Trends integration process as input data for Kansei Engineering Systems

This paper aims at studying new ways of users integration in “emotional Design” or “Kansei engineering systems”. The main goal of this study was the integration of the trend factor in design, with an early emotional evaluation of “Trend cards” produced by the designers. After a definition of the study context, we explain the experimental protocol which was followed. It was based on a questionnaire method involving 56 French subjects and applied in the field of shoes design. The data analysis was mainly proceed by the way of a Principal Component Analysis. The expected results were centred on the emotional evaluation of the Trendcards in order to establish further design rules for a Kansei Engineering system. In conclusion, we can recognize important semantic effects and influences which can be used as information for the implementation of the design elements data base

FUEL FOR DEBATE: THREE STUDIES OF THE POLITICAL MOBILIZATION FOR AND AGAINST HYDRAULIC FRACTURING IN NEW YORK STATE

This dissertation uses the context of the unfolding boom in oil and gas production enabled by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) technology to ask several interrelated questions: What motivates people to oppose or support industrial development? How do material interests interact with political identities to shape political mobilization? What consequences does this political contestation have for policymaking? Three stand-alone articles, each using unique data and methods, provide new evidence for answering these questions. The three studies place a common emphasis on the multiple meanings that fracking has for opponents and supporters of proposed development as well as the alternative structural conditions that give rise to the divergent beliefs and the social networks that facilitate mobilization. The first article, examines the passage of local zoning ordinances prohibiting fracking and identifies spatial and temporal processes that influenced the pattern of ordinance adoption. The second article, looks more closely at political mobilization for and against hydraulic fracturing by examining individual-level data collected from one town’s debate over a proposed ban on oil and gas development. The third article uses a large set of public comments to directly examine the meanings that the public attached to hydraulic fracturing and whether residents who live in close proximity to proposed development understood the industry in systematically different terms than individuals who participated in the debate despite facing little or no direct impact from fracking

Robust Genome Editing with Short Single-Stranded and Long, Partially Single-Stranded DNA Donors in Caenorhabditis elegans

CRISPR-based genome editing using ribonucleoprotein complexes and synthetic single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotide (ssODN) donors can be highly effective. However, reproducibility can vary, and precise, targeted integration of longer constructs-such as green fluorescent protein tags remains challenging in many systems. Here, we describe a streamlined and optimized editing protocol for the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans We demonstrate its efficacy, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness by affinity-tagging 14 Argonaute proteins in C. elegans using ssODN donors. In addition, we describe a novel PCR-based, partially single-stranded, hybrid donor design that yields high efficiency editing with large (kilobase-scale) constructs. We use these hybrid donors to introduce fluorescent protein tags into multiple loci, achieving editing efficiencies that approach those previously obtained only with much shorter ssODN donors. The principals and strategies described here are likely to translate to other systems, and should allow researchers to reproducibly and efficiently obtain both long and short precision genome edits

Oocyte differentiation is genetically dissociable from the meiotic program in mice

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Page 100 blank.Includes bibliographical references.Oogenesis is a developmental program by which a gametogenesis-competent germ cell becomes a fertilization-competent egg. During oogenesis, growth and differentiation of oocytes are closely coordinated with initiation and progression through meiosis. In mammals, the timing of meiotic initiation is sexually dimorphic, with only ovarian and not testicular germ cells initiating meiosis during fetal development. Consequentially, fetal meiotic initiation is thought to be prerequisite to subsequent growth and differentiation of the ovarian germ cell into a fully grown oocyte. Here I present evidence that meiotic initiation and prophase I are genetically separable from oocyte growth and differentiation, thereby, demonstrating that oogenesis consists of two independent processes under separate regulation. This represents a novel view of the oogenesis program and revises the current model of germ cell commitment to oogenesis in mice. The proposed revised model accounts for independent commitment of a germ cell to meiosis and differentiation. This model may provide insights into previously unexplained cases of female infertility and has practical implications for in vitro oogenesis strategies.by Gregoriy A. Dokshin.Ph.D

Heart stem cells: hope or myth?

The search and study of endogenous heart repair remains an urgent issue in modern regenerative medicine. It is generally accepted that the human heart has a limited regenerative potential, but recent studies show that functionally significant regeneration is possible. However, the mechanisms underlying these processes remain poorly understood. In the heart, there are populations of resident mesenchymal cells that have some properties of stem cells that carry certain markers, such as c-kit+, Sca-1, etc. The ability of these cells to differentiate directly into cardiomyocytes remains controversial, but their use in clinical trials has shown improved cardiac function in patients with myocardial infarction. Currently, approaches are being developed to use, mainly, induced pluripotent stem cells as a promising regenerative therapy, but the cardioprotective role of cardiac mesenchymal cells remains the subject of active study due to their paracrine signaling

Millions of online book co-purchases reveal partisan differences in the consumption of science

Passionate disagreements about climate change, stem cell research and evolution raise concerns that science has become a new battlefield in the culture wars. We used data derived from millions of online co-purchases as a behavioural indicator for whether shared interest in science bridges political differences or selective attention reinforces existing divisions. Findings reveal partisan preferences both within and across scientific disciplines. Across fields, customers for liberal or ‘blue’ political books prefer basic science (for example, physics, astronomy and zoology), whereas conservative or ‘red’ customers prefer applied and commercial science (for example, criminology, medicine and geophysics). Within disciplines, ‘red’ books tend to be co-purchased with a narrower subset of science books on the periphery of the discipline. We conclude that the political left and right share an interest in science in general, but not science in particular. This underscores the need for research into remedies that can attenuate selective exposure to ‘convenient truth’, renew the capacity for science to inform political debate and temper partisan passions

Excess cholesterol induces mouse egg activation and may cause female infertility

The HDL receptor scavenger receptor, class B type I (SR-BI) controls the structure and fate of plasma HDL. Female SR-BI KO mice are infertile, apparently because of their abnormal cholesterol-enriched HDL particles. We examined the growth and meiotic progression of SR-BI KO oocytes and found that they underwent normal germinal vesicle breakdown; however, SR-BI KO eggs, which had accumulated excess cholesterol in vivo, spontaneously activated, and they escaped metaphase II (MII) arrest and progressed to pronuclear, MIII, and anaphase/telophase III stages. Eggs from fertile WT mice were activated when loaded in vitro with excess cholesterol by a cholesterol/methyl-β-cyclodextrin complex, phenocopying SR-BI KO oocytes. In vitro cholesterol loading of eggs induced reduction in maturation promoting factor and MAPK activities, elevation of intracellular calcium, extrusion of a second polar body, and progression to meiotic stages beyond MII. These results suggest that the infertility of SR-BI KO females is caused, at least in part, by excess cholesterol in eggs inducing premature activation and that cholesterol can activate WT mouse eggs to escape from MII arrest. Analysis of SR-BI KO female infertility raises the possibility that abnormalities in cholesterol metabolism might underlie some cases of human female infertility of unknown etiology.National Institutes of Health (U.S.)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Pre-doctoral Training Grant T32GM007287)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (International Science and Technology Initiatives Chile Cooperative Grant

RNA-binding proteins in human oogenesis:Balancing differentiation and self-renewal in the female fetal germline

Primordial germ cells undergo three significant processes on their path to becoming primary oocytes: the initiation of meiosis, the formation and breakdown of germ cell nests, and the assembly of single oocytes into primordial follicles. However at the onset of meiosis, the germ cell becomes transcriptionally silenced. Consequently translational control of pre-stored mRNAs plays a central role in coordinating gene expression throughout the remainder of oogenesis; RNA binding proteins are key to this regulation. In this review we examine the role of exemplars of such proteins, namely LIN28, DAZL, BOLL and FMRP, and highlight how their roles during germ cell development are critical to oogenesis and the establishment of the primordial follicle pool

Antagonism between DNA and H3K27 Methylation at the Imprinted Rasgrf1 Locus

At the imprinted Rasgrf1 locus in mouse, a cis-acting sequence controls DNA methylation at a differentially methylated domain (DMD). While characterizing epigenetic marks over the DMD, we observed that DNA and H3K27 trimethylation are mutually exclusive, with DNA and H3K27 methylation limited to the paternal and maternal sequences, respectively. The mutual exclusion arises because one mark prevents placement of the other. We demonstrated this in five ways: using 5-azacytidine treatments and mutations at the endogenous locus that disrupt DNA methylation; using a transgenic model in which the maternal DMD inappropriately acquired DNA methylation; and by analyzing materials from cells and embryos lacking SUZ12 and YY1. SUZ12 is part of the PRC2 complex, which is needed for placing H3K27me3, and YY1 recruits PRC2 to sites of action. Results from each experimental system consistently demonstrated antagonism between H3K27me3 and DNA methylation. When DNA methylation was lost, H3K27me3 encroached into sites where it had not been before; inappropriate acquisition of DNA methylation excluded normal placement of H3K27me3, and loss of factors needed for H3K27 methylation enabled DNA methylation to appear where it had been excluded. These data reveal the previously unknown antagonism between H3K27 and DNA methylation and identify a means by which epigenetic states may change during disease and development

Trends integration process as input data for Kansei Engineering Systems

This paper aims at studying new ways of users integration in “emotional Design” or “Kansei engineering systems”. The main goal of this study was the integration of the trend factor in design, with an early emotional evaluation of “Trend cards” produced by the designers. After a definition of the study context, we explain the experimental protocol which was followed. It was based on a questionnaire method involving 56 French subjects and applied in the field of shoes design. The data analysis was mainly proceed by the way of a Principal Component Analysis. The expected results were centred on the emotional evaluation of the Trendcards in order to establish further design rules for a Kansei Engineering system. In conclusion, we can recognize important semantic effects and influences which can be used as information for the implementation of the design elements data base