The role of dynamin-related proteins in vacuole biogenesis in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biochemistry at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Dynamins are GTPases concerned with membrane tubulation and scission (Praefcke and McMahon, 2004). In the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the dynamin-related proteins (DRPs) Vps1 and Dnm1 act redundantly in peroxisome biogenesis (Jourdain et al., 2008) but nothing is known about their other cellular roles. Fission yeast cells contain ~20 small, spherical vacuoles that undergo fission or fusion in response to environmental signals (Bone et al., 1998). S. pombe cells lacking Vps1 had smaller vacuoles with reduced capacity for fusion in response to hypotonic stress but enhanced fission in response to hypertonic conditions. Unlike wild type, vps1Δ vacuoles showed no change in diameter in response to temperature stress. Vps1-Cgfp localised to the vacuolar membrane both in living cells and in isolated vacuoles. vps1Δ cells showed close to wild type levels of vacuole protein processing and normal actin organisation and endocytosis. Overexpression of Vps1 caused a global transformation of vacuoles from spherical to tubular. Spherical vacuoles were restored by repression of vps1 expression or by induction of vacuole fusion. Tubulation was blocked in the presence of GTPγS and in a vps1 mutant that lacked the entire GTPase domain. Vacuole tubulation was more extensive in the absence of a second DRP, Dnm1. The absence of Dnm1 abolished the hyper fission phenotype of vps1Δ, whereas overexpression of Dnm1 induced vacuole fission. These results are consistent with a model of vacuole fission in which Vps1 creates a tubule of an appropriate diameter for subsequent scission by another DRP. Preliminary evidence suggests that Dnm1 serves the latter role

Admissibility in Finitely Generated Quasivarieties

Checking the admissibility of quasiequations in a finitely generated (i.e., generated by a finite set of finite algebras) quasivariety Q amounts to checking validity in a suitable finite free algebra of the quasivariety, and is therefore decidable. However, since free algebras may be large even for small sets of small algebras and very few generators, this naive method for checking admissibility in \Q is not computationally feasible. In this paper, algorithms are introduced that generate a minimal (with respect to a multiset well-ordering on their cardinalities) finite set of algebras such that the validity of a quasiequation in this set corresponds to admissibility of the quasiequation in Q. In particular, structural completeness (validity and admissibility coincide) and almost structural completeness (validity and admissibility coincide for quasiequations with unifiable premises) can be checked. The algorithms are illustrated with a selection of well-known finitely generated quasivarieties, and adapted to handle also admissibility of rules in finite-valued logics

Augmenting IDEs with Runtime Information for Software Maintenance

Object-oriented language features such as inheritance, abstract types, late-binding, or polymorphism lead to distributed and scattered code, rendering a software system hard to understand and maintain. The integrated development environment (IDE), the primary tool used by developers to maintain software systems, usually purely operates on static source code and does not reveal dynamic relationships between distributed source artifacts, which makes it difficult for developers to understand and navigate software systems. Another shortcoming of today's IDEs is the large amount of information with which they typically overwhelm developers. Large software systems encompass several thousand source artifacts such as classes and methods. These static artifacts are presented by IDEs in views such as trees or source editors. To gain an understanding of a system, developers have to open many such views, which leads to a workspace cluttered with different windows or tabs. Navigating through the code or maintaining a working context is thus difficult for developers working on large software systems. In this dissertation we address the question how to augment IDEs with dynamic information to better navigate scattered code while at the same time not overwhelming developers with even more information in the IDE views. We claim that by first reducing the amount of information developers have to deal with, we are subsequently able to embed dynamic information in the familiar source perspectives of IDEs to better comprehend and navigate large software spaces. We propose means to reduce or mitigate the information by highlighting relevant source elements, by explicitly representing working context, and by automatically housekeeping the workspace in the IDE. We then improve navigation of scattered code by explicitly representing dynamic collaboration and software features in the static source perspectives of IDEs. We validate our claim by conducting empirical experiments with developers and by analyzing recorded development sessions

Quantum Computing with Electron Spins in Quantum Dots

Several topics on the implementation of spin qubits in quantum dots are reviewed. We first provide an introduction to the standard model of quantum computing and the basic criteria for its realization. Other alternative formulations such as measurement-based and adiabatic quantum computing are briefly discussed. We then focus on spin qubits in single and double GaAs electron quantum dots and review recent experimental achievements with respect to initialization, coherent manipulation and readout of the spin states. We extensively discuss the problem of decoherence in this system, with particular emphasis on its theoretical treatment and possible ways to overcome it.Comment: Lecture notes for Course CLXXI "Quantum Coherence in Solid State Systems" Int. School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Varenna, July 2008, 61 pages, 20 figure

The decalogue in the catechetical teaching of the Church: is the Decalogue an adequate basis for the ethical teaching of the Church?

The theme of the present thesis has arisen from a missionary situation. It is very likely that the question of the use made of the Decalogue in our catechetical -ethical teaching would not have demanded attention with a similar urgency in the realm of the "Older Churches ". In the confrontation with non -Christian religions and their ethics, however, we found ourselves faced with the questions: Is the Decalogue really the summary and embodiment of God's will for the shaping of Christian life? In how far do Christian ethics differ from pagan ethics? These questions inevitably led to an investigation of the New Testament evidence concerning our knowledge of God's will and the peculiarity of approach to Christian ethics.It was not intended at first to make an extensive study of the use made of the Decalogue for catechetical instruction in Church History. The main concern - as indicated by the subtitle of our thesis - lies in the systematic side of the problem. Nevertheless, a historical treatment of the question proved necessary for two reasons. The fact that the Decalogue was not used as a catechetical means until the 13th century seemed to be widely unknown. This matter is of course dealt with in the books concerned with the historical development of catechetical instruction, but it is seldom related to our present practice. So it was very useful for our purpose to collect the evidence from various sources and to place it in the framework of the present thesis.The second reason for going into Church History is of greater importance. It appears that the position of the Decalogue in the Churches of our days can only be understood properly against the background of historical development, e.g. the association of this Code with the idea of 'natural law' and the practice of auricular confession. To question the present position of the Decalogue thus meant to investigate the ideas connected with the Ten Commandments, and, above all, the place and significance attributed to them in the Catechisms of the Reformation.It is self -evident that such an extensive approach could only be made at the expense of thorough investigation of direct sources. The writer is fully aware of this fact, and it has often been a great temptation to make a more detailed study of some question of exegesis or theology, or to remain longer at a certain period of Church History. But the limited time as well as the usual size of a thesis forbade such special research, if the aim, i.e. the answering of the question about the adequacy of the Decalogue for catechetical teaching, was to be reached. As a matter of fact a great number of special studies dealing with certain aspects of our problem could be used as bases for the more comprehensive and systematic treatment of the present issue. It often happens that results gained by a thorough investigation in a limited field of theology or in Church History fail to bear upon the life of the Church, because they are not related to the whole of Christian doctrine and practice; this fact may be the justification for the approach chosen for the present treatment of our subject.I would like to thank the committee of the Basel Mission which conceded me a prolongued furlough to allow me to undertake this study. I am indebted to my academic advisers, the Rev. Professor T.F. Torrance and the Rev. Professor J. McIntyre for their advice and criticism, and to the Rev. Prof. N.W. Porteous, the Rev. Prof. W. Bieder, the Rev, Dr. Ian A. Moir, and the Rev. R.A.S. Barbour for their valuable suggestions. Many thanks are due also to Miss A.J.G.Hewat and several other Scottish friends who were so kind as to read and correct the drafts in order to make my English more intelligible. Finally I want to express my thanks to the Staff of the Library of New College, Edinburgh, as well as to the Staff of the Zentralbibliothek Zürich, for their untiring readiness in providing the necessary literature

Swiss Life Sciences – A Science Communication Project for Both Schools and the Wider Public Led by the Foundation Science et Cité

The foundation Science et Cité was founded 1998 with the aim to inform the wider Swiss public about current scientific topics and to generate a dialogue between science and society. Initiated as an independent foundation by the former State Secretary for Science and Research, Dr. Charles Kleiber, Science et Cité is now attached to the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences as a competence center for dialogue with the public. Due to its branches in all language regions of the country, the foundation is ideally suited to initiate and implement communication projects on a nationwide scale. These projects are subdivided into three categories: i) science communication for children/adolescents, ii) establishing a dialogue between science and the wider public, and iii) conducting the role of a national center of competence and networking in science communication. Swiss Life Sciences is a project that fits into all of these categories: a year-round program for schools is complemented with an annual event for the wider public. With the involvement of most of the major Swiss universities, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the foundation Gen Suisse and many other partners, Swiss Life Sciences also sets an example of national networking within the science communication community

Between context and community: Regional variation in register effects in the English dative alternation

This paper investigates the relationship between the stylistic context of utterance production and the language user’s regional background as influencing factors in one syntactic alternation, i.e., variation between the double object and the prepositional dative construction. To that end, this chapter zooms in on (1) the competition between stylistic context and regional community regarding dative choice, (2) cross-regional inter-register variation, and (3) register-specific coherence (aka intra-register variation). Comparing data from nine varieties of English using corpora that presumably share the same structure (and registers) reveals that community is more important than context, that the effect of register is regionally variable and that registers are largely but not fully coherent. These findings do not only stress the variable nature of probabilistic grammars but also point to the importance of regional effects when studying register variation (all scripts at https://​osf​.io​/3djkr/)