Impact of Zika virus on human dendritic cells

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus, transmitted to humans by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitos, and has also more recently been shown to transmit from human-to-human sexually and vertically from mother to fetus. ZIKV infection, typically causing mild clinical symptoms, has been linked to a range of neurological complications including microcephaly in fetuses and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. ZIKV’s recent emergence poses a public health emergency, and new pathological information is required for developing effective interventions to ameliorate the burden of disease. The dendritic cell (DC), the key innate immune responder that ultimately drives anti-viral adaptive immunity, has known interactions with ZIKV. However, the nature of this interaction, and the DCs role in ZIKV pathology needs further elucidation. Here we hypothesize ZIKV can infect and modify the phenotype and function of dendritic cells, which influences the nature of their subsequent interplay with pre-existing ZIKV antigen responsive memory T cells. We found that ZIKV can indeed infect both immature and mature DCs, and that DCs can transfer infection to bystander cells. We also found that exposure of DCs to ZIKV alters their function, maturation status, and survival. Interestingly, we note that the capacity of ZIKV to infect DCs is greatly influenced by the environmental signals received by DCs during their maturation process, and that type-1 polarized DC are inherently more resistant than type-2 matured DC. Importantly, when activated by the CD4+ T cell helper signal CD40L, ZIKV infected DC proved to be more resistant to ZIKV-induced cell death. And finally, on the background of dengue virus immunity, we found that dengue antigen specific memory T cells cross-react with ZIKV antigen presented by DC, leading to enhanced DC activation rather than elimination. In terms of public health significance, these findings may contribute to our understanding of basic ZIKV and DC interactions, and may help to provide a better understanding of ZIKV pathogenesis leading towards the development of effective interventions to protect and treat those who may become exposed to ZIKV

Effects of perceived professor deception on students' competence, attitudes, and rapport

Student-teacher relationships are one of the most vital predictors in determining academic performance at a college (Yoon, 2002). Sánchez and colleagues (2011) found the second highest factor for student’s perspective of the professors’ role in a university is affected by the student-teacher relationship capabilities on the professors’ end. A notable importance is what would happen if the professor began to disrupt this relationship between them and the students by lying to them. Lies can actively cause distrust between the professor and students. Schweitzer, Hershey and Bradlow (2004) demonstrated that trust between people could not fully recover from the damage of deception between those individuals. This distrust from deception can negatively affect attitudes. Overall results indicate that students have negative specific attitudes towards deception

De-globalisation in practice : New Zealand strategists’ interpretations.

This research investigates strategists and their interpretations and actions as a result of the contemporary de-globalisation phenomenon. Specifically de-globalisation refers to economic and political influences inhibiting interdependence within nations. The aim of this research is to study de-globalisation and its impact upon New Zealand strategy practitioners within internationally operating organisations. De-globalisation has recently received attention within international business literature and the phenomenon’s macro implications are well- documented. The research gap this study identifies is to what extent de-globalisation impacts organisational strategy and its relevant actors. A strategy practice research paradigm offers a renewed approach to strategy research, focusing upon the everyday sayings and doings of strategy. An integration of a macro phenomenon such as de-globalisation and practice based strategy is a unique blend of academic influences. The researcher conducted a total of six semi- structured interviews with strategy practitioners from a range of New Zealand exporting organisations. The transcripts from the interviews were analysed using a qualitative content analysis. The process sorted excerpts of the data into larger expected and emergent thematic groups. Actors’ accounts of strategizing in a de-globalisation environment supply the researcher with a range of approaches, perspectives and organisational responses to this phenomenon. This content is used to answer how senior strategists are characterising de- globalisation events, how they have observed changes within strategic activity in response and identify to what extent do they consider the future strategic implications of de-globalisation. The discussion reveals aspects about practitioners interpretations and strategic considerations that have emerged within an environment subject to the implications of de-globalisation. It is hoped that the study can contribute to both respective academic literatures and be informative for practitioners

Cleantech Commercialization from a Technology Push Perspective

Currently, there is a debate about the role government should play in a well-functioning innovation system. Some argue government should take a passive role, only intervening in the system when it fails while others argue that government needs to be more active by taking on risk and directly supporting. This debate is particularly relevant for the cleantech industry since many believe that government action is necessary to achieve its full potential. Norway is an interesting country to study since they have a strong history in cleantech but ranks lower than its neighbour, Denmark in terms of cleantech commercialization. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate and identify ways that the Norwegian government could improve the commercialization of cleantech in Norway using publically funded technology-push based initiatives by comparing with Denmark. The theoretical framework used is based on a commercialization process model developed by Vijay Jolly and the triple helix innovation systems model. The commercialization model provided insight into the actual process of commercialization and identified areas where Norway was weak in comparison to Denmark. The triple helix model identified weaknesses about how the initiatives in each country affect the innovation system. The analysis indicates that Norway focuses more on the early stages of the commercialization process and Denmark on the later stages. The most challenging stage for Norway is the demonstration phase. In regards to the triple helix theory, Norway focuses less on supporting the creation of innovation and consensus spaces than Denmark. Furthermore, Denmark targets small and medium enterprises more often than Norway. Additional findings indicate Norway has both a weak industry sphere and a weak home market. The recommendation is that Norway could potentially improve the commercialization of cleantech by having the state take on the role of industry until industry is capable of performing it themselves. Norway could also focus on encouraging the development of more consensus and innovation spaces as well as creating more mechanisms that require collaboration between the three actors and that directly support young SMEs with a demonstrated ambition for growth. Last, new areas of potential research were identified based on conclusion of the findings and recommendations

Connecting the time domain community with the Virtual Astronomical Observatory

The time domain has been identified as one of the most important areas of astronomical research for the next decade. The Virtual Observatory is in the vanguard with dedicated tools and services that enable and facilitate the discovery, dissemination and analysis of time domain data. These range in scope from rapid notifications of time-critical astronomical transients to annotating long-term variables with the latest modeling results. In this paper, we will review the prior art in these areas and focus on the capabilities that the VAO is bringing to bear in support of time domain science. In particular, we will focus on the issues involved with the heterogeneous collections of (ancillary) data associated with astronomical transients, and the time series characterization and classification tools required by the next generation of sky surveys, such as LSST and SKA.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of SPIE Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes and Systems IV, Amsterdam, 2012 July 2-

Identity Foreclosure, Athletic Identity, and College Sport Participation

A study was conducted with 502 college students (246 non-athletes, 90 intramural athletes, and 166 intercollegiate athletes) to investigate the relationship between self-identity variables (i.e., identity foreclosure and athletic identity) and college sport participation. The researchers used two scales, the foreclosure subscale of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (OM-EIS, Adams et al., 1979) and the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS, Brewer et al., 1993). Results indicated that identity foreclosure and athletic identity increase with level of sport participation. Identity foreclosure was significantly lower for upperclass students than for underclass students among non-athletes, but not among intramural and intercollegiate student-athletes. No gender differences were found. These findings suggested that intercollegiate student-athletes may commit to the role of "athlete" without exploring alternative identities. Implications of the results for the academic and career development of student-athletes were discussed. "The results of this study imply that college student-athletes may identify strongly with the athlete role to the extent that they fail to explore alternative identities." - p.

A decade-spanning high-resolution asynchronous optical sampling terahertz time-domain and frequency comb spectrometer

We present the design and capabilities of a high-resolution, decade-spanning ASynchronous OPtical Sampling (ASOPS)-based TeraHertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) instrument. Our system employs dual mode-locked femtosecond Ti:Sapphire oscillators with repetition rates offset locked at 100 Hz via a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) operating at the 60th harmonic of the ∼80 MHz oscillator repetition rates. The respective time delays of the individual laser pulses are scanned across a 12.5 ns window in a laboratory scan time of 10 ms, supporting a time delay resolution as fine as 15.6 fs. The repetition rate of the pump oscillator is synchronized to a Rb frequency standard via a PLL operating at the 12th harmonic of the oscillator repetition rate, achieving milliHertz (mHz) stability. We characterize the timing jitter of the system using an air-spaced etalon, an optical cross correlator, and the phase noise spectrum of the PLL. Spectroscopic applications of ASOPS-THz-TDS are demonstrated by measuring water vapor absorption lines from 0.55 to 3.35 THz and acetonitrile absorption lines from 0.13 to 1.39 THz in a short pathlength gas cell. With 70 min of data acquisition, a 50 dB signal-to-noise ratio is achieved. The achieved root-mean-square deviation is 14.6 MHz, with a mean deviation of 11.6 MHz, for the measured water line center frequencies as compared to the JPL molecular spectroscopy database. Further, with the same instrument and data acquisition hardware, we use the ability to control the repetition rate of the pump oscillator to enable THz frequency comb spectroscopy (THz-FCS). Here, a frequency comb with a tooth width of 5 MHz is generated and used to fully resolve the pure rotational spectrum of acetonitrile with Doppler-limited precision. The oscillator repetition rate stability achieved by our PLL lock circuits enables sub-MHz tooth width generation, if desired. This instrument provides unprecedented decade-spanning, tunable resolution, from 80 MHz down to sub-MHz, and heralds a new generation of gas-phase spectroscopic tools in the THz region

Poly[[{μ3-2-[4-(2-hy­droxy­eth­yl)piperazin-1-yl]ethane­sulfonato}­silver(I)] trihydrate]

Ethane­sulfonic acid-based buffers like 2-[4-(2-hy­droxy­eth­yl)­piperazin-1-yl]ethane­sulfonic acid (HEPES) are commonly used in biological experiments because of their ability to act as non-coordinating ligands towards metal ions. However, recent work has shown that some of these buffers may in fact coordinate metal ions. The title complex, {[Ag(C8H17N2O4S)]·3H2O}n, is a metal–organic framework formed from HEPES and a silver(I) ion. In this polymeric complex, each Ag atom is primarily coordinated by two N atoms in a distorted linear geometry. Weaker secondary bonding inter­actions from the hy­droxy and sulfate O atoms of HEPES complete a distorted seesaw geometry. The crystal structure is stabilized by O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding interactions

The effect of warming on grassland evapotranspiration partitioning using laser-based isotope monitoring techniques

Author's manuscript made available in accordance with the publisher's policy.The proportion of transpiration (T) in total evapotranspiration (ET) is an important parameter that provides insight into the degree of biological influence on the hydrological cycles. Studies addressing the effects of climatic warming on the ecosystem total water balance are scarce, and measured warming effects on the T/ET ratio in field experiments have not been seen in the literature. In this study, we quantified T/ET ratios under ambient and warming treatments in a grassland ecosystem using a stable isotope approach. The measurements were made at a long-term grassland warming site in Oklahoma during the May–June peak growing season of 2011. Chamber-based methods were used to estimate the δ2H isotopic composition of evaporation (δE), transpiration (δT) and the aggregated evapotranspiration (δET). A modified commercial conifer leaf chamber was used for δT, a modified commercial soil chamber was used for δE and a custom built chamber was used for δET. The δE, δET and δT were quantified using both the Keeling plot approach and a mass balance method, with the Craig–Gordon model approach also used to calculate δE. Multiple methods demonstrated no significant difference between control and warming plots for both δET and δT. Though the chamber-based estimates and the Craig–Gordon results diverged by about 12‰, all methods showed that δE was more depleted in the warming plots. This decrease in δE indicates that the evaporation flux as a percentage of total water flux necessarily decreased for δET to remain constant, which was confirmed by field observations. The T/ET ratio in the control treatment was 0.65 or 0.77 and the ratio found in the warming treatment was 0.83 or 0.86, based on the chamber method and the Craig–Gordon approach. Sensitivity analysis of the Craig–Gordon model demonstrates that the warming-induced decrease in soil liquid water isotopic composition is the major factor responsible for the observed δE depletion and the temperature dependent equilibrium effects are minor. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that the increased T/ET ratio under warming is caused mainly by reduced evaporation