An ERP Investigation of Hand-Based Bias on Visual Attention

Recent behavioral studies have investigated the importance of hand and arm position in visual attentional processes. Reed et al. (2006) found facilitated (faster) detection for targets that appear in the space near the hand, relative to targets appearing on the opposite side of a monitor display. The current study aimed to explore the potential bottom-up and top-down neural sources underlying this hand-bias effect on attention with ERP. Using a standard, non-predictive visual cuing paradigm, we examined early (N1, P1) and later (P3) ERP components in response target presentations in three conditions: with the non-responding hand resting on the table (Resting), with the hand held up near the screen and target location (Up), and with the hand held up but away from the screen (Away). An effect of hand-position was found for the P3 in a central electrode group, in which validity effects that were present in the Resting and Away conditions, were not present in the Up condition. This result suggests that top-down sources of attentional bias from positioning a hand near the screen can alter the occurrence of validity effects in this ERP component. However, significant effects were not found in the earlier P1 and N1 components, nor did the behavioral results completely replicate the original findings of Reed et al. (2006). The limited findings from these other aspects of the study may be explained by a number of limitations discussed in the paper

Low-cost resin infusion mould tooling for carbon fibre composites manufacture

This article describes the research to date carried out under the BAE Systems/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)-funded programme ‘Flapless Aerial Vehicle Integrated Interdisciplinary Research’ (FLAVIIR), aimed at developing innovative technologies for the low-cost manufacture of next-generation Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The aim of the researchers in FLAVIIR was to develop low-cost innovative tooling technologies to enable the affordable manufacture of complex composite aerospace structures. The advances in tooling technology were achieved through the application of rapid prototyping, tooling and manufacture technologies to provide rapidly configured and reconfigurable tool concepts, for low-cost resin infusion moulding. This article introduces three tooling innovations: reconfigurable tooling concept, variable cavity tooling, and porous cavity tooling

Funneled angle landscapes for helical proteins

We use crystallographic data for four helical iron proteins (cytochrome c-b₅₆₂, cytochrome c′, sperm whale myoglobin, human cytoglobin) to calculate radial and angular signatures as each unfolds from the native state stepwise though four unfolded states. From these data we construct an angle phase diagram to display the evolution of each protein from its native state; and, in turn, the phase diagram is used to construct a funneled angle landscape for comparison with the topography of its folding energy landscape. We quantify the departure of individual helical and turning regions from the areal, angular profile of corresponding regions of the native state. This procedure allows us to identify the similarities and differences among individual helical and turning regions in the early stages of unfolding of the four helical heme proteins

Structural stability of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease: Can metal ions affect function?

We have investigated the structural stability of the SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome)-CoV-2 main protease monomer (Mpro). We quantified the spatial and angular changes in the structure using two independent analyses, one based on a spatial metrics (δ, ratio), the second on angular metrics. The order of unfolding of the 10 helices in Mpro is characterized by beta vs alpha plots similar to those of cytochromes and globins. The longest turning region is anomalous in the earliest stage of unfolding. In an investigation of excluded-volume effects, we found that the maximum spread in average molecular-volume values for Mpro, cytochrome c-b₅₆₂, cytochrome c’, myoglobin, and cytoglobin is ~10 ų. This apparent universality is a consequence of the dominant contributions from six residues: ALA, ASP, GLU, LEU, LYS and VAL. Of the seven Mpro histidines, residues 41, 163, 164, and 246 are in stable H-bonded regions; metal ion binding to one or more of these residues could break up the H-bond network, thereby affecting protease function. Our analysis also indicated that metal binding to cysteine residues 44 and 145 could disable the enzyme

Unfolding cytochromes c-b₅₆₂ and Rd apo b₅₆₂

We have analyzed the early stages of unfolding of cytochromes c-b₅₆₂ (PDB ID: 2BC5) and Rd apo b₅₆₂ (PDB ID: 1YYJ). Our geometrical approach proceeds from an analysis of the crystal structure reported for each protein. We quantify, residue-by-residue and region-by-region, the spatial and angular changes in the structure as the protein denatures, and quantify differences that result from the seven residues that differ in the two proteins. Using two independent analyses, one based on spatial metrics and the second on angular metrics, we establish the order of unfolding of the five helices in cyt c-b₅₆₂ and the four helices in the apo protein. For the two helices nearest the N-terminal end of both proteins, the ones in the apo protein unfold first. For the two helices nearest the C-terminal end, the interior helix of the apo protein unfolds first, whereas the terminal helix of the holo protein unfolds first. Excluded-volume effects (repulsive interactions) are minimized in turning regions; the overall range in Δ values is Δ = 36.3 ų for cyt c-b₅₆₂ and Δ = 36.6 ų for the apo protein, whereas the span for all 20 amino acids is Δ = 167.7 ų. As our work indicates that the interior helix of cytochrome c-b₅₆₂ is the first to fold, we suggest that this helix protects the heme from misligation, consistent with ultrafast folding over a minimally frustrated funneled landscape