The role of language in the dissolution of the Soviet Union

From the introduction: The problem of unrest among the ethnic nationalities plagued the USSR since its inception in December 1922. [...] One crucial element in this problem had been Soviet Language-planning practices. [...] This study examines how language functioned with various dynamics of cultural pluralism in the enhanced ethnic mobilization and resultant dissolution of the USSR

Three-dimensional structure of basal body triplet revealed by electron cryo-tomography.

Basal bodies and centrioles play central roles in microtubule (MT)-organizing centres within many eukaryotes. They share a barrel-shaped cylindrical structure composed of nine MT triplet blades. Here, we report the structure of the basal body triplet at 33 Å resolution obtained by electron cryo-tomography and 3D subtomogram averaging. By fitting the atomic structure of tubulin into the EM density, we built a pseudo-atomic model of the tubulin protofilaments at the core of the triplet. The 3D density map reveals additional densities that represent non-tubulin proteins attached to the triplet, including a large inner circular structure in the basal body lumen, which functions as a scaffold to stabilize the entire basal body barrel. We found clear longitudinal structural variations along the basal body, suggesting a sequential and coordinated assembly mechanism. We propose a model in which δ-tubulin and other components participate in the assembly of the basal body

Rural innovation ecosystems and leading wellbeing

Innovation ecosystems are an emerging concept to describe place-based clusters of companies and other organisations, interacting for growth, development and sustainability, often focused around an ‘anchor institution’. Most successful examples operate in urban contexts. Literature on rural innovation suggests that the nature and needs of rural businesses can be different. This article reviews some of the key themes, including skill needs, aspirations and motivations of rural professionals, suitability of anchor institutions and leadership. Rural areas are known to have different demographic structures from urban ones. In particular, the tendency to attract highly qualified, but growth-reluctant, professionals, as ‘in-migrants’ is discussed. We hypothesise that a successful rural innovation ecosystem should focus more on sustainability, wellbeing and balance, rather than primarily on ambition and growth. The needs of individuals may also be more important than those of business units and a focus on skills development could be desirable

Editorial: Leading wellbeing in rural contexts

“Leading Wellbeing in Rural Contexts” is the theme of this Special Issue of The Journal of Corporate Citizenship (JCC). From the outset, the Special Issue was envisaged by the editors very much as an opening foray into an area of academic inquiry with a relatively unexplored body of literature to date and without a formal disciplinary “home”. It is very much the start of the discussion on this topic and one that we look forward to developing further in the future

Market share in the real estate brokerage industry / BEBR No.902

Includes bibliographical references (p. [17])

Proximity Map Projection: Interactive Visualisation for Image-Guided Surgery

This thesis describes a new interface technique for neurosurgeons and interventional radiologists performing image-guided therapies such as the ablation of brain tumours. This new technique is called Proximity Map Projection (PMP). Based on an analysis of related work, including the documented recent progress in enabling technologies, a case is made that present-day interactive visualisations supporting image-guided treatment of tumours will need to be dramatically improved to take advantage of the increased image refresh rates available as soon as 2020. This probable requirement for improved visualisation technology in the very near future motivated the invention and investigation of the PMP technique described in this thesis. The PMP technique is an interactive 2-D visual projection of the proximity of two 3-D surfaces – in particular, the surface representing the boundary of a thermal treatment region, and the surface of a tumour that is the target of this treatment. By clicking on interesting points in the PMP, surgeons are able to quickly select the 2-D MRI slices corresponding to those interesting points. The PMP provides a quick way of selecting a desired image from a large stack of 2-D MRI data, thus freeing up surgeons to spend a greater proportion of their time applying their expertise to decision making, rather than to navigating through image data. In this thesis, the PMP technique is presented and then refined as user studies are undertaken. In a series of investigations exploring its effectiveness, it is shown that the PMP technique enables non-expert users to quickly and accurately navigate to, and observe, desired individual medical images within large stacks of such images. A further experiment finds no significant differences in the way that medically experienced and inexperienced users use PMP to complete tasks. That study also verifies that users pay visual attention to PMP, regardless of whether or not they have interacted with it via the mouse. Observation of the visual attention of users during simulated tasks is used to provide further explanation of why PMP is effective. PMP’s potential to be used by medical professionals is then assessed via a series of semi-structured interviews with surgeons and interventional radiologists. Such experts are found to be optimistic about the potential for PMP to be incorporated into their workflows. This last phase of the research then culminates with observations of a number of medical procedures on human patients that are similar to the kinds of procedures to which PMP might be applied. From these observations it appears that, while they do enable life-saving therapies, present software interfaces are not entirely satisfying for the surgeons who use them. Opportunities for significant future research collaborations were identified during these interviews and observations. This thesis concludes by describing a practical path towards achieving its ultimate goal: the use of PMP in real-time image-guided medical procedures on human patients. Key activities on this path include: integration of PMP into the training and simulation version of a collaborator’s therapy system; conducting a case study to allow further refinement of the PMP technique; and inclusion of PMP in a clinical trial with surgeons

Targeted Reflection-Waveform Inversion of Experimental Ground-Penetrating Radar Data for Quantification of Oil Spills Under Sea Ice

Rapid spill detection and mapping are needed with increasing levels of oil exploration and production in the Arctic. Previous work has found that ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is effective for qualitative identification of oil spills under, and encapsulated within, sea ice. Quantifying the spill distribution will aid effective spill response. To this end, we have developed a targeted GPR reflection-waveform inversion algorithm to quantify the geometry of oil spills under and within sea ice. With known electric properties of the ice and oil, we have inverted for oil thickness and variations in ice thickness. We have tested the algorithm with data collected during a controlled spill experiment using 500-MHz radar reflection data. The algorithm simultaneously recovered the thickness of a 5-cm-thick oil layer at the base of the ice to within 8% of the control value, estimated the thickness of a 1-cm-thick oil layer encapsulated within the ice to within 30% of the control value, and accurately mapped centimeter-scale variations in ice thickness

Book reviews

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Arabidopsis nucleolar protein database (AtNoPDB)

The Arabidopsis Nucleolar Protein Database (http://bioinf.scri.sari.ac.uk/cgi-bin/atnopdb/home) provides information on 217 proteins identified in a proteomic analysis of nucleoli isolated from Arabidopsis cell culture. The database is organized on the basis of the Arabidopsis gene identifier number. The information provided includes protein description, protein class, whether or not the plant protein has a homologue in the most recent human nucleolar proteome and the results of reciprocal BLAST analysis of the human proteome. In addition, for one-third of the 217 Arabidopsis nucleolar proteins, localization images are available from analysis of full-length cDNA–green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions and the strength of signal in different parts of the cell—nucleolus, nucleolus-associated structures, nucleoplasm, nuclear bodies and extra-nuclear—is provided. For each protein, the most likely human and yeast orthologues, where identifiable through BLASTX analysis, are given with links to relevant information sources