4,268 research outputs found
Developing a multi-pollutant conceptual framework for the selection and targeting of interventions in water industry catchment management schemes
In recent years water companies have started to adopt catchment management to reduce diffuse pollution in drinking water supply areas. The heterogeneity of catchments and the range of pollutants that must be removed to meet the EU Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) limits make it difficult to prioritise areas of a catchment for intervention. Thus conceptual frameworks are required that can disaggregate the components of pollutant risk and help water companies make decisions about where to target interventions in their catchments to maximum effect. This paper demonstrates the concept of generalising pollutants in the same framework by reviewing key pollutant processes within a source-mobilisation-delivery context. From this, criteria are developed (with input from water industry professionals involved in catchment management) which highlights the need for a new water industry specific conceptual framework. The new CaRPoW (Catchment Risk to Potable Water) framework uses the Source-Mobilisation-Delivery concept as modular components of risk that work at two scales, source and mobilisation at the field scale and delivery at the catchment scale. Disaggregating pollutant processes permits the main components of risk to be ascertained so that appropriate interventions can be selected. The generic structure also allows for the outputs from different pollutants to be compared so that potential multiple benefits can be identified. CaRPow provides a transferable framework that can be used by water companies to cost-effectively target interventions under current conditions or under scenarios of land use or climate change
RP-1 and JP-8 Thermal Stability Experiments
This work experimentally investigates the effect of fuel composition changes on jet and rocket fuel thermal stability. A High Reynolds Number Thermal Stability test device evaluated JP-8 and RP-1 fuels. The experiment consisted of an electrically heated, stainless steel capillary tube with a controlled fuel outlet temperature. An optical pyrometer monitored the increasing external temperature profiles of the capillary tube as deposits build inside during each test. Multiple runs of each fuel composition provided results on measurement repeatability. Testing a t two different facilities provided data on measurement reproducibility. The technique is able to distinguish between thermally stable and unstable compositions of JP-8 and intermediate blends made by combining each composition. The technique is also able to distinguish among standard RP-1 rocket fuels and those having reduced sulfur levels. Carbon burn off analysis of residue in the capillary tubes on the RP-1 fuels correlates with the external temperature results
Brief mindfulness training enhances cognitive control in socioemotional contexts: Behavioral and neural evidence.
In social contexts, the dynamic nature of others' emotions places unique demands on attention and emotion regulation. Mindfulness, characterized by heightened and receptive moment-to-moment attending, may be well-suited to meet these demands. In particular, mindfulness may support more effective cognitive control in social situations via efficient deployment of top-down attention. To test this, a randomized controlled study examined effects of mindfulness training (MT) on behavioral and neural (event-related potentials [ERPs]) responses during an emotional go/no-go task that tested cognitive control in the context of emotional facial expressions that tend to elicit approach or avoidance behavior. Participants (N = 66) were randomly assigned to four brief (20 min) MT sessions or to structurally equivalent book learning control sessions. Relative to the control group, MT led to improved discrimination of facial expressions, as indexed by d-prime, as well as more efficient cognitive control, as indexed by response time and accuracy, and particularly for those evidencing poorer discrimination and cognitive control at baseline. MT also produced better conflict monitoring of behavioral goal-prepotent response tendencies, as indexed by larger No-Go N200 ERP amplitudes, and particularly so for those with smaller No-Go amplitude at baseline. Overall, findings are consistent with MT's potential to enhance deployment of early top-down attention to better meet the unique cognitive and emotional demands of socioemotional contexts, particularly for those with greater opportunity for change. Findings also suggest that early top-down attention deployment could be a cognitive mechanism correspondent to the present-oriented attention commonly used to explain regulatory benefits of mindfulness more broadly
Solution structure of a bacterial microcompartment targeting peptide and its application in the construction of an ethanol bioreactor
Targeting of proteins to bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) is mediated by an 18-amino-acid peptide sequence. Herein, we report the solution structure of the N-terminal targeting peptide (P18) of PduP, the aldehyde dehydrogenase associated with the 1,2-propanediol utilization metabolosome from Citrobacter freundii. The solution structure reveals the peptide to have a well-defined helical conformation along its whole length. Saturation transfer difference and transferred NOE NMR has highlighted the observed interaction surface on the peptide with its main interacting shell protein, PduK. By tagging both a pyruvate decarboxylase and an alcohol dehydrogenase with targeting peptides, it has been possible to direct these enzymes to empty BMCs in vivo and to generate an ethanol bioreactor. Not only are the purified, redesigned BMCs able to transform pyruvate into ethanol efficiently, but the strains containing the modified BMCs produce elevated levels of alcohol
Cartan subalgebras in C*-algebras of Hausdorff etale groupoids
The reduced -algebra of the interior of the isotropy in any Hausdorff
\'etale groupoid embeds as a -subalgebra of the reduced
-algebra of . We prove that the set of pure states of with unique
extension is dense, and deduce that any representation of the reduced
-algebra of that is injective on is faithful. We prove that there
is a conditional expectation from the reduced -algebra of onto if
and only if the interior of the isotropy in is closed. Using this, we prove
that when the interior of the isotropy is abelian and closed, is a Cartan
subalgebra. We prove that for a large class of groupoids with abelian
isotropy---including all Deaconu--Renault groupoids associated to discrete
abelian groups--- is a maximal abelian subalgebra. In the specific case of
-graph groupoids, we deduce that is always maximal abelian, but show by
example that it is not always Cartan.Comment: 14 pages. v2: Theorem 3.1 in v1 incorrect (thanks to A. Kumjain for
pointing out the error); v2 shows there is a conditional expectation onto
iff the interior of the isotropy is closed. v3: Material (including some
theorem statements) rearranged and shortened. Lemma~3.5 of v2 removed. This
version published in Integral Equations and Operator Theor
Isolation of Arabidopsis extracellular ATPâbinding proteins by affinity proteomics and identification of PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1 as an extracellular protein essential for fumonisin B1 toxicity
ATP is secreted to the extracellular matrix where it activates plasma membrane receptors for controlling plant growth and stressâadaptive processes. DOES NOT RESPOND TO NUCLEOTIDES 1 (DORN1), the first plant ATP receptor was identified, but key downstream proteins are sought after. Here, we identified 120 proteins secreted by Arabidopsis cell cultures and screened them for putative stressâresponsive proteins using ATPâaffinity purification. We report three Arabidopsis proteins isolated by ATPâaffinity: PEROXIDASE 52, SUBTILASEâLIKE SERINE PROTEASE 1.7, and PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1. In wildtype Arabidopsis, expression of genes encoding all three proteins responded to fumonisin B1, a cell deathâactivating mycotoxin. Expression of PEROXIDASE 52 and PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1 genes was altered in fumonisin B1âresistant salicylic acid inductionâdeficient (sid2) mutants. Exposure to fumonisin B1 suppressed PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1 expression in sid2 mutants, suggesting that inactivation of this gene might provide mycotoxin tolerance. Accordingly, gene knockout mutants of PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1 were resistant to fumonisin B1âinduced death. Activation of PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1 gene expression by exogenous ATP was not blocked in dorn1 lossâofâfunction mutants, indicating that DORN1 is not required. Furthermore, exogenous ATP rescued both wildtype and dorn1 mutants from fumonisin B1 toxicity, suggesting that different ATP receptor(s) are operational in this process. Our results point to the existence of additional plant ATP receptor(s) and provide crucial downstream targets for use in designing screens to identify these receptors. Finally, PHOSPHOLIPASE CâLIKE 1 serves as a convergence point for fumonisin B1 and extracellular ATP signalling, and functions in Arabidopsis stress response to fumonisin B1
Recommended from our members
The peripheral blood transcriptome in septic cardiomyopathy: an observational, pilot study.
BACKGROUND:Septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) is common in sepsis and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV GLS), measured by speckle tracking echocardiography, allows improved identification of impaired cardiac contractility. The peripheral blood transcriptome may be an important window into SCM pathophysiology. We therefore studied the peripheral blood transcriptome and LV GLS in a prospective cohort of patients with sepsis. RESULTS:In this single-center observational pilot study, we enrolled adult patients (age >â18) with sepsis within 48âh of admission to the ICU. SCM was defined as LV GLS >â-â17% based on echocardiograms performed within 72âh of admission. We enrolled 27 patients, 24 of whom had high-quality RNA results; 18 (75%) of 24 had SCM. The group was 50% female and had a median (IQR) age of 59.5 (48.5-67.0) years and admission APACHE II score of 21.0 (16.0-32.3). Forty-six percent had septic shock. After filtering for low-expression and non-coding genes, 15,418 protein coding genes were expressed and 73 had significantly different expression between patients with vs. without SCM. In patients with SCM, 43 genes were upregulated and 30 were downregulated. Pathway analysis identified enrichment in type 1 interferon signaling (adjusted pâ<â10-5). CONCLUSIONS:In this hypothesis-generating study, SCM was associated with upregulation of genes in the type 1 interferon signaling pathway. Interferons are cytokines that stimulate the innate and adaptive immune response and are implicated in the early proinflammatory and delayed immunosuppression phases of sepsis. While type 1 interferons have not been implicated previously in SCM, interferon therapy (for viral hepatitis and Kaposi sarcoma) has been associated with reversible cardiomyopathy, perhaps suggesting a role for interferon signaling in SCM
- âŠ