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Science Communication and Societ

VFISV: Very Fast Inversion of the Stokes Vector for the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager

In this paper we describe in detail the implementation and main properties of a new inversion code for the polarized radiative transfer equation (VFISV: Very Fast inversion of the Stokes vector). VFISV will routinely analyze pipeline data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on-board of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). It will provide full-disk maps (4096$\times$4096 pixels) of the magnetic field vector on the Solar Photosphere every 10 minutes. For this reason VFISV is optimized to achieve an inversion speed that will allow it to invert 16 million pixels every 10 minutes with a modest number (approx. 50) of CPUs. Here we focus on describing a number of important details, simplifications and tweaks that have allowed us to significantly speed up the inversion process. We also give details on tests performed with data from the spectropolarimeter on-board of the Hinode spacecraft.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures (2 color). Submitted for publication to Solar Physic

Wigner crystal in snaked nanochannels

We study properties of Wigner crystal in snaked nanochannels and show that they are characterized by conducting sliding phase at low charge densities and insulating pinned phase emerging above a certain critical charge density. The transition between these phases has a devil's staircase structure typical for the Aubry transition in dynamical maps and the Frenkel-Kontorova model. We discuss implications of this phenomenon for charge density waves in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors and for supercapacitors in nanopore materials.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figs, research at http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.f

The Western Australian regional forest agreement: economic rationalism and the normalisation of political closure

This article explores the constraints imposed by economic rationalism on environmental policy-making in light of Western Australia\u27s (WA) Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) experience. Data derived from interviews with WA RFA stakeholders shed light on their perceptions of the RFA process and its outcomes. The extent to which involvement of science and the public RFA management enabled is analysed. The findings point to a pervasive constrainedness of WA\u27s RFA owing to a closing of the process by the administrative decision-making structures. A dominant economic rationality is seen to have normalised and legitimised political closure, effectively excluding rationalities dissenting from an implicit economic orthodoxy. This article argues for the explication of invisible, economic constraints affecting environmental policy and for the public-cum-political negotiation of the points of closure within political processes

Defining the Critical Hurdles in Cancer Immunotherapy

ABSTRACT: Scientific discoveries that provide strong evidence of antitumor effects in preclinical models often encounter significant delays before being tested in patients with cancer. While some of these delays have a scientific basis, others do not. We need to do better. Innovative strategies need to move into early stage clinical trials as quickly as it is safe, and if successful, these therapies should efficiently obtain regulatory approval and widespread clinical application. In late 2009 and 2010 the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), convened an "Immunotherapy Summit" with representatives from immunotherapy organizations representing Europe, Japan, China and North America to discuss collaborations to improve development and delivery of cancer immunotherapy. One of the concepts raised by SITC and defined as critical by all parties was the need to identify hurdles that impede effective translation of cancer immunotherapy. With consensus on these hurdles, international working groups could be developed to make recommendations vetted by the participating organizations. These recommendations could then be considered by regulatory bodies, governmental and private funding agencies, pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to facilitate changes necessary to accelerate clinical translation of novel immune-based cancer therapies. The critical hurdles identified by representatives of the collaborating organizations, now organized as the World Immunotherapy Council, are presented and discussed in this report. Some of the identified hurdles impede all investigators, others hinder investigators only in certain regions or institutions or are more relevant to specific types of immunotherapy or first-in-humans studies. Each of these hurdles can significantly delay clinical translation of promising advances in immunotherapy yet be overcome to improve outcomes of patients with cancer

Redox cycling metals: Pedaling their roles in metabolism and their use in the development of novel therapeutics

Essential metals, such as iron and copper, play a critical role in a plethora of cellular processes including cell growth and proliferation. However, concomitantly, excess of these metal ions in the body can have deleterious effects due to their ability to generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Thus, the human body has evolved a very well-orchestrated metabolic system that keeps tight control on the levels of these metal ions. Considering their very high proliferation rate, cancer cells require a high abundance of these metals compared to their normal counterparts. Interestingly, new anti-cancer agents that take advantage of the sensitivity of cancer cells to metal sequestration and their susceptibility to ROS have been developed. These ligands can avidly bind metal ions to form redox active metal complexes, which lead to generation of cytotoxic ROS. Furthermore, these agents also act as potent metastasis suppressors due to their ability to up-regulate the metastasis suppressor gene, N-myc downstream regulated gene 1. This review discusses the importance of iron and copper in the metabolism and progression of cancer, how they can be exploited to target tumors and the clinical translation of novel anti-cancer chemotherapeutics

Investigating the status of biological stimuli as objects of attention in multiple object tracking

Background: Humans are able to track multiple simultaneously moving objects. A number of factors have been identified that can influence the ease with which objects can be attended and tracked. Here, we explored the possibility that object tracking abilities may be specialized for tracking biological targets such as people. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) paradigm to explore whether the high-level biological status of the targets affects the efficiency of attentional selection and tracking. In Experiment 1, we assessed the tracking of point-light biological motion figures. As controls, we used either the same stimuli or point-light letters, presented in upright, inverted or scrambled configurations. While scrambling significantly affected performance for both letters and point-light figures, there was an effect of inversion restricted to biological motion, inverted figures being harder to track. In Experiment 2, we found that tracking performance was equivalent for natural point-light walkers and ‘moon-walkers’, whose implied direction was incongruent with their actual direction of motion. In Experiment 3, we found higher tracking accuracy for inverted faces compared with upright faces. Thus, there was a double dissociation between inversion effects for biological motion and faces, with no inversion effect for our non-biological stimuli (letters, houses). Conclusions/Significance: MOT is sensitive to some, but not all naturalistic aspects of biological stimuli. There does not appear to be a highly specialized role for tracking people. However, MOT appears constrained by principles of object segmentation and grouping, where effectively grouped, coherent objects, but not necessarily biological objects, are tracked most successfully