Design and development of a multipurpose, boresighted star tracker

Design and development of boresighted star tracke

Quantum spin Hall effect in bound states in continuum

Moving the polarization of the incident wave along a meridian of the Poincaré sphere, experimentally we show that the coupling with the fundamental Bloch's surface waves of the mode, provide a spatially coherent, macroscopic spinmomentum locked propagation along the symmetry axes of the PhCM. This novel mechanism of light-spin manipulation enables a versatile implementation of spin-optical structures that may pave the way to novel strategies for light spin technology and photonic multiplatform implementations

MULTIPLE PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL MARKERS IN HUMAN ANAPLASTIC THYROID CANCER: THE PUTATIVE UPSTREAM ROLE OF SOX-2

Background: Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma (ATC) is a rare and aggressive endocrine tumor, with highly undifferentiated morphology. It has been suggested that cancer stem cells (CSCs) might play a central role in ATC. The objectives of this study were the following: 1) to characterize CSCs from ex vivo ATC specimens by investigating the expression of several pluripotent stem cell markers; 2) to evaluate in vitro drug resistance modifications after specific CSC transcription factor switch off. Methods: Ex vivo: eight formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded ATC specimens were analyzed by RT and qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. In vitro: in ATC SW1736 cells the expression levels of OCT-4, NANOG and ABCG2 and the sensitivity to either cisplatin or doxorubicin were evaluated after silencing. Results: OCT-4, KLF4 and SOX2 transcription factors and C-KIT and THY-1 stem surface antigens showed variable up-regulation in all ATC cases. The SW1736 cell line was characterized by a high percentage of stem population (10.4 \ub1 2.1 % of cells were aldehyde dehydrogenase positive) and a high expression of several CSC markers (SOX2, OCT4, NANOG, C-MYC, SSEA4). SOX2 silencing down-regulated OCT-4, NANOG and ABCG2. SOX2 silencing sensitized SW1736 cells, causing a significant cell death increase (1.8 fold) in comparison to control cells with 10 \ub5M cisplatin (93.9\ub13.4% vs. 52.6\ub19.4%, p<0.01) and 2.7 fold with 0.5\ub5M doxorubicin (45.8\ub19.9% vs. 17.1\ub13.4% p<0.01). ABCG2 silencing caused increased cell death with both cisplatin (74.9\ub11.4%) and doxorubicin treatment (74.1\ub10.1%) vs. no-target-treated cells (respectively, 45.8\ub11.0% and 48.6\ub11.0%, p<0.001). Conclusions: The characterization of CSCs in ATC through the analysis of multiple pluripotent stem cell markers might be useful in identifying cells with a stem-like phenotype capable of resisting conventional chemotherapy. In addition, our data demonstrate that SOX2 switch-off through ABCG2 transporter down-regulation has a major role in overcoming CSC chemotherapy resistance

A new paradigm of effective communication based on voice shapes

A new relational paradigm is proposed that is based on voice shapes, which represent the speech style used to establish an effective communication. The functional voice shapes are: "rounded", which means that a colloquial and empath communication is established; "triangular", which means transmitting energy, joy and interest; "squared", which highlights competence and solidity. The dysfunctional shapes are: "flat", a monotone style that does not capture the listener attention; "spiky", which is an aggressive style that transmits anger or blame towards the listener. An attempt has been made to match the voice shapes to acoustic features of the vocal signal, starting from parameters extracted from the recordings of 12 actors that have reproduced the voice shapes. Preliminary results allowed a subset of the estimated parameters to be identified that have shown good capabilities in discriminating the voice shapes. These parameters are related to distributions of voicing and silence periods, pitch and Cepstral Peak Prominence Smoothed. A web campaign has been also launched asking untrained subjects to "give their voice to the research". Even though only two voice shapes have been identified in this data set, a comparison with the parameters extracted from the trained subjects has shown a good agreement

Lanthanide Identity Governs Guest-Induced Dimerization in LnIII[15-MCCuIIN(L-pheHA)-5])3+ Metallacrowns

Series of lanthanide-containing metallic coordination complexes are frequently presented as structurally analogous, due to the similar chemical and coordinative properties of the lanthanides. In the case of chiral (LnIII[15-MC (Formula presented.) N(L-pheHA)-5])3+ metallacrowns (MCs), which are well established supramolecular hosts, the formation of dimers templated by a dicarboxylate guest (muconate) in solution of neutral pH is herein shown to have a unique dependence on the identity of the MC's central lanthanide. Calorimetric data and nuclear magnetic resonance diffusion studies demonstrate that MCs containing larger or smaller lanthanides as the central metal only form monomeric host-guest complexes whereas analogues with intermediate lanthanides (for example, Eu, Gd, Dy) participate in formation of dimeric host-guest-host compartments. The driving force for the dimerization event across the series is thought to be a competition between formation of highly stable MCs (larger lanthanides) and optimally linked bridging guests (smaller lanthanides)

Eficiência de bio e imunoensaio para detecção de semente de soja geneticamente modificada tolerante ao glifosato em lotes de sementes de soja não transgênica.

A produção de semente de soja livre de sementes de outras cultivares ou outras sementes, dentro dos limites estabelecidos pela legislação, é facilitada pelo fato da soja ser espécie autógama. No caso específico das cultivares geneticamente modificadas (GM), a baixa taxa de fecundação cruzada que ainda pode existir é um dos pontos críticos de contaminação genética dos campos de sementes convencionais por transgênicos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a eficiência de dois métodos de detecção de misturas de semente GM em amostras de soja convencional, para avaliar lotes de sementes quanto aos limites exigidos pela legislação. Foram utilizadas amostras de semente da cultivar BRSMG 810C (convencional) e da cultivar BRSMG 850GRR. Foram avaliados dois tamanhos de amostras (200 e 400 sementes), com quatro níveis de contaminação (semente GM adicionada às amostras convencionais, para se obter 0%, 0,5%, 1% e 1,5%), e dois métodos de detecção: imunoensaio de fluxo lateral e bioensaio (pré-embebição em solução de herbicida a 0,6% do equivalente ácido, na proporção de 2,5 vezes o peso do substrato, por 16 horas no escuro a 25oC). O método de bioensaio é eficiente na detecção da presença de GM em amostras de semente convencional de soja, desde que as mesmas apresentem alta qualidade fisiológica. Existe correlação significativa entre os valores obtidos pelo método de detecção por bioensaio e os níveis de contaminação estabelecidos (r= 0,82; p< ou = 0,0001). O tamanho da amostra não influenciou a eficiência dos dois métodos na detecção da presença de sementes adventícias (GM)

Use of molecular markers to identify soybean varieties: the experience of a public soybean breeding program.

The aim of this work is to demonstrate some cases where molecular markers were useful to identify soybean varieties in order to help breeders and the official service of protection of varieties in Brazil. The partnership between Embrapa/Epamig/Fundação Triângulo, located at Uberaba, Minas Gerais State, released some important soybean varieties adapted for the Brazilian Savannah region. One of the most important varieties developed by these partners, which was a very important variety in the recent soybean history in Brazil and also in the world, was MG/BR 46 (Conquista). ?Conquista? was released in 1995 and seemed to be just more one soybean variety for the use of soybean farmers in the Minas Gerais State, but the history proved that it was very different of the other varieties. With high yield stability, adapted to a broad range of environmental conditions (especially unfavourable conditions) and with a very rustic root system (including resistance to both root rot nematode species more common in Brazil, Meloidogyne javanica and M. incognita), ?Conquista? was sown in more than three million hectares in Brazil in a growing season. It is still sown widely (about 100.00 hectares in the growing season of 2010/2011) and was also largely used in crosses by Brazilian soybean breeders. A famous chapter of ?Conquista? history was the dispute between Fundação Triângulo (Minas Gerais State) and Fundação MT (Mato Grosso State), both of them Embrapa partners. Fundação MT released a new variety named MT/BR 49 (Pioneira), a few months after ?Conquista? was released, and a breeder suspected that ?Pioneira? was very similar to ?Conquista?. The question was clarified only with the use of BMT/13/25 page 2 molecular markers and the conclusion was that they presented the same genotype. Another history was that ?Conquista? was used to develop some RR (Roundup Ready) transgenic derived varieties (for example BRS Valiosa RR and BRS Favorita RR), and a problem of identification arose during the process of genetic seed production of BRS Valiosa RR and BRS Favorita RR, but in this case the SSR molecular markers used did not solve the problem. Another case of the use of molecular markers in Embrapa?s soybean breeding program developed by the partners of the Minas Gerais State is to clear a doubt about the origin of the variety BRSMG 800A, the first soybean Brazilian with brown tegument, and that was suspected to be a mutation for tegument color of the variety BRSMG 790A

“Everything Will Be Fine”: A Study on the Relationship between Employees’ Perception of Sustainable HRM Practices and Positive Organizational Behavior during COVID19

Sustainable human resource management practices represent one of the main organizational strategy to survive and to prosper within the fast-moving current scenario. According to this view, sustainability is strictly linked to the consideration of the unique and distinctive value that each human resource means for organizations. The recent COVID19 pandemic is having a serious impact on organizations and on their employees, it is profoundly changing the working modalities, mainly introducing smart working practices that were showed to have significant consequences on workers’ wellbeing. This study aims to investigate employees’ perception of sustainable HRM in the frame of the COVID19 emergency, exploring if and to what extent perceptions of involvement and organizational support together with individual coping strategies associated with organizational change could influence positive organizational behaviors, namely organizational engagement and extra-role behavior. The research involved 549 participants who completed a self-report online questionnaire encompassing psycho-social measures of the abovementioned variables. Results confirmed the important role played by sustainable HRM practices both for the capitalization of human resources and of organizational performance in a time of great uncertainty and global crisis. Implications for theory and HRM practice development were also discussed