A non-lethal method for detection of <i>Bonamia ostreae</i> in flat oyster (<i>Ostrea edulis</i>) using environmental DNA

Surveillance and diagnosis of parasitic Bonamia ostreae infections in flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) are prerequisites for protection and management of wild populations. In addition, reliable and non-lethal detection methods are required for selection of healthy brood oysters in aquaculture productions. Here we present a non-lethal diagnostic technique based on environmental DNA (eDNA) from water samples and demonstrate applications in laboratory trials. Forty oysters originating from Limfjorden, Denmark were kept in 30 ppt sea water in individual tanks. Water was sampled 6 days later, after which all oysters were euthanized and examined for infection, applying PCR. Four oysters (10%) were found to be infected with B. ostreae in gill and mantle tissue. eDNA purified from the water surrounding these oysters contained parasite DNA. A subsequent sampling from the field encompassed 20 oysters and 15 water samples from 5 different locations. Only one oyster turned out positive and all water samples proved negative for B. ostreae eDNA. With this new method B. ostreae may be detected by only sampling water from the environment of isolated oysters or isolated oyster populations. This non-lethal diagnostic eDNA method could have potential for future surveys and oyster breeding programs aiming at producing disease-free oysters.publishedVersio

The emergence of word-internal repetition through iterated learning:Explaining the mismatch between learning biases and language design

The idea that natural language is shaped by biases in learning plays a key role in our understanding of how human language is structured, but its corollary that there should be a correspondence between typological generalisations and ease of acquisition is not always supported. For example, natural languages tend to avoid close repetitions of consonants within a word, but developmental evidence suggests that, if anything, words containing sound repetitions are more, not less, likely to be acquired than those without. In this study, we use word-internal repetition as a test case to provide a cultural evolutionary explanation of when and how learning biases impact on language design. Two artificial language experiments showed that adult speakers possess a bias for both consonant and vowel repetitions when learning novel words, but the effects of this bias were observable in language transmission only when there was a relatively high learning pressure on the lexicon. Based on these results, we argue that whether the design of a language reflects biases in learning depends on the relative strength of pressures from learnability and communication efficiency exerted on the linguistic system during cultural transmission

The atomic simulation environment — a python library for working with atoms

The Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE) is a software package written in the Python programming language with the aim of setting up, steering, and analyzing atomistic simula- tions. In ASE, tasks are fully scripted in Python. The powerful syntax of Python combined with the NumPy array library make it possible to perform very complex simulation tasks. For example, a sequence of calculations may be performed with the use of a simple "for-loop" construction. Calculations of energy, forces, stresses and other quantities are performed through interfaces to many external electronic structure codes or force fields using a uniform interface. On top of this calculator interface, ASE provides modules for performing many standard simulation tasks such as structure optimization, molecular dynamics, handling of constraints and performing nudged elastic band calculations

GPAW: open Python package for electronic-structure calculations

We review the GPAW open-source Python package for electronic structure calculations. GPAW is based on the projector-augmented wave method and can solve the self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) equations using three different wave-function representations, namely real-space grids, plane waves, and numerical atomic orbitals. The three representations are complementary and mutually independent and can be connected by transformations via the real-space grid. This multi-basis feature renders GPAW highly versatile and unique among similar codes. By virtue of its modular structure, the GPAW code constitutes an ideal platform for implementation of new features and methodologies. Moreover, it is well integrated with the Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE) providing a flexible and dynamic user interface. In addition to ground-state DFT calculations, GPAW supports many-body GW band structures, optical excitations from the Bethe-Salpeter Equation (BSE), variational calculations of excited states in molecules and solids via direct optimization, and real-time propagation of the Kohn-Sham equations within time-dependent DFT. A range of more advanced methods to describe magnetic excitations and non-collinear magnetism in solids are also now available. In addition, GPAW can calculate non-linear optical tensors of solids, charged crystal point defects, and much more. Recently, support of GPU acceleration has been achieved with minor modifications of the GPAW code thanks to the CuPy library. We end the review with an outlook describing some future plans for GPAW

Taking the ‘Just' Decision: Caseworkers and Their Communities of Interpretation in the Swiss Asylum Office

Decision-making in street-level bureaucracies has often been portrayed as being riddled with a practical dilemma: that of having to juggle between compassion and rigid rule-following. However, drawing on three ethnographic studies of Swiss asylum administration, we argue that often what are from the “outside” perceived as conflicting rationales of decision-making, are not experienced as such by the caseworkers themselves. Rather these different rationales are made to fit. We argue that decision-makers’ “volitional allegiance” with the office plays a crucial role thereby. For the caseworkers we encountered, decision-making is about taking “just decisions”, i.e. decisions that they consider “correct” and “fair”. We suggest that these notions of correctness and fairness are crucially influenced by their affiliations and allegiances with different “communities of interpretation” within the office

Broadband in Kansas: The Challenges of Digital Access and Affordability

The Institute for Policy & Social Research (IPSR) at the University of Kansas received funding from the Economic Development Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce under the CARES Act to study broadband access in the state of Kansas. To conduct this study, IPSR examined existing data, fielded our own survey of broadband speeds and access, conducted focus groups, and commissioned a chapter on the digital divide within the state of Kansas. The report discusses available data sources and introduces the speed test data collected by IPSR in order to map the broadband access landscape in Kansas. Along with speed tests, the Kansas broadband survey collected information regarding broadband access, adequacy, affordability and satisfaction. The survey data were enhanced by interviews and focus groups that allowed Kansans to share their struggles with internet access in their own words. The report also investigates digital equity using surveys and interviews conducted at public libraries that revealed the challenges faced by library patrons, including lack of digital access and literacy. The report that is summarized below indicates a rural-urban digital divide in terms of access, affordability, and satisfaction with broadband services. The data in this report indicate that up to 1,000,000 Kansans live in regions that lack access to highspeed broadband services, now considered to be 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20 Mbps upload (100/20). Close to half of survey respondents (46%) report dissatisfaction with broadband services.Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerc

Photophysical properties of Re(pbt)(CO)₄ studied by high resolution spectroscopy

Photophysical properties of Re(pbt)(CO)₄ are investigated at cryogenic temperatures and high magnetic fields. The highly resolved spectra show that the zero field splitting of the lowest triplet T₁ into three substates is smaller than 2 cm⁻¹. With this result, the T₁ state can be classified as only slightly MLCT-perturbed ³LC (³ππ*) state. Consistently, spin-lattice relaxation times are slow at T = 1.2 K and emission decay times with τ(I) = 960 μs, τ(II) = 320 μs, and τ(III) = 24 μs are long due to only small singlet admixtures. The vibrational satellite structures observed reflect different vibrational deactivation mechanisms and reveal similar geometries of the emitting triplet and the ground state

Distinct subcellular location of the Ca2+-binding protein S100A1 differentially modulates Ca2+-cycling in ventricular rat cardiomyocytes

Calcium is a key regulator of cardiac function and is modulated through the Ca2+-sensor protein S100A1. S100 proteins are considered to exert both intracellular and extracellular functions on their target cells. Here we report the impact of an increased intracellular S100A1 protein level on Ca2+-homeostasis in neonatal ventricular cardiomyocytes in vitro. Specifically, we compare the effects of exogenously added recombinant S100A1 to those resulting from the overexpression of a transduced S100A1 gene. Extracellularly added S100A1 enhanced the Ca2+-transient amplitude in neonatal ventricular cardiomyocytes (NVCMs) through a marked decrease in intracellular diastolic Ca2+-concentrations ([Ca2+]i). The decrease in [Ca2+]i was independent of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a) activity and was probably the result of an increased sarcolemmal Ca2+-extrusion through the sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX). At the same time the Ca2+-content of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) decreased. These effects were dependent on the uptake of extracellularly added S100A1 protein and its subsequent routing to the endosomal compartment. Phospholipase C and protein kinase C, which are tightly associated with this subcellular compartment, were found to be activated by endocytosed S100A1. By contrast, adenoviral-mediated intracellular S100A1 overexpression enhanced the Ca2+-transient amplitude in NVCMs mainly through an increase in systolic [Ca2+]i. The increased Ca2+-load in the SR was based on an enhanced SERCA2a activity while NCX function was unaltered. Overexpressed S100A1 colocalized with SERCA2a and other Ca2+-regulatory proteins at the SR, whereas recombinant S100A1 protein that had been endocytosed did not colocalize with SR proteins. This study provides the first evidence that intracellular S100A1, depending on its subcellular location, modulates cardiac Ca2+-turnover via different Ca2+-regulatory proteins