The interactions of general anaesthetics with a bacterial Luciferase enzyme

Imperial Users onl

There are no easy answers to the problem of determining impact but blogging is here to help

The growth of academic blogging is an important new outlet for demonstrating impact, writes Professor Stephen Curry, who has found his Reciprocal Space blog to be a valuable resource for talking to the general public and raising his voice in national debates

The intersections between DORA, open research and equity

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is a campaigning initiative to improve the ways that we evaluate research and researchers. It aims particularly to help people understand the problems associated with over-reliance on aggregate metrics like the journal impact factor or H-index in assessment processes. Such metrics have enduring appeal because they appear to offer the simplicity and objectivity of numerical analyses. However, we need to be mindful of the subjective nature of decisions that lead to citation counts – the raw material of many performance metrics – and the biases that perturb them. The challenge now, if we are to move to more robust and equitable forms of evaluation, is to ensure that these are as effective and as efficient as possible. Embracing this challenge will also help to clear the way for more open and impactful science, and for a more inclusive academy

Permutations Agreeing in kk Positions

In this article we develop recursive and closed form formulas for the number of permutations on $n$ objects that agree with a given permutation in exactly $k$ positions

Stephen Curry in a Senior Baritone Recital

This is the program for the senior baritone recital of Stephen Curry. Mr. Curry was accompanied by John Alec Briggs on the piano. This recital took place on March 20, 2015, in the McBeth Recital Hall, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center

The Student Augustinian Values Institute: Assessing its Impact of Enhancing the Understanding and Experience of the Augustinian Core Values of Veritas, Unitas, and Caritas Upon Students in Augustinian Secondary Schools

Educational leadership understands the importance of teaching values in its schools and incorporates this philosophy into the school’s symbolic and structural systems. Roman Catholic Church leaders have always endorsed the teaching of values in its schools and this position was sanctioned at its Second Vatican Council (Vatican Council II, 1962-65). One aspect of the Council emphasized the importance of Catholic education as an essential vehicle for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools founded and sponsored by religious communities were challenged to reappropriate their founders’ charisms in their educational ministries. The Order of St. Augustine is an example of a religious order that has responded to this call to reappropriation in modern times by viewing the world in which they are called to serve through an Augustinian lens. Sharing with other religious communities of men and women in the Post Vatican II reality of declining vocations to religious life and ordained ministry, the Order of St. Augustine has made conscious efforts to assure the future of its charisms within its educational ministries. This study assesses the effectiveness of the Student Augustinian Values Institute (SAVI) as a vehicle for addressing this reality. Employing a QUAN-Qual mixed research and case study methodology, this study assesses the effectiveness of the SAVI’s experience of heightening students’ understanding and experience of the Augustinian core values of Veritas (Truth), Unitas (Unity), and Caritas (Love). To that end, this study employs a researcher constructed questionnaire, supported through models of cognitive, psychosocial, and faith development

The Student Augustinian Values Institute: Assessing its Impact of Enhancing the Understanding and Experience of the Augustinian Core Values of Veritas, Unitas, and Caritas Upon Students in Augustinian Secondary Schools

Educational leadership understands the importance of teaching values in its schools and incorporates this philosophy into the school’s symbolic and structural systems. Roman Catholic Church leaders have always endorsed the teaching of values in its schools and this position was sanctioned at its Second Vatican Council (Vatican Council II, 1962-65). One aspect of the Council emphasized the importance of Catholic education as an essential vehicle for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools founded and sponsored by religious communities were challenged to reappropriate their founders’ charisms in their educational ministries. The Order of St. Augustine is an example of a religious order that has responded to this call to reappropriation in modern times by viewing the world in which they are called to serve through an Augustinian lens. Sharing with other religious communities of men and women in the Post Vatican II reality of declining vocations to religious life and ordained ministry, the Order of St. Augustine has made conscious efforts to assure the future of its charisms within its educational ministries. This study assesses the effectiveness of the Student Augustinian Values Institute (SAVI) as a vehicle for addressing this reality. Employing a QUAN-Qual mixed research and case study methodology, this study assesses the effectiveness of the SAVI’s experience of heightening students’ understanding and experience of the Augustinian core values of Veritas (Truth), Unitas (Unity), and Caritas (Love). To that end, this study employs a researcher constructed questionnaire, supported through models of cognitive, psychosocial, and faith development

Experimental characterization of the effects of pneumatic tubing on unsteady pressure measurements

Advances in aircraft control system designs have, with increasing frequency, required that air data be used as flight control feedback. This condition requires that these data be measured with accuracy and high fidelity. Most air data information is provided by pneumatic pressure measuring sensors. Typically unsteady pressure data provided by pneumatic sensing systems are distorted at high frequencies. The distortion is a result of the pressure being transmitted to the pressure sensor through a length of connective tubing. The pressure is distorted by frictional damping and wave reflection. As a result, air data provided all-flush, pneumatically sensed air data systems may not meet the frequency response requirements necessary for flight control augmentation. Both lab and flight test were performed at NASA-Ames to investigate the effects of this high frequency distortion in remotely located pressure measurement systems. Good qualitative agreement between lab and flight data are demonstrated. Results from these tests are used to describe the effects of pneumatic distortion in terms of a simple parametric model

Crystallographic analysis reveals the structural basis of the high-affinity binding of iophenoxic acid to human serum albumin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Iophenoxic acid is an iodinated radiocontrast agent that was withdrawn from clinical use because of its exceptionally long half-life in the body, which was due in part to its high-affinity binding to human serum albumin (HSA). It was replaced by Iopanoic acid, which has an amino rather than a hydroxyl group at position 3 on the iodinated benzyl ring and, as a result, binds to albumin with lower affinity and is excreted more rapidly from the body. To understand how iophenoxic acid binds so tightly to albumin, we wanted to examine the structural basis of its interaction with HSA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have determined the co-crystal structure of HSA in complex with iophenoxic acid at 2.75 Å resolution, revealing a total of four binding sites, two of which - in drugs sites 1 and 2 on the protein - are likely to be occupied at clinical doses. High-affinity binding of iophenoxic acid occurs at drug site 1. The structure reveals that polar and apolar groups on the compound are involved in its interactions with drug site 1. In particular, the 3-hydroxyl group makes three hydrogen bonds with the side-chains of Tyr 150 and Arg 257. The mode of binding to drug site 2 is similar except for the absence of a binding partner for the hydroxyl group on the benzyl ring of the compound.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The HSA-iophenoxic acid structure indicates that high-affinity binding to drug site 1 is likely to be due to extensive desolvation of the compound, coupled with the ability of the binding pocket to provide a full set of salt-bridging or hydrogen bonding partners for its polar groups. Consistent with this interpretation, the structure also suggests that the lower-affinity binding of iopanoic acid arises because replacement of the 3-hydroxyl by an amino group eliminates hydrogen bonding to Arg 257. This finding underscores the importance of polar interactions in high-affinity binding to albumin.</p