The Social Media Industry: Where Is it Heading?

The social media industry has entered a new stage with intensifying competition and heightened uncertainty about future directions. The purpose of this paper is to provide analyses of the current challenges and to identify industry-wide trends that may offer a roadmap for the future. This study identified five major trends in the current social media industry: 1) content is king, and that content is moving to visual; 2) artificial intelligence is key to competitive advantage; 3) network effects still matter, but business model innovation can overcome that barrier; 4) the need to broaden revenue sources; and 5) the strive for the everything app. In this changing environment, social media companies need to adapt and innovate their business models proactively to stay ahead

Metabolic characterization of green pods from Vanilla planifolia accessions grown in La Reunion.

Large phenotypic variation has been observed between the cultivated vanillas since a single genetic source of Vanilla planifolia was spread to the Indian Ocean and the Indonesia in the 19th century. In order to differentiate the cultivated vanilla plants, genetic studies have been conducted in the past on the plants grown in various regions such as the French island, La Réunion. However, the genetic difference was not big enough to differentiate diverse accessions of V. planifolia. In this study, metabolomics, in which genetic variation could be amplified, was employed to delve into the variation between the cultivated vanilla plants. To obtain a broad view of the metabolome, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was applied to the analysis of V. planifolia green pods. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of the data showed that the accessions could be differentiated according to their glucovanillin and glucosides A and B contents. Furthermore, a correlation between the glucovanillin content and the pod length, number of flower and growth capacity of the accessions has been observed from the multivariate data analysis

Recent developments in optical interferometry data standards

A working group on interferometry data standards has been established within IAU Commission 54 (Optical/ Infrared Interferometry). The working group includes members representing the major optical interferometry projects worldwide, and aims to enhance existing standards and develop new ones to satisfy the broad interests of the optical interferometry community. We present the initial work of the group to enhance the OIFITS data exchange standard, and outline the software packages and libraries now available which implement the standard

Impact of obesity on day-night differences in cardiac metabolism

An intrinsic property of the heart is an ability to rapidly and coordinately adjust flux through metabolic pathways in response to physiologic stimuli (termed metabolic flexibility). Cardiac metabolism also fluctuates across the 24-hours day, in association with diurnal sleep-wake and fasting-feeding cycles. Although loss of metabolic flexibility has been proposed to play a causal role in the pathogenesis of cardiac disease, it is currently unknown whether day-night variations in cardiac metabolism are altered during disease states. Here, we tested the hypothesis that diet-induced obesity disrupts cardiac diurnal metabolic flexibility , which is normalized by time-of-day-restricted feeding. Chronic high fat feeding (20-wk)-induced obesity in mice, abolished diurnal rhythms in whole body metabolic flexibility, and increased markers of adverse cardiac remodeling (hypertrophy, fibrosis, and steatosis). RNAseq analysis revealed that 24-hours rhythms in the cardiac transcriptome were dramatically altered during obesity; only 22% of rhythmic transcripts in control hearts were unaffected by obesity. However, day-night differences in cardiac substrate oxidation were essentially identical in control and high fat fed mice. In contrast, day-night differences in both cardiac triglyceride synthesis and lipidome were abolished during obesity. Next, a subset of obese mice (induced by 18-wks ad libitum high fat feeding) were allowed access to the high fat diet only during the 12-hours dark (active) phase, for a 2-wk period. Dark phase restricted feeding partially restored whole body metabolic flexibility, as well as day-night differences in cardiac triglyceride synthesis and lipidome. Moreover, this intervention partially reversed adverse cardiac remodeling in obese mice. Collectively, these studies reveal diurnal metabolic inflexibility of the heart during obesity specifically for nonoxidative lipid metabolism (but not for substrate oxidation), and that restricting food intake to the active period partially reverses obesity-induced cardiac lipid metabolism abnormalities and adverse remodeling of the heart

HARPS3 for a Roboticized Isaac Newton Telescope

We present a description of a new instrument development, HARPS3, planned to be installed on an upgraded and roboticized Isaac Newton Telescope by end-2018. HARPS3 will be a high resolution (R = 115,000) echelle spectrograph with a wavelength range from 380-690 nm. It is being built as part of the Terra Hunting Experiment - a future 10 year radial velocity measurement programme to discover Earth-like exoplanets. The instrument design is based on the successful HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6m ESO telescope and HARPS-N on the TNG telescope. The main changes to the design in HARPS3 will be: a customised fibre adapter at the Cassegrain focus providing a stabilised beam feed and on-sky fibre diameter ~ 1.4 arcsec, the implementation of a new continuous flow cryostat to keep the CCD temperature very stable, detailed characterisation of the HARPS3 CCD to map the effective pixel positions and thus provide an improved accuracy wavelength solution, an optimised integrated polarimeter and the instrument integrated into a robotic operation. The robotic operation will optimise our programme which requires our target stars to be measured on a nightly basis. We present an overview of the entire project, including a description of our anticipated robotic operation.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, SPIE conference proceeding

Shoot differentiation from protocorm callus cultures of Vanilla planifolia (Orchidaceae): proteomic and metabolic responses at early stage

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Vanilla planifolia </it>is an important Orchid commercially cultivated for the production of natural vanilla flavour. Vanilla plants are conventionally propagated by stem cuttings and thus causing injury to the mother plants. Regeneration and <it>in vitro </it>mass multiplication are proposed as an alternative to minimize damage to mother plants. Because mass production of <it>V. planifolia </it>through indirect shoot differentiation from callus culture is rare and may be a successful use of in <it>vitro </it>techniques for producing somaclonal variants, we have established a novel protocol for the regeneration of vanilla plants and investigated the initial biochemical and molecular mechanisms that trigger shoot organogenesis from embryogenic/organogenic callus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For embryogenic callus induction, seeds obtained from 7-month-old green pods of <it>V. planifolia </it>were inoculated on MS basal medium (BM) containing TDZ (0.5 mg l^-1). Germination of unorganized mass callus such as protocorm -like structure (PLS) arising from each seed has been observed. The primary embryogenic calli have been formed after transferring on BM containing IAA (0.5 mg l^-1) and TDZ (0.5 mg l^-1). These calli were maintained by subculturing on BM containing IAA (0.5 mg l^-1) and TDZ (0.3 mg l^-1) during 6 months and formed embryogenic/organogenic calli. Histological analysis showed that shoot organogenesis was induced between 15 and 20 days after embryogenic/organogenic calli were transferred onto MS basal medium with NAA (0.5 mg l^-1). By associating proteomics and metabolomics analyses, the biochemical and molecular markers responsible for shoot induction have been studied in 15-day-old calli at the stage where no differentiating part was visible on organogenic calli. Two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS) analysis revealed that 15 protein spots are significantly expressed (<it>P </it>< 0.05) at earlier stages of shoot differentiation. The majority of these proteins are involved in amino acid-protein metabolism and photosynthetic activity. In accordance with proteomic analysis, metabolic profiling using 1D and 2D NMR techniques showed the importance of numerous compounds related with sugar mobilization and nitrogen metabolism. NMR analysis techniques also allowed the identification of some secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds whose accumulation was enhanced during shoot differentiation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The subculture of embryogenic/organogenic calli onto shoot differentiation medium triggers the stimulation of cell metabolism principally at three levels namely (i) initiation of photosynthesis, glycolysis and phenolic compounds synthesis; (ii) amino acid - protein synthesis, and protein stabilization; (iii) sugar degradation. These biochemical mechanisms associated with the initiation of shoot formation during protocorm - like body (PLB) organogenesis could be coordinated by the removal of TDZ in callus maintenance medium. These results might contribute to elucidate the complex mechanism that leads to vanilla callus differentiation and subsequent shoot formation into PLB organogenesis. Moreover, our results highlight an early intermediate metabolic event in vanillin biosynthetic pathway with respect to secondary metabolism. Indeed, for the first time in vanilla tissue culture, phenolic compounds such as glucoside A and glucoside B were identified. The degradation of these compounds in specialized tissue (i.e. young green beans) probably contributes to the biosynthesis of glucovanillin, the parent compound of vanillin.</p

Concert recording 2022-04-06

[Track 1]. Three pieces / Igor Stravinsky -- [Track 2]. Sonata for clarinet and piano. II. Lebhaft / Paul Hindemith -- [Track 3]. Fantasiestücke, op. 73. I. Zart und mit Ausdruck ; II. Lebhaft, leicht / Robert Schumann -- [Track 4]. Duo for clarinet and piano. I. Allegro / Norbert Burgmüller -- [Track 5]. Sonata for clarinet and piano. II. Allegro animato / Camille Saint-Saëns -- [Track 6.] Set for clarinet. III. Vite / Katherine Hoover -- [Track 7]. Ballade, bass clarinet & piano / Eugène Bozza -- [Track 8]. Introduction, theme and variations / Carl Maria von Weber -- [Track 9]. Five Bagatelles. IV. Forlana / Gerald Finzi -- [Track 10]. Six studies in English folksongs. V. Andante tranquillo ; VI. Allegro vivace -- [Track 11]. Grand duo concertant. I. Allegro con fuoco / Carl Maria von Weber

Concert recording 2022-04-06

[Track 1]. Three pieces / Igor Stravinsky -- [Track 2]. Sonata for clarinet and piano. II. Lebhaft / Paul Hindemith -- [Track 3]. Fantasiestücke, op. 73. I. Zart und mit Ausdruck ; II. Lebhaft, leicht / Robert Schumann -- [Track 4]. Duo for clarinet and piano. I. Allegro / Norbert Burgmüller -- [Track 5]. Sonata for clarinet and piano. II. Allegro animato / Camille Saint-Saëns -- [Track 6.] Set for clarinet. III. Vite / Katherine Hoover -- [Track 7]. Ballade, bass clarinet & piano / Eugène Bozza -- [Track 8]. Introduction, theme and variations / Carl Maria von Weber -- [Track 9]. Five Bagatelles. IV. Forlana / Gerald Finzi -- [Track 10]. Six studies in English folksongs. V. Andante tranquillo ; VI. Allegro vivace -- [Track 11]. Grand duo concertant. I. Allegro con fuoco / Carl Maria von Weber

The long noncoding RNA Wisper controls cardiac fibrosis and remodeling

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as powerful regulators of cardiac development and disease. However, our understanding of the importance of these molecules in cardiac fibrosis is limited. Using an integrated genomic screen, we identified Wisper (Wisp2 super-enhancer–associated RNA) as a cardiac fibroblast–enriched lncRNA that regulates cardiac fibrosis after injury. Wisper expression was correlated with cardiac fibrosis both in a murine model of myocardial infarction (MI) and in heart tissue from human patients suffering from aortic stenosis. Loss-of-function approaches in vitro using modified antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) demonstrated that Wisper is a specific regulator of cardiac fibroblast proliferation, migration, and survival. Accordingly, ASO-mediated silencing of Wisper in vivo attenuated MI-induced fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction. Functionally, Wisper regulates cardiac fibroblast gene expression programs critical for cell identity, extracellular matrix deposition, proliferation, and survival. In addition, its association with TIA1-related protein allows it to control the expression of a profibrotic form of lysyl hydroxylase 2, implicated in collagen cross-linking and stabilization of the matrix. Together, our findings identify Wisper as a cardiac fibroblast–enriched super-enhancer–associated lncRNA that represents an attractive therapeutic target to reduce the pathological development of cardiac fibrosis in response to MI and prevent adverse remodeling in the damaged heart