Slow Off-Rate Modified Aptamer (SOMAmer) Proteomic Analysis of Patient-Derived Malignant Glioma Identifies Distinct Cellular Proteomes

Malignant gliomas derive from brain glial cells and represent >75% of primary brain tumors. This includes anaplastic astrocytoma (grade III; AS), the most common and fatal glioblastoma multiforme (grade IV; GBM), and oligodendroglioma (ODG). We have generated patient-derived AS, GBM, and ODG cell models to study disease mechanisms and test patient-centered therapeutic strategies. We have used an aptamer-based high-throughput SOMAscan^® 1.3K assay to determine the proteomic profiles of 1307 different analytes. SOMAscan^® proteomes of AS and GBM self-organized into closely adjacent proteomes which were clearly distinct from ODG proteomes. GBM self-organized into four proteomic clusters of which SOMAscan^® cluster 4 proteome predicted a highly inter-connected proteomic network. Several up- and down-regulated proteins relevant to glioma were successfully validated in GBM cell isolates across different SOMAscan^® clusters and in corresponding GBM tissues. Slow off-rate modified aptamer proteomics is an attractive analytical tool for rapid proteomic stratification of different malignant gliomas and identified cluster-specific SOMAscan^® signatures and functionalities in patient GBM cells.     

Club Cinemetrics: New Post-Perspectival Design Methodologies

Cinemetrics is a post-perspectival, cinematically inspired drawing system that encourages a way of working that is multilayered and multiscalar, responding to the complexities of contemporary life and the city. Here Brian McGrath , in collaboration with Hsueh , Cheng Leun , Paul CHU Hoi Shan , José De Jesús Zamora and Victoria Marshall , demonstrates how in field work in the US, Thailand and Taiwan, Cinemetrics enabled them to adopt an interdisciplinary process addressing transdisciplinary issues. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Highly Narrow Linewidth, CW, All-Fiber Oscillator With a Switchable Linear Polarization

We present a fiber laser with a switchable state of linearly polarized output realized by inscribing point-by-point fiber Bragg gratings directly into the active core of a polarization-maintaining fiber. The compact all-fiber system exhibited a very narrow laser linewidth of ~13.5 pm (3.5 GHz), at a maximum continuous-wave output power of 188 mW. The optical signal-to-noise ratio was greater then 62 dB for both lasing polarizations. The robust system exhibited excellent long-term wavelength and laser linewidth stability.     

Improving the quality of e‐learning: lessons from the eMM

The quality of e‐learning can be defined in many different ways, reflecting different stakeholders and the complexity of the systems and processes used in higher education. These different conceptions of quality can be mutually contradictory and, while politically significant, may also be beyond the direct control or influence of institutional leaders. The e‐learning maturity model (eMM) provides a framework for e‐learning quality improvement that measures the capability of institutions to sustainably engage in e‐learning and visualizes that capability in a way that assists leaders and managers using that information to undertake systematic and targeted improvements in their institution's e‐learning activities. This paper synthesizes the outcomes of multiple international eMM assessments to extract a set of starting points for institutions intending to improve the quality of e‐learning experienced by their students.     

Optical fibre sensors for health monitoring of bonded repair systems

In the aircraft industry the use of externally bonded composite repairs has become an accepted way of repairing fatigue, or corrosion, damaged metallic structural components. However, current NDI and damage assessment techniques for composite repairs are passive and generally performed on ground. The challenge is to develop new techniques utilising recent analytical and experimental tools. This report examines the use of optical fibre sensors. Optical fibres offer a means of monitoring the load transfer process in these repairs, and can therefore be used to provide an indication of the integrity of the repair. This paper describes the use of an array of fibre Bragg grating strain sensors (FBGs) for the in situ monitoring of bonded repairs to aircraft structures and, in particular, the monitoring of crack propagation beneath a repair. In this work the FBGs have been multiplexed using a combination of wavelength and spatial techniques employing a tunable Fabry–Pérot (FP) filter to track individual gratings. The multiplexed FBGs were then surface-mounted on a boron–epoxy unidirectional composite patch bonded to an aluminium component. The sensors were located so as to monitor the changing stress field associated with the propagation of a crack beneath the patch. The ability of relating experimental results to sensor readings is then confirmed using both a thermo-elastic scan of the patch and 3D finite element analysis.     

Use of Rayleigh imaging and ray tracing to correct for beam-steering effects in turbulent flames

Laser Rayleigh imaging has been applied in a number of flow and flame studies to measure concentration or temperature distributions. Rayleigh cross sections are dependent on the index of refraction of the scattering medium. The same index of refraction changes that provide contrast in Rayleigh images can also deflect the illuminating laser sheet. By applying a ray-tracing algorithm to the detected image, it is possible to correct for some of these beam-steering effects and thereby improve the accuracy of the measured field. Additionally, the quantification of the degree of beam steering through the flow provides information on the degradation of spatial resolution in the measurement. Application of the technique in a well-studied laboratory flame is presented, along with analysis of the effects of image noise and spatial resolution on the effectiveness of the algorithm.     

Low-Temperature Water–Gas Shift: Doping Ceria Improves Reducibility and Mobility of O-Bound Species and Catalyst Activity

Abstract  

A series of platinum loaded catalysts supported on cation (Me)-doped cerium dioxide (Me = Ba, La, Y, Hf and Zn) was prepared by co-precipitation of the Me-nitrates and impregnation of a Pt precursor. Low temperature water–gas shift activity depends on the nature of dopant employed, varying in the order of Ba > Y > Hf > La > undoped ceria > Zn. TPR-XANES measurements with flowing hydrogen reveal that adding dopants to ceria facilitate ceria reduction and increases the extents of both surface shell and bulk reduction of ceria. Experimental results confirm past theoretical models that dopants enhance both O-mobility and reducibility of ceria. DRIFTS measurements of the transient decomposition of formates in steam suggest that formate half-life follows the trend Zn > undoped ceria > La > Hf > Y > Ba, indicating that the formate decomposition rate is enhanced by the addition of most of the dopants tested. Taken together, the results suggest that dopant addition improves the WGS rate by increasing the O-mobility of O-bound associated intermediates. Therefore, less Pt and Ce, which are expensive, is required to achieve comparable levels of activity.     

Computation of IR sky temperature and comparison with surface temperature

The effects of atmospheric IR radiation must be accounted for in energy budget computations of solar collectors. IR radiation is often parameterized by determining an equivalent sky temperature dependent on surface temperature. Hourly values of IR radiation were computed at eleven stations in the United States in 1971 and 1972 and the equivalent sky temperature obtained. The model used for these computations was verified by comparison with special observations in the Lake Ontario region taken during the International Field Year of the Great Lakes (IFYGL) in 1972. Differences between surface temperature and sky temperature ranged between 5 and 20°C and are a complex function of season (specifically of cloudiness, humidity, and surface temperature) and geographical location.     

Enduring vulnerabilities, relationship attributions, and couple conflict: An integrative model of the occurrence and frequency of intimate partner violence.

We tested an integrative model of individual and dyadic variables contributing to intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Based on the vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model, we hypothesized that three “enduring vulnerabilities” (i.e., antisocial behavior, hostility, and depressive symptoms) would be associated with a “maladaptive process” (i.e., negative relationship attributions) that would lead to difficulties in couple conflict resolution, thus leading to IPV. Among a community sample of 167 heterosexual couples who were expecting their first child, we used an actor–partner interdependence model to account for the dyadic nature of conflict and IPV, as well as a hurdle count model to improve upon prior methods for modeling IPV data. Study results provided general support for the integrative model, demonstrating the importance of considering couple conflict in the prediction of IPV and showing the relative importance of multiple predictor variables. Gender symmetry was observed for the prediction of IPV occurrence, with gender differences emerging in the prediction of IPV frequency. Relatively speaking, the prediction of IPV frequency appeared to be a function of enduring vulnerabilities among men, but a function of couple conflict among women. Results also revealed important cross-gender effects in the prediction of IPV, reflecting the inherently dyadic nature of IPV, particularly in the case of “common couple violence.” Future research using longitudinal designs is necessary to verify the conclusions suggested by the current results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2013-14: Modular Coreless Filament Winding Based on Beetle Elytra

The ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2013-14, presented here by Moritz Doerstelmann, Jan Knippers, Achim Menges, Stefana Parascho, Marshall Prado and Tobias Schwinn of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) research team at the University of Stuttgart, is based on biological lightweight construction principles. It demonstrates how the development of integrative processes of design computation, simulation and robotic fabrication enable the simultaneous exploration of novel design possibilities, constructional effectiveness and robustness through the expression of material characteristics.