Transferrin-polycation-DNA complexes. The effect of polycations on the structure of the complex and DNA delivery to cells.

We have previously described a gene delivery system based upon the receptor-mediated endocytosis of DNA complexed with transferrin-polycation conjugates. This delivery system has been found to be very effective for both the internalization and the expression of genetic material in cells that have many transferrin receptors. Upon scrutinization of the parameters involved in this method, which we have termed transferrinfection, we note two important features of the process: the polycation in polycation-transferrin conjugates, as expected, serves to attach the transferrin moiety to the DNA and, in addition, the polycation functions to condense the DNA into a doughnut structure. Electron microscopic analysis of a range of poorly active to highly active transferrinfection samples reveals a strong correlation between DNA condensation and cellular DNA uptake. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the transfection activity of the DNA complex can be increased by addition of free polycation as long as a sufficient quantity of polycation-transferrin conjugates remains in the complex to ensure its binding to the cellular receptor

Chomsky and Postal on Raising – peripetie s jedním konstrukčním typem

Otázka, jak správně analyzovat konstrukce akuzativu s infinitivem, se stala na konci 60. let jedním z bodů, kvůli kterým došlo k roztržce mezi generativismem hlavního (tj. Chomskyanského) proudu a skupinou generativních sémantiků kolem P. Postela. Zatímco Postal tvrdil, že akuzativní složka ve zmíněné konstrukci je hloubkovým subjektem zanořeného infinitivu, který se v důsledku operace „vyzdvižení subjektu“ ocitne v pozici povrchového objektu, Chomsky hájil názor, že akuzativní složka se nachází i na rovině povrchové struktury v subjektové pozici zanořeného infinitivu, kde jí matricové sloveso takřka „výjimečně“ přiděluje akuzativní pád. Jak je známo, posléze se obecně prosadilo pojetí Chomského. Na této situaci se nic nezměnilo v průběhu dalších třiceti let, až se náhle, „bez dalšího komentáře“ (Seuren 2004, 202n.), objevila v programatickém spisu minimalistického programu (Chomsky 1995) poznámka, že příslušné případy jsou nyní analyzovány jako vyzdvižení nominální fráze do specifikátoru fráze objektové shody (s. 174), tj. do syntaktické pozice vyhrazené pro objekt. Stejná poznámka se opakuje i v článku Chomského (2013, 47) v časopise Lingua. V referátu znovu projdu argumenty, které byly předneseny jednotlivými protagonisty sporu pro to které řešení, a zkusím vyjasnit, zda lze mluvit o zásadním obratu Chomského názoru na danou otázku.The question what the correct analysis of constructions containing an infinitive verb and a nominal constituent in the accusative case would look like became in the 60th one of the stumbling blocks leading to the disassociation of the generative semantics movement (with P. Postal as one of its leading figures) from mainstream, i. e. Chomskyan, generative grammar. Against Postal’s view that the accusative constituent is located in object position at surface structure, Chomsky’s view of the accusative constituent as surface subject exceptionally marked for accusative case remained dominant during the 70th and 80th until suddenly, without further comments (Seuren, 2004), the notion of ECM as raising-to-object appears in the second part of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1995). The same analysis is restated in Chomsky (2013, 47). The question suggests itself if we face a major change in Chomsky’s views on the described type of construction or if there is a mere readjustment caused by a change in the theoretical perspective. In the talk I review the well known arguments of both sides of the debate and try to find an answer to the indicated question

Zur Nützlichkeit des Morphem-Begriffes in der Deutschlehrerausbildung (DaF)

Im vorliegenden Artikel werden Gründe gegen die Verwendung des Begriffs „Morphem“ in Einführungskursen in die Linguistik angeführt, die im Rahmen von Lehramtsstudiengängen im Fach „Deutsch“ im nichtdeutschsprachigen Ausland durchgeführt werden. Die hauptsächlichen Gründe sind: (a) notorische Schwierigkeiten bei der Anwendung von morphembasierten Analysen auf deutsches Sprachmaterial (z. B. beim „Ablaut“), (b) Entwicklungen innerhalb der Linguistik der letzten 40 Jahre, die die strukturalistischen, morphembasierten Ansätze aus ihrer früheren Führungsposition verdrängt haben, (c) fehlende Relevanz des Begriffes für die Benutzung von Standardwerken und Handbüchern des DaF-Unterrichts. Statt „Morphem“ wird die Verwendung theoretisch neutraler Begriffe wie „Stamm“ oder „Affix“ empfohlen.V článku jsou uvedeny argumenty proti používání pojmu „morfém“ v úvodních seminářích určených studentům německého jazyka v učitelských studijních programech. Hlavními důvody proti používání tohoto pojmu jsou (a) známé potíže při aplikaci na konkrétní jazykový materiál, zejména když jde o němčinu, (b) vývoj lingvistiky v posledních 40 letech, který vedl k tomu, že strukturalistický přístup operující s pojmem „morfém“ pozbyl svého vedoucího postavení v jazykovědě, (c) absence pojmu „morfém“ ve většině příruček a učebnic používaných pro praktické účely ve výuce němčiny jako cizího jazyka. V článku se doporučuje nahradit pojem „morfém“ teoreticky neutrálními pojmy jako „kmen“ nebo „přípona“.The article argues against the use of the concept “morpheme” in introductory classes to linguistics aimed at students of German as a foreign language within teaching degree programs. The use of more neutral terminology as “affix” or “stem” is recommended. The main reasons for the suggestion are (a) notorious problems in applying morpheme-based systems to German morphology (e.g. “Ablaut”), (b) developments inside linguistics within the last 40 years, which led to a loss of significance of the morpheme-based approach to language, (c) irrelevance of the concept for using reference grammars and handbooks in the field of German as a foreign language

Studies on the physical properties of insect bait materials

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Tootsie, Feminism, and the Modern Self

The movie Tootsie not only reflects increasing American tolerance of androgyny in both men and women, but also celebrates an old-fashioned ideal of self-discipline, an ideal implicit in a male incarcerating himself within the prison of femininity and learning from it . It is an achievement of the modernist temper

Rheology of human blood plasma: Viscoelastic versus Newtonian behavior

We investigate the rheological characteristics of human blood plasma in shear and elongational flows. While we can confirm a Newtonian behavior in shear flow within experimental resolution, we find a viscoelastic behavior of blood plasma in the pure extensional flow of a capillary break-up rheometer. The influence of the viscoelasticity of blood plasma on capillary blood flow is tested in a microfluidic device with a contraction-expansion geometry. Differential pressure measurements revealed that the plasma has a pronounced flow resistance compared to that of pure water. Supplementary measurements indicate that the viscoelasticity of the plasma might even lead to viscoelastic instabilities under certain conditions. Our findings show that the viscoelastic properties of plasma should not be ignored in future studies on blood flow.Comment: 4 figures, 1 supplementary material Highlighted in http://physics.aps.org/articles/v6/1

Aspects of Speaking-Face Data Corpus Design Methodology

This paper develops a methodology for the design of audiovideo data corpora of the speaking face. Existing corpora are surveyed and the principles of data specification, data description and statistical representation are analysed both from an application-driven and from a scientifically motivated perspective. Furthermore, the possibility of "opportunistic" design of speaking-face data corpora is considered

Off-axis Point Spread Function Reconstruction for Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics

Modern Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes (GSMTs) like the Extremely Large Telescope, which is currently under construction, depend heavily on Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to correct for atmospheric distortions. However, a residual blur always remains in the astronomical images corrected by Single Conjugate AO (SCAO) systems due to fitting and bandwidth errors, which can mathematically be described by a convolution of the true image with a point spread function (PSF). Due to the nature of the turbulent atmosphere and its correction, the PSF is spatially varying, which is known as aniosplanatic effect. The PSF serves, e.g., as a quality measure for the science images and therefore needs to be known as accurately as possible. In this paper, we present an algorithm for PSF reconstruction in directions apart from the guide star direction in an SCAO system adapted to the needs of GSMTs focused on estimating the contribution of the anisoplanatic and generalized fitting error to the PSF. In particular, the PSF reconstruction algorithm for Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics from (Wagner, 2018) is combined with an algorithm for time-dependent atmospheric tomography from (Niebsch, 2021) to obtain a direction dependent reconstruction of the post-AO PSF. Results obtained in an end-to-end simulation tool show a qualitatively good reconstruction of the PSF compared to the PSF calculated directly from the simulated incoming wavefront as well as a stable performance with respect to imprecise knowledge of atmospheric parameters.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2012.1142