is now following the trend of rapid warming consistent with a RCP8.5 forcing. Climate models are still unable to represent the mesoscale convective processes that occur at resolutions ∼O(3 km) and are not capable of resolving precipitation patterns in time and space with sufficient accuracy to represent convection. In this article, the UK Met Office precipitation observations are compared with the simulations for the period 1990–1995 followed by a simulation of a near‐future period 2031–2036 for a regional nested weather model. The convection‐permitting model, resolution ∼O(3 km), provides a good correspondence to the observational precipitation data and demonstrates the importance of explicit convection for future summer precipitation estimates. The UK summer precipitation is reduced slightly (∼10%) for 2031–2036 and there is no evidence of an increase in the peak maximum hourly precipitation magnitude. A similar pattern is observed over the whole European inner model domain. The results using the Kain–Fritsch convective parameterization scheme at a resolution ∼O(12 km) in the outer domain increase summer precipitation by ∼10% for the UK. The average precipitation rate per event increases, dry periods extend and wet periods shorten. As part of the change, 10‐m winds of <3 m s⁻¹ become more common – a scenario that would impact on power generation from wind turbines through calmer conditions and cause more frequent pollution episodes

Narrowing down the conditions for extinction of Pavlovian feature-positive discriminations in humans

The aim of this study was to delineate the minimal conditions for extinction of Pavlovian modulation in humans. Previous experiments at our lab showed that, after X-- A+/A- acquisition training, X- trials did not extinguish differential X-- A+/A- responding, while X-- A- trials did. Additionally, X-- A- extinction training seemed only to extinguish differential X-- A+/A- responding, while leaving differential responding on a concurrently trained Y [Symbol: see text] B+/B- discrimination intact. It thus seemed that the X-- A+/A- discrimination can only be extinguished by X-- A- extinction trials. (Rescorla, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 12, 16-24, 1986), on the other hand, found that the minimal conditions for extinction were broader in pigeons: Namely, he found that an acquired X-- A+/A- discrimination could be extinguished by presenting the original feature X in combination with a different target (B) that was minimally trained as an exciter. We thus wanted to examine whether this was also the case in humans. We found that nonreinforced X-- B- presentations did not abolish discriminative X-- A/A responding when target B was a nonreinforced stimulus. Nonreinforced X-- B- trials did extinguish the X-- A+/A- discrimination when target B had previously been trained as a target for modulation (X-- B+/B- or Y [Symbol: see text] B+/B- training) or as a reinforced exciter (B+). Our results thusf parallel and extend those in nonhuman animals (Rescorla, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 12, 16-24, 1986)

Bioactivity, physical and chemical properties of MTA mixed with propylene glycol

AbstractObjective To investigate the physical (setting time, hardness, flowability, microstructure) and chemical (pH change, calcium release, crystallinity) properties and the biological outcomes (cell survival and differentiation) of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) mixed using different proportions of propylene glycol (PG) and water.Material and Methods White MTA was mixed with different water/PG ratios (100/0, 80/20 and 50/50). Composition (XRD), microstructure (SEM), setting time (ASTM C266-13), flowability (ANSI/ADA 57-2000), Knoop hardness (100 g/10 s) and chemical characteristics (pH change and Ca2+ release for 7 days) were evaluated. Cell proliferation, osteo/odontoblastic gene expression and mineralization induced by MTA mixed with PG were evaluated. MTA discs (5 mm in diameter, 2 mm thick) were prepared and soaked in culture medium for 7 days. Next, the discs were removed and the medium used to culture dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) for 28 days. Cells survival was evaluated using MTS assay (24, 72 and 120 h) and differentiation with RT-PCR (ALP, OCN, Runx2, DSPP and MEPE) and alizarin red staining (7 and 14 days). Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc analysis (a=0.05).Results The addition of PG significantly increased setting time, flowability and Ca2+ release, but it compromised the hardness of the material. SEM showed that 50/50 group resulted porous material after setting due to the incomplete setting reaction, as shown by XRD analysis. The addition of PG (80/20 and 50/50) was not capable to improve cell proliferation or to enhance gene expression, and mineralized deposition of DPSC after 7 and 14 days as compared to the 100/0.Conclusion Except for flowability, the addition of PG did not promote further improvements on the chemical and physical properties evaluated, and it was not capable of enhancing the bioactivity of the MTA

Grade of recurrent in situ and invasive carcinoma following treatment of pure ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast

Grade of recurrent in situ and invasive carcinoma following treatment of pure ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast The grade of recurrent in situ and invasive carcinoma occurring after treatment of pure ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has been compared with the grade of the original DCIS in 122 patients from four different centres (The Royal Marsden Hospitals, London and Sutton, 57 patients; Guy's Hospital, London, 19 patients; Nottingham City Hospital, 31 patients and The Royal Liverpool Hospital, 15 patients). The recurrent carcinoma was pure DCIS in 70 women (57%) and in 52 women (43%) invasive carcinoma was present, which was associated with an in situ element in 43. In all, 19 patients developed a second recurrence (pure DCIS in 11 and invasive with or without an in situ element in eight). The majority of invasive carcinomas followed high-grade DCIS. There was strong agreement between the grade of the original DCIS and that of the recurrent DCIS (k = 0.679), which was the same in 95 of 113 patients (84%). The grade of the original DCIS showed only fair agreement with the grade of recurrent invasive carcinoma (k = 0.241), although agreement was stronger with the pleomorphism score of the recurrent carcinoma (k = 0.396). There was moderate agreement, in recurrent invasive lesions, between the grade of the DCIS and that of the associated invasive element (k = 0.515). Other features that showed moderate or strong agreement between the original and recurrent DCIS were necrosis and periductal inflammation. The similarity between the histological findings of the original and subsequent DCIS is consistent with the concept that recurrent lesions represent regrowth of residual carcinoma. In addition, although agreement between the grade of the original DCIS and that of any subsequent invasive carcinoma was only fair, there is no suggestion that low-grade DCIS lesions progress to higher grade lesions or to the development of higher grade invasive carcinoma. This is in agreement with immunohistochemical and molecular data indicating that low- grade and high-grade mammary carcinomas are quite different lesions

Rethinking Serious Games Design in the Age of COVID-19: Setting the Focus on Wicked Problems

We live in a complex world, in which our existence is defined by forces that we cannot fully comprehend, predict, nor control. This is the world of wicked problems, of which the situation triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic is a notable example. Wicked problems are complex scenarios defined by the interplay of multiple environmental, social and economic factors. They are everchanging, and largely unpredictable and uncontrollable. As a consequence, wicked problems cannot be definitively solved through traditional problem-solving approaches. Instead, they should be iteratively managed, recognizing and valuing our connectedness with each other and the environment, and engaging in joint thinking and action to identify and pursue the common good. Serious games can be key to foster wicked problem management abilities. To this end, they should engage players in collective activities set in contexts simulating real-world wicked problem scenarios. These should require the continuous interpretation of changing circumstances to identify and pursue shared goals, promoting the development of knowledge, attitudes and skill sets relevant to tackle real-world situations. In this paper we outline the nature, implications and challenges of wicked problems, highlighting why games should be leveraged to foster wicked problem management abilities. Then, we propose a theory-based framework to support the design of games for this purpose