Quo vadis, Pep? Plant elicitor peptides at the crossroads of immunity, stress, and development

Peps were discovered as endogenous peptides triggering plant defence. Here we additionally highlight first studies showing their connection to plant stress resistance and developmen

The modularity of processing and perception in the visual brain

Practical and theoretical approaches were applied to try to unravel the relationship of the anatomical processing sites to the relative timing of processing and perception. Psychophysical, imaging and theoretical studies led to the overall conclusion that simultaneously presented attributes that are perceived at the same time are processed at the same site, and ones that are perceived at different times are processed at different sites. This is referred to as to the theory of perceptual sites. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments charted the organisation of the human colour centre (the V4-complex), and found it to be more complex than previously believed. It has two subdivisions, V4 and V4α, of which V4 is retinotopically organised, while V4α is not. The extent and organisation of the colour centre revealed in this study may account for the variability and severity of the syndrome of achromatopsia (acquired cortical colour blindness). Application of an independent components analysis (ICA) to fMRI data showed that these two subdivisions are coactive and can be isolated together from the remaining brain activity. It was further shown that, because cortical areas enjoy substantial autonomy, they differ in their activation time courses, such that ICA can dissect the brain computationally into its functional units, creating what we call chronoarchitectonic maps. The above evidence, when viewed in context of previous experimental and clinical studies, leads us to propose the following: First, that the activity in different visual areas reaches conscious perceptual endpoints at different times; leading to the supposition that consciousness is not unitary but consists of many microconsciousnesses. Second, that since activity at each processing site can become perceptually explicit, there is no terminal perceptual stage in the visual brain; leading to the conclusion that activity at each site of the visual brain can be integrated with activity at any other site, and to the theory of multistage integration

Grain rotation and lattice deformation during photoinduced chemical reactions revealed by in-situ X-ray nanodiffraction

In-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been used to investigate many physical science phenomena, ranging from phase transitions, chemical reaction and crystal growth to grain boundary dynamics. A major limitation of in-situ XRD and TEM is a compromise that has to be made between spatial and temporal resolution. Here, we report the development of in-situ X-ray nanodiffraction to measure atomic-resolution diffraction patterns from single grains with up to 5 millisecond temporal resolution, and make the first real-time observation of grain rotation and lattice deformation during photoinduced chemical reactions. The grain rotation and lattice deformation associated with the chemical reactions are quantified to be as fast as 3.25 rad./sec. and as large as 0.5 Angstroms, respectively. The ability to measure atomic-resolution diffraction patterns from individual grains with several millisecond temporal resolution is expected to find broad applications in materials science, physics, chemistry, and nanoscience.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Geometric scaling behavior of the scattering amplitude for DIS with nuclei

The main question, that we answer in this paper, is whether the initial condition can influence on the geometric scaling behavior of the amplitude for DIS at high energy. We re-write the non-linear Balitsky-Kovchegov equation in the form which is useful for treating the interaction with nuclei. Using the simplified BFKL kernel, we find the analytical solution to this equation with the initial condition given by the McLerran-Venugopalan formula. This solution does not show the geometric scaling behavior of the amplitude deeply in the saturation region. On the other hand, the BFKL Pomeron calculus with the initial condition at $x_A = 1/mR_A$ given by the solution to Balitsky-Kovchegov equation, leads to the geometric scaling behavior. The McLerran - Venugopalan formula is the natural initial condition for the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) approach. Therefore, our result gives a possibility to check experimentally which approach: CGC or BFKL Pomeron calculus, is more adequate.Comment: 19pp, 11 figures in .eps file

Data Enabled Failure Management Process (DEFMP) across the Product Value Chain

The continuously increasing amount of production data and the advancing development of digitization solutions promote advanced data analytics as a promising approach for failure management. Beyond the consideration of single units, examining the end-to-end value chain, including development, production, and usage, offers potential for failure in management-related investigations. Nonetheless, challenges regarding data integration from different entities along the value creation process, data volume and formats handling, effective analytics, and decision support arise. The CRISP-DM approach has become a widely established reference as a conceptual framework for data-driven solutions. However, the linkage between existing failure management procedures and the subsequent development of data-driven solutions needs to be specified. Accordingly, this paper presents a cross-value chain Data Enabled Failure Management Process (DEFMP). The central element is a process model to implement a cross-value chain data-enabled failure management, considering established quality management and data analytics approaches. Based on available failure, product, and process knowledge along the value chain, a path towards developing a comprehensive decision support system is shown. DEFMP combines a reactive failure process with a data-driven approach to incorporate data analytics for proactive improvements. Using DEFMP, the failure management process of a commercial vehicle manufacturer is adapted. With this, partial automation of failure management is made possible. In addition, the potential for improvements is identified and prioritized

Kairo, Ägypten. Restaurierungsprojekt Glasnegative im Center of Documentation, Zitadelle Kairo. Die Arbeiten der Jahre 2015 bis 2017

The Photographic Archive at the Citadel in Old Cairo / Egypt comprises ca. 14,000 objects, mainly silver gelatine glass negatives and acetate sheet film negatives. Since 2002 the DAI Cairo is – thanks to the support by the German Foreign Ministry – involved in a restauration and training program which aims at helping to secure, safely store, and conserve the glass negatives and at training of local inspectors in order to create local conservation and restauration capacities

Anxiety at age 15 predicts psychiatric diagnoses and suicidal ideation in late adolescence and young adulthood: results from two longitudinal studies

Background: Anxiety disorders in adolescence have been associated with several psychiatric outcomes. We sought to describe the prospective relationship between various levels of adolescent anxiety and psychiatric diagnoses (anxiety-, bipolar/psychotic-, depressive-, and alcohol and drug misuse disorders) and suicidal ideation in early adulthood while adjusting for childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Furthermore, we aimed to estimate the proportion attributable to the various anxiety levels for the outcomes. Methods: We used a nation-wide population-based Swedish twin study comprising 14,106 fifteen-year-old twins born in Sweden between 1994 and 2002 and a replication sample consisting of 9211 Dutch twins, born between 1985 and 1999. Adolescent anxiety was measured with parental and self-report. Psychiatric diagnoses and suicidal ideation were retrieved from the Swedish National Patient Register and via self-report. Results: Adolescent anxiety, of various levels, predicted, in the Swedish National Patient Register, anxiety disorders: hazard ratio (HR) = 4.92 (CI 3.33–7.28); depressive disorders: HR = 4.79 (3.23–7.08), and any psychiatric outcome: HR = 3.40 (2.58–4.48), when adjusting for ADHD, ASD, and DCD. The results were replicated in the Dutch data. The proportion of psychiatric outcome attributable to adolescent anxiety over time (age 15–21) was 29% for any psychiatric outcome, 43–40% for anxiety disorders, and 39–38% for depressive disorders. Conclusion: Anxiety in adolescence constitutes an important risk factor in the development of psychiatric outcomes, revealing unique predictions for the different levels of anxiety, and beyond the risk conferred by childhood ADHD, ASD, and DCD. Developmental trajectories leading into psychiatric outcomes should further empirically investigated

The family of Peps and their precursors in Arabidopsis: differential expression and localization but similar induction of pattern-triggered immune responses

In Arabidopsis thaliana, the endogenous danger peptides, AtPeps, have been associated with plant defences reminiscent of those induced in pattern-triggered immunity. AtPeps are perceived by two homologous receptor kinases, PEPR1 and PEPR2, and are encoded in the C termini of the PROPEP precursors. Here, we report that, contrary to the seemingly redundant AtPeps, the PROPEPs fall at least into two distinct groups. As revealed by promoter-β-glucuronidase studies, expression patterns of PROPEP1-3, -5, and -8 partially overlapped and correlated with those of the PEPR1 and -2 receptors, whereas those of PROPEP4 and -7 did not share any similarities with the former. Moreover, bi-clustering analysis indicated an association of PROPEP1, -2, and -3 with plant defence, whereas PROPEP5 expression was related to patterns of plant reproduction. In addition, at the protein level, PROPEPs appeared to be distinct. PROPEP3::YFP (fused to yellow fluorescent protein) was present in the cytosol, but, in contrast to previous predictions, PROPEP1::YFP and PROPEP6::YFP localized to the tonoplast. Together with the expression patterns, this could point to potentially non-redundant roles among the members of the PROPEP family. By contrast, their derived AtPeps, including the newly reported AtPep8, when applied exogenously, provoked activation of defence-related responses in a similar manner, suggesting a high level of functional redundancy between the AtPeps. Taken together, our findings reveal an apparent antagonism between AtPep redundancy and PROPEP variability, and indicate new roles for PROPEPs besides plant immunit

The Arabidopsis Pep-PEPR system is induced by herbivore feeding and contributes to JA-mediated plant defence against herbivory

Dysfunction of the Pep-PEPR system and its interplay with JA signalling results in increased plant susceptibility towards herbivore attack indicating that endogenous signalling also contributes to herbivore defenc

Scalable and Transfer-Free Fabrication of MoS2/SiO2 Hybrid Nanophotonic Cavity Arrays with Quality Factors Exceeding 4000

We report the fully-scalable fabrication of a large array of hybrid molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) -silicon dioxide (SiO2) one-dimensional, free-standing photonic-crystal cavities capable of enhancement of the MoS2 photoluminescence at the narrow cavity resonance. We demonstrate continuous tunability of the cavity resonance wavelength across the entire emission band of MoS2 simply by variation of the photonic crystal periodicity. Device fabrication started by substrate-scale growth of MoS2 using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on non-birefringent thermal oxide on a silicon wafer;it was followed by lithographic fabrication of a photonic crystal nanocavity array on the same substrate at more than 50% yield of functional devices. Our cavities exhibit three dominant modes with measured linewidths less than 0.2 nm, corresponding to quality factors exceeding 4000. All experimental findings are found to be in excellent agreement with finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations. CVD MoS2 provides scalable access to a direct band gap, inorganic, stable and efficient emitter material for onchip photonics without the need for epitaxy and is at CMOS compatible processing parameters even for back-end-of-line integration;our findings suggest feasibility of cavity based line-narrowing in MoS2-based on-chip devices as it is required for instance for frequency-multiplexed operation in on-chip optical communication and sensing