Materials for Bioelectronic Applications

Bioelectronics concerns the use of electronic devices in biological systems. Importance is placed on interfacing electronic signals and biological tissue, to provide information about the intercellular communication which occurs in a living organism. A possible application of such as system would be within spinal cord injuries (SCIs). According to the World Health Organisation, there are between 250,000 and 500,000 spinal cord injuries per year. Most of which cause chronic pain or paralysis. In a paralysed patient the brain is unable to communicate efficiently with the paralysed area of the body. Currently physiotherapy can offer treatments in the form of pain relief or ease of numbness but there is no reverse for paralysis. Bioelectronics could offer a solution. For those with SCIs, a bioelectronic device could be a way of passing electrical signals across the site of injury, essentially bridging the gap where communication could not pass. This communication can be mimicked using bioelectronic devices in the form of biological scaffolds and transistors. Therefore, a bioelectronic device which offers appropriate mechanical properties to the spinal cord could be used to restore some communication beyond the site of injury.
The brain communicates with the body by passing an action potential through the neurons which make up the central nervous system. To function in a way which replicates the passage of an action potential a bioelectronic device would need to have two states so it can be either 'on' or 'off' and therefore only able to pass a potential when triggered as part of a neural response. Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) can achieve this and are also appropriate for physiological environments.
The ability of an OECT to transduce both ionic and electronic currents makes them ideal for a system such as the nervous system. In this project poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) will be used an active layer within an OECT. Although used as the semiconducting layer, PEDOT itself does not display appropriate mechanical properties and neither is it biodegradable. Therefore, to effectively function as a transistor for application in the spinal cord it must be doped. The doping agent effects the potential of the system, when in doped state the charge on the doping agent is balanced with the charges associated with PEDOT. However, when a potential bias is applied PEDOT is de-doped altering the potential of the system.
The doping agent in this project will need to be biocompatible, biodegradable and mechanically appropriate, therefore compounds which are naturally occurring within the body are ideal.
The creation of a biodegradable device with the right mechanical properties can be addressed by producing a biodegradable anionic hydrogen scaffold, using materials which are also GAGs. In order to quantify the mechanical properties of the device the elastic modulus can be measured. This quantity describes the extent to which a material deforms elastically and can be compared to components making up the spinal cord.
The aim of this project is to produce a biocompatible and biodegradable organic electrochemical transistor, using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with glycosaminoglycans and hydrogels prepared from the same, that offer compatibility with the spinal cord.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council


MOLECULAR BASIS OF VISNA LENTIVIRUS NEUROVIRULENCE


CONTRAST MECHANISMS IN DIFFUSION WEIGHTED MRI OF BRAIN


メキシコの教員政策に関する研究-政権変遷と教育動向に焦点を当てて-

本研究では、(１)各政権統治下の社会的課題がどのように教育目標を形成したか整理し、(２)掲げられた教育課題がどのように教員政策に反映、実施されてきたかを歴史的に辿り、(３)新たな政権における教員政策の位置づけと今後どのような展開をもたらすかを明らかにする。これまでの研究から、メキシコにおいて政府が学校調査や教育評価、教員評価、学習到達度に関心を示し始めたのは1970年代以降であるとされている。このことから本研究では、1970年代以降から現在までの約60年間に年代を定めて政権の変遷と教育動向および教員政策の位置づけを追うこととする。

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)


Lumière pulsée: technologie innovante pour des fruits et légumes à haute valeur ajoutée


Differential Operators and Stochastic Processes


ROLE OF CHLAMYDIA IN PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE


TESTING OF IMPLANTABLE VENTRICULAR ASSIST SYSTEMS


DNA Topoisomerase Camptothecin Interactions


Upcycling cathode materials from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries

The upcycling of cathode materials from end-of-life batteries is crucial for conserving resources, reducing costs, saving energy, and controlling pollution in Australia. This project aims to explore advanced technologies to cost-effectively upcycle cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries. This research addresses the National Research Priority 'Energy' with the Practical Research Challenge of 'New clean energy sources and storage technologies that are efficient, cost-effective, and reliable.' The research outcome of cathode upcycling will lead to the development of novel technologies for efficient material recovery, positioning Australia at the forefront of the scientific research field in line with Australian research priorities.


Targeting KDM1A-Mediated Epigenetic Reprogramming to Restore Endothelial Function in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease driven by endothelial dysfunction, vascular remodeling, and BMPR2 signaling loss, with a median survival of 5–7 years without lung transplantation. Current therapies alleviate symptoms but fail to reverse vascular pathology, highlighting the need for disease-modifying treatments. While BMPR2 loss is a key driver of endothelial dysfunction, its mechanisms in non-genetic PAH remain unclear. Emerging evidence suggests epigenetic dysregulation sustains endothelial injury, though its role in BMPR2 destabilization is unknown. Lysine-specific demethylase 1A (KDM1A), an H3K4me2 histone demethylase, is upregulated in cancers but unexplored in PAH. Our preliminary data reveal elevated KDM1A in PAH lungs and PAECs, correlating with reduced H3K4me2 and increased SMURF1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that degrades BMPR2. We hypothesize that KDM1A represses H3K4me2 at the SMURF1 promoter, upregulating SMURF1, destabilizing BMPR2, and disrupting vascular homeostasis. Aim 1 defines the KDM1A/SMURF1 axis using PAH patient-derived PAECs and lung tissues, while Aim 2 evaluates therapeutic targeting of KDM1A in preclinical PAH models using SP-2509, a selective KDM1A inhibitor, and intratracheal rAAV6.VEcad-shKDM1A for endothelial-specific gene silencing. By identifying a novel KDM1A/SMURF1 axis linking epigenetic dysregulation to BMPR2 destabilization, this study introduces a dual therapeutic strategy to reverse vascular pathology. Success could establish the first epigenetics-based therapies to halt PAH progression, offering a transformative approach to improving cardiovascular health and longevity. This research aligns with the American Heart Association’s mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives by advancing science that drives meaningful, life-saving innovations.


The Complexity of Algebraic Problems (Computer Research)


フランス前期中等教育新カリキュラムの諸相：国語教育と道徳市民教育の連携を中心に

本研究の特色はフランス語という科目をあえて言語，文学からなる１つの閉じた領域と捉えずに，他の科目に開かれた科目横断的コンピテンシー養成の場・手段として理解・考察しようとする。他の科目との連携という視点から科目教育を分析・考察することにより，単にフランス語という科目の輪郭だけでなく，大きく変容しつつある前期中等教育のダイナミズムそのものが理解可能となる。本研究のもう一つの特色は最新の文学理論を援用することにある。本研究はカリキュラムを社会的要請という視点と同時に，近年の文学理論の潮流との関連という視点から考察することにより，フランス語教育の変遷の論理を総合的に理解する視座を提供しうる。

The International University of Kagoshima


Molecular Mechanisms Regulating TLR Signaling and Macrophage Activation.

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling mediates host defense against infections, but deregulated TLR signaling is linked to inflammatory diseases. The proposed project addresses innovative questions regarding the mechanism underlying TLR signaling and inflammation and will lead to high-impact findings with therapeutic implications.


A Data-driven Approach to Identify High Priority Research Topics for Pediatric Hospital Care

Hospital care consumes the largest component of healthcare costs in Canada. Despite the high costs, there is a lack of high-quality research evidence on the diagnosis and treatment of hospitalized children. To build a stronger evidence-base to improve outcomes for hospitalized children, we need to develop a research agenda outlining the health conditions that should be prioritized for research. One criterion that is used to prioritize conditions is the burden of illness on the healthcare system, which includes how costly and common (prevalent) conditions are. Another criterion is whether health inequalities exist, for example whether differences exist based on deprivation, rurality, and sex. However, recent Canadian data on burden of illness and health inequalities do not exist. Therefore, this study will use health administrative data to identify conditions based on cost, variation in cost, prevalence, and health inequality in children across Canada in all provinces and two territories from 2015/2016 to 2019/2020 using over 2.5 million hospital encounters. Findings from this study will be important to help prioritize topics for researchers, and funding agencies. They will also be used to create provincial and territorial report cards which outline conditions that are the most costly, prevalent, and with the greatest health inequalities in each region to help decision and policy-makers. We will disseminate findings broadly by working with our extensive national and provincial partners, which include health system decision-makers, clinicians, patients, and researchers. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to direct research efforts to areas of high priority to improve outcomes of hospitalized children and optimize the performance of the healthcare system.

Project Grant - PA: Patient-Oriented Research: Early-Career Investigator


Hexanucleotide repeat translation in ALS and Frontotemporal Dementia

ALS and Frontotemporal Dementia are neurodegenerative disorders that lead to significant death and disability. Recently, a novel repeat mutation was identified as the most common cause of ALS and Frontotemporal Dementia. This repeat causes ALS at least in part by producing toxic proteins through an unusual process known as RAN translation. This proposal will use biochemical techniques, neurons and patient derived induced pluripotent stem cell models of to understand how RAN translation occurs and how it can be selectively blocked in ALS patients. These approaches will lay the groundwork for developing small molecule therapeutics for this currently untreatable disease.


A cluster randomised trial of two intensified TB case-finding strategies in an urban community severely affected by HIV


Costimulation in human autoimmune disease


BioDT: Biodiversity Digital Twin for Advanced Modelling, Simulation and Prediction Capabilities

With our planet facing an increasing reduction in biodiversity, it is of the utmost importance to understand the way climate, humans, pollution and other factors affect biodiversity. This need is urgentsince biodiversity loss directly impacts our ability as humansto live. For example, this loss reduces the efficiency with which ecological communities capture essential resources, produce biomass, decompose organic matter and recycle nutrients. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that a lack of contact with natural biodiversity impacts human health through negative effects in the microbiome and immune system. microbiome and immune system. Understanding the forces shaping biodiversity is the basis for any rational management of natural resources and will be a key enabler of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 which aims to put biodiversity in Europe on the path to recovery by 2030 for the benefit of people, climate and the planet. In particular, we need to be able to better predict global biodiversity dynamics: how species interact with their environment and with each other. Our goal is to push the current boundaries of predictive understanding of biodiversity dynamics by developing a Digital Twin providing advanced modelling, simulation and prediction capabilities. By exploiting in new ways existing technologies and data available across relevant research infrastructures, the BioDT project will be able to more accurately model interaction between species and their environment. Scientists at Research Infrastructures will be able to use the BioDT to 1) better observe changes in biodiversity, 2) relate these changes to possible causes, and 3) better predict effects of changes based on influences on these causes by either climate or human intervention. Our consortium brings together a dynamic team of experts in biodiversity, high performance computing, artificial intelligence and FAIR data to realise the first biodiversity Digital Twin prototype.no project summary


MINORITY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT RESEARCH APPRENTICE PROGRAM


INTERACTION OF ISCHEMIA, DRUGS, AND RATE ON CONDUCTION

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL


内毒素の素性に対するトレランス誘導機構の分子生物学的研究

エンドトキシンはグラム陰性菌の細胞壁成分であり、菌体から遊離すると生体にとって有益な活性も障害的な活性も多彩に発現する。グラム陰性菌感染による敗血症に伴うエンドトキシンショックは代表的な障害的活性である。そのショックの誘発時には、エンドトキシンに対する宿主の感受性が著しく上昇していることが示唆され、感受性を高めた動物実験モデルも開発されている。本研究でも感受性を高めたマウスを用い、エンドトキシンの本体であるリポ多糖(LPS)の投与により致死作用を誘導し、ショックのモデルとした。このモデルで事前に微量のLPSを投与しておくと、通常は致死量のLPSを投与しても、マウスは抵抗性を示し生残する(エンドトキシントレランス)。LPSの活性中心はリピドAと呼ばれる成分で、その構造類縁体も種々化学合成されている。それらリピドA類縁化合物の中に、発熱性(エンドトキシンの障害的活性の代表的指標)は示さないが、LPSに代わってトレランスを誘導できる化合物を数種見い出した。これら化合物を用いトレランス誘導機構の解析を行った。ショックの誘発に関与する主なサイトカインと示唆される腫瘍壊死因子(TNF)に対する抗体を投与すると、このモデルでもLPSの致死作用を抑制できた。そこで、LPSまたはリピドA類縁化合物によるトレランス誘導下で、LPS投与によるマウス血清中TNFの上昇に対する効果を検討し、抑制効果を見い出した。生体内でTNF産生の中心的細胞であるマクロファージ系細胞を用いて、細胞レベルでもLPSやリピドA類縁化合物がTNF産生に抑制をかけ、しかもmRNA発現レベルで既に抑制をかけていることを見い出し、分子レベルでトレランス誘導機構の解析を発展できた。また、組換えTNFを用い、TNFの致死作用に対しても、LPSやリピドA類縁化合物がトレランスを誘導できることを見い出し、トレランス誘導機構研究の新展開として複数段階の抑制の関与を示唆する結果をも得た。

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)


MYCOPLASMAS AND CHLAMYDIAE AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS


The goal of this project is the development of compiler                    optimization techniques for high-level languages.  The primary                  programming languages used today (C, Fortran and Pascal) are not very           high-level.  A large portion of the effort in writing software in               these languages is devoted to hand-tuning the individual application            to the target machine, a process that is both costly and error-prone.           Higher-level languages that abstract away many of the implementation            details have been developed but are not yet in widespread use.  In              spite of the benefits that higher-level languages promise, history              suggests that they will not come into general use until programs                written in them perform as well or better than those in existing low-           level languages.                                                                     Optimization of object-oriented programming languages, one class           of high-level languages, is the major concern of this proposal.                 Object-oriented programming introduces two types of inefficiencies.             First, many more subroutine calls are required than in normal                   programming methodologies.  Second, these subroutines are typically             more general than the code necessary to implement the function in               line.                                                                                Optimization of object-oriented programs primarily involves                tailoring instances of subroutines to the context in which they are             invoked.  Automatic tailoring requires much more powerful analysis and          transformation techniques than are generally available today.                   Developing analysis and transformation techniques to do the tailoring           of these programmer-constructed abstractions is the main focus of this          project.


胸水および胸水成分のクリアランスに関する実験的研究

Principal Investigator：饗庭 三代治, Project Period (FY)：1981, Research Category：Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists (A), Research Field：Respiratory organ internal medicine


Notre Dame Study of Resiliency in Later Life


ApoE receptor pathways and abeta metabolism

PROJECT NARRATIVE:  Mounting evidence indicates that impaired clearance of amyloid- � (A �) peptide in the brain is a major pathogenic event in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly. A � clearance is regulated by its chaperone apolipoprotein E (apoE), with an isoform (apoE4) being a strong risk factor for AD. In our previous funding period, we identified an apoE receptor-mediated A� clearance pathway. The goal of this renewal proposal is to delineate the molecular and cellular pathways by which apoE isoforms and apoE receptors regulate A� clearance, aggregation and toxicity. Our studies should provide insights into why apoE4 is a strong risk factor for AD and will likely define apoE and apoE receptors as novel diagnostic tools and targets for AD therapy.


Human health effects of river contamination in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Canada Graduate Scholarships Program - Masters Scholarships


COASTAL OCEAN MODELING AND DYNAMICS - ESS


Apprentissage itératif de fonctions composites complexes à partir d'opérateurs simples.

No summary - Aucun sommaire

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships - Doctoral


TAS::89 0213::TAS  NEW AWARD ENTITLED NANO-BASED PHOTOCATALYST STRUCTURE FOR CO2 REFORMING BY SUNLIGHT


EFFECTOR MECHANISMS OF CD4-MEDIATED ALLOGRAFT REJECTION


NSF Engines Development Award: Building a space-based innovation ecosystem in New Mexico (NM)

This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award addresses the societal challenge of transitioning the space industry from one designed for government agencies to one supporting the fast-growing commercial space industry. This shift is crucial for continued U.S. leadership in space-related scientific advancement, economic growth, and national security. The project team has partners across the New Mexico Space Valley Coalition, including state and federal government agencies, industrial companies, post-secondary institutions at multiple levels, and national laboratories. The project's collective efforts, coordinated and scaled by the team, could help strengthen the regional production chain; leverage the region's foundation of federal contracting and collaboration; promote innovations that benefit economic, social, and sustainability outcomes; and grow diverse local talent across all levels of the space industry. Space industry historically has been a priority and strength of the region, and commercial space industry is a potential economic growth opportunity for the region.

The vision of this project is to strengthen the existing space ecosystem by helping more innovations move from laboratories to use and making sure the commercial space sector has the product development supports, local labor force, entrepreneurship resources, and specialized infrastructure for success. Key technologies include advanced manufacturing of satellite components; small satellite rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking technologies; satellite cybersecurity; and space-based solar power collection for use on Earth. These thrusts, integrated synergistically, should improve R&D alignment with space industry needs; increase commercial translation of research; support commercial space company development; increase educational pathways for space related careers in engineering, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and entrepreneurship; improve educational and job equity for underrepresented populations; and develop projects and pathways yielding greater economic benefits in the region’s rural and tribal areas.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.


Synovial Mast Cells in Inflammatory Arthritis


Population-Based Psychiatric Intervention--Primary Care


Three dimensional analysis of endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi transport machinery by immuno-electron microscopy.

We developed three dimensional immunoelectron microscopy for studying endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi transport machinery, and applied this technique as fol o s.1. 3D observation of spermatid Golgi apparatus. In spermatids of the Golgi stage, Golgi apparatus develops and participates in the formation of acrosomes. GM130, a cis Golgi protein was detected using colloidal gold-silver enhancement technique, EM sections of 250 nm in depth were observed under an electron microscope at 125kV. Then 3D structure of the Golgi apparatus was analyzed by electron microscopic tomography. As the results, it was clearly shown that GM130 is localized on cytosolic surface of the Golgi apparatus.2. Retention of the ER membrane protein. To study the retention mechanism of an ER membrane protein; microsomal aldehyde dehydrogenase (msALDH), we express GFP protein with retention signal of msALDH at its C-terminal in culture cells. By examining the precise localization of the chimeric protein, it was shown that this protein was excluded from transport vesicle to the Golgi apparatus, and retained in the ER.3. A new protein participating in budding of COPII vesicles from ER. We found a new protein, p125 which binds to a COPII coat protein Sec23, and showed that p125 is localized on the exit sites of the ER and participating in the formation of transport vesicle from ER (Collaboration with Professor Mituo Tagaya, Tokoyo University of Pharmacy and life Science.)3. Using colloidal gold-silver enhancement technique improved in this project, we studied dynamics of the Golgi matrix proteins after a block of the ER-Golgi traffic (Collaboration with Associate Professor Nobuhiro Nakamura, Kanazawa University), accumulation of type IV collagen in the ER in Hsp47 knock-out mice (Collaboration with Professor Kazuhiro Nagata, Kyoto university), and fusion of ER membrane by BNIP1 an apoptosis related protein(Collaboration with Professor Mituo Tagaya, Tokoyo University of Pharmacy and life Science.)

Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology(2003-2004)Kansai Medical University(2002)


Controlled Source Electromagnetic Soundings in Northern     Wisconsin


Der erste Band der Berichte über das archäologische Projekt Xkipché enthält neben einleitenden Materialien die Ergebnisse der Oberflächenaufnahme der Siedlung in Gestalt einer sehr detaillierten Beschreibung aller baulichen Reste sowie die vollständige Kartierung. Eine ausführliche Einführung in die Methodik der Siedlungsaufnahme und deren theoretische Grundlage geht der Beschreibung voran. Beigefügt sind die Resultate einer kursorischen Begehung der näheren Umgebung des Fundortes. Die Analyse wird voraussichtlich zusammen mit der abschließenden Bewertung der Ergebnisse in Band 7 veröffentlicht werden. Die Veröffentlichung der Ergebnisse soll in Zusammenarbeit mit dem mexikanischen Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia erfolgen.


SOLAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH (FUSE 2000)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Investigating the role of retrograde signaling on intercellular trafficking

Project Narrative Organelle-to-nucleus signaling, also known as retrograde signaling, coordinates expression of organelle and nuclear genomes and is critical in managing whole-cell adaptive responses in all eukaryotes. In plants, chloroplasts employ retrograde signaling to finely tune expression of nuclear genes affecting their own biogenesis and in response to developmental and environmental cues. In this project, we seek to evaluate how chloroplast signals modulate intercellular trafficking in plants and provide new insights into conserved and divergent mechanisms of general organelle-to-nucleus communication.


The Role of the FLOWERING LOCUS K (FLK) gene in Regulating Defense and Development

Plants are constantly challenged by pathogens and pests. Although being sessile, plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to recognize the invaders and activate defense responses. However, defense is an energetically costly process; defense activation can come at the expense of plant development. Flowering is one of the most critical developmental landmarks in the lifecycle of plants. Prior studies showed that plant defense and flowering time control are connected. However, the molecular basis underlying this connection has not been well understood. From a large-scale mutant screen in the model plant Arabidopsis that aimed to uncover novel defense genes, we identified a new mutant of a flowering time regulatory gene called FLOWERING LOCUS K (FLK) and our additional data support a defense role of FLK. This project will investigate the dual role of FLK in defense and flowering control. Knowledge obtained from this study shall shed light on how plants coordinate growth, development, and responses to pathogens. Without such knowledge, our design of strategies in improving the health and yield of crop plants will be limited. Furthermore, this project will provide a platform for the PI to engage students of diverse backgrounds in research training, including a postdoc, a graduate student, and undergraduates, K-12 teachers and high school students from underrepresented minority groups.

Plant defense is a complex process that should be maintained in an intricate balance with development. Increasing evidence indicates the importance of post-transcriptional regulation of plant defense and development by RNA binding proteins. The K homology (KH) repeat is an ancient RNA binding motif found in proteins from diverse organisms. The role of KH domain proteins in pathogen resistance has not been well known. From a genetic screen for novel defense genes in Arabidopsis, a new allele of the canonical flowering gene FLOWERING LOCUS K (FLK) was identified and was associated with pathogen defense and late flowering. FLK encodes a triple KH-repeat protein. Data from the PI’s laboratory suggest for the first time that FLK is a multifunctional gene regulating transcript levels and/or alternative splicing of target genes. However, the detailed mechanisms of action of FLK, in particular in defense control, remain to be elucidated. The overall goal of this research is to uncover the molecular basis underlying how FLK and its pathway genes regulate plant defense and development. The PI will investigate structure-function of the FLK protein, identify and characterize FLK target genes, and characterize FLK interacting proteins in defense and development. Some FLK target genes could uncouple FLK multifunctionality at the molecular level. FLK and FLK pathway genes, especially those that uncouple multifunctionality of FLK, are potentially powerful molecular tools for developing novel biotechnological strategies to precisely control crop traits. Genome editing could be utilized to modify these genes to improve crop plants with better disease resistance against their natural pathogens while minimizing negative impacts on plant development. Information regarding FLK function, its interactors, and target genes will also provide insights to the study of KH domain proteins in other organisms.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.


Textual Information Access for the Visually Impaired

An ever-increasing segment of the population suffers from low vision resulting from complications of disease and old age.   Surveys conducted by one of the Co-PIs as part of a previous project have determined, that the key information which is not available to people with low vision is textual information, usually of a directive or warning nature.  For example, shopping in a large department store in a mall might involve looking for signs indicating where the store is, reading aisle signs in the store, and looking at product names, at labels and prices.  This research will develop a "seeing-eye" computer to help people with low vision to observe and receive such information, so that they can participate more efficiently and comfortably in every day activities, and thereby lead more fulfilling and productive lives.  The system will be composed of a digital video camera, computer, user interface, and speech or magnified visual output that can detect textual information in the environment, understand it using OCR, and provide it to the user who either has low vision or is blind.   To achieve these goals, the PIs will in collaboration with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University build, over the first six months and then over the first two years, prototype systems using mostly existing technology and extensions to vision algorithms we have developed for identification of text regions in images and OCR, which can be evaluated on volunteer patients at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute and the National Federation for the Blind..  The functionality and range of applicability of our prototypes will necessarily be limited.   Simultaneously, the PIs will work on long-term research problems that must be addressed to develop next generation seeing-eye computers with greater scalability and capability.   In year three patient-volunteers at Wilmer and at the NFB will perform evaluations of the developed prototypes     Subsequently, successful results will be commercialized and brought to the larger patient body (as have previous developments at Wilmer).    Fundamental research problems to be addressed include:   real-time algorithms for detection and rectification of text on planes and cylinders subject to perspective distortions;   OCR from digital video, and OCR for text on textured backgrounds;   and more robust and efficient algorithms and systems for stabilization and super-resolution of text blocks from video streams.


IBCSG STATISTICAL CENTER--A BREAST CANCER STUDY RESOURCE


Structure-Preserving Numerical Methods for Strongly Nonlinear Elliptic Partial Differential Equations

The goal of this research project is to develop accurate and efficient numerical methods to solve strongly nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs).  Nonlinear problems are ubiquitous in science and engineering and arise naturally from materials science, nonlinear elasticity, fluid dynamics and image processing. This proposal studies the analysis and design of efficient numerical algorithms which preserve essential properties of nonlinear PDEs. The project will provide efficient numerical algorithms for researchers in liquid crystal materials and shape design. In addition to the design of efficient algorithms, the project will also analyze the stability and rates of convergence of the methods. Compared with the vast literature on linear problems, the work on numerical analysis for strongly nonlinear elliptic problems are relatively few. The success of the project will provide insight in future development of numerical methods in studying nonlinear phenomena.

The project splits into three different parts, namely, numerical approximation of the Landau-De Gennes model of nematic liquid crystals, numerical approximation of the Monge Ampere PDEs, numerical optimal transportation problem. The specific goal of the project includes (i) construction of novel numerical methods based on piecewise linear or nodewise functions to preserve discrete maximum principle, an essential property of these problems, (ii) combination of robust lower order method with accurate higher order methods and development of  a posteriori error estimation and adaptivity to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the methods, (iii) analysis of these methods based on discrete version of nonlinear PDE tools, such as Gamma convergence and discrete Alexandroff maximum principle, (iv) applying these methods in simulating liquid crystal materials and antenna design.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey


Use of the cytoskeleton to control Shigella infection

COVID-19 has helped to illuminate the fundamental importance of young people and scientists effectively communicating the urgency of infectious disease. This project will develop the ways in which our science explains and communicates discoveries to a wider audience, using story and narrative devices familiarly used in animation and graphic novels as gateways to complex ideas. The body of work created will be a snapshot of where Mostowy lab research is in 2020, and a tool to develop the way in which the lab communicates its research. The project will be made with members of the Mostowy lab, with input from students and young people in London and Manchester, collaboratively producing an animated film examining central research concerns of the Mostowy lab including; Shigella, superbugs, antimicrobial resistance in a post-antibiotic environment, and the global health challenge these present. Inclusive sharing events will bring together the professional film we make with the creative work made by young people, giving an opportunity for us to discuss and appraise the learning from each experience. The work will be shared, at different stages of its development, at public events in London and Manchester, online, and at festivals internationally. Developing from the award-winning Wellcome Trust funded animation Loop (2016), this new project will be a legacy tool to explain the lab’s most recent discoveries to a non-scientific audience, as well as to any researcher, healthcare professional or stakeholder. It will include ideas from young people as well as researchers, creating engaging visuals about compelling material.

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine


DYNAMICS OF PALLIDAL ACTIVITY IN PARKINSONS DISEASE


Die Entstehung und Änderung sozialer Strukturen in Gruppen intelligenter, multimotivierter, emotionaler Agenten

Keine Zusammenfassung vorhanden


Modulation of Dopaminergic VTA Neurons by Urotensin II

RELEVANCE (See instructions);  The current proposal is relevant in that the novel neuropeptide urotensin II may be a previously  unrecognized player in the regulation of motivational processes. The Investigation of which may add another  layer of understanding the complex action of psychoactive drugs.


The Center for Biomolecular Structure at NSLS-II

Project Narrative - Overall Core The Center for Biomolecular Structure (CBMS) presents state-of-the-art structural biology facilities at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) to the world-wide community of researchers interested in the study of biological structure. These facilities include 1. micro-beam and highly automated macromolecular crystallography, 2. several modes of x-ray scattering from non-crystalline material, including from solutions, scattering images from tissues, and others, and 3. imaging by x-ray fluorescence at a range of energies and resolution scales, and full-field imaging.


Math Learning Disabilities among Young Adults in College: Structure, Identification, and Validation

Many more students are enrolled in community college (CC) than in four-year colleges and universities, and many more students take developmental (remedial) math at CC than at four-year institutions. However, failure rates in these courses are high, and failure of developmental math is a significant barrier to STEM participation. There is surprisingly little data about the specific skill deficits and sociodemographic and personal barriers that contribute to this situation. It is likely that prior education, entry level mathematical skills, motivation, self-regulation, and affective factors contribute, in conjunction with work/family/financial considerations. However, these factors have not been considered together. This project will seek to identify the factors that underlie developmental math failure and how these factors fit together.  It will use this information to develop a novel approach to identify mathematics learning disability (MLD). The project then aims to validate this approach by monitoring physiological factors that may qualitatively differentiate MLD from other difficulties. This project aims to enhance theories about how math skills develop and are affected by these factors, and address how to identify MLD at the college level. The results may point to potential avenues to identify and remediate these difficulties, which would be useful for improving student success in college.

This project will enroll three types of first-time-in-college students: students in CC taking developmental math; students in CC taking course-credit mathematics; and students in a four-year university taking college algebra. The population is highly relevant to broadening STEM participation among college students with math difficulty, since it takes place within a highly diverse sociodemographic setting (Houston, Texas). The team will enroll 1050 students (primarily those in CC developmental math), and evaluate a model of how cognitive, mathematical, affective, motivational, and demographic characteristics intersect, using structural equation modeling. Data analysis plans involve latent class models to identify potential MLD students, with key criteria being (a) demonstrated math weakness as indicated by enrollment in developmental math; and (b) failure of that course. The team will compare this method of identification with standard identification models, specifically low achievement and discrepancy models. Validation of developed models will involve qualitative comparisons between MLD and other students with math difficulty, by observing and analyzing in-vivo math performance using multimodal data capture and analysis focused on physiological response.

This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning and participation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.


Die Kreuzfahrer und ihre muslimischen Gegner. Feindbild und Krieg im Mittelalter

Neben dem sogenannten "Hundertjährigen Krieg" brachten die Kreuzzüge das wohl beste Beispiel mittelalterlicher Gesellschaften hervor, die zumindest zum Teil in Kriegen entstanden bzw. durch Kriege geprägt wurden. Das beantragte Projekt soll am Beispiel der Kreuzzüge Strukturen und Funktionen von Feindbildern untersuchen, die sowohl auf muslimischer, wie auch auf abendländisch-christlicher Seite zum Teil bis heute nachwirken und westliche Kulturtheoretiker dazu gebracht haben, einen künftigen "Clash of Civilizations" zu prognostizieren. Als Untersuchungsgegenstand erscheinen die christlichen Kreuzzüge und die muslimische Reaktion darauf besonders wichtig und aufgrund der Quellenlage auch besonders geeignet. Eine die Fächer der Mediävistik und Orientalistik übergreifende Gegenüberstellung christlicher und muslimischer Feindbilder ist bisher trotz vieler Vorarbeiten, die das seit Jahrzehnten bestehende internationale Forschungsinteresse deutlich machen, noch nicht versucht worden. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit sollen die folgenden Fragen stehen: Wie sind das christliche Feindbild vom Muslim und das muslimische Feindbild vom Christen bzw. Kreuzfahrer entstanden, welche Veränderungen hat es aus welchen Gründen gegeben und inwiefern haben sich Politik und Feindbild gegenseitig beeinflußt ?


Cross-Species transmission and adaptation of primate lentiviruses

These investigations will improve our understanding of how host genetic variation impacts viral infection, provide specific insight into mechanisms of TRIM5¿ mediated restriction, and lead to improved use of experimental models for HIV/AIDS. Moreover, the results will provide insight into the development of novel inhibitors of the post-entry stage of HIV-1 infection.


Complement Evasion by Group B Streptococcus

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a common bacterium found in 30-40% of the healthy woman vagina, rectum and urinary bladder. However, when ~25% of mothers pass the pathogen to infants during birth, GBS becomes responsible for significant neonatal mortality across the world. No vaccines are available against GBS infections. In this proposal, we are addressing (1) how GBS escapes host complement, the first line of defense against invading pathogens and (2) how to use the knowledge of GBS interactions with complement proteins as an aid for a quick and reliable diagnosis of GBS, and for therapeutic intervention.


Control of emotions versus control of the body:  understanding the relationship between negative affect and body dissatisfaction in women

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada


Flower Power? Guerrilla Gardening Engagements with San Francisco's Hostile Architecture & The Pursuit of Spatial Justice

My DPhil project traces San Francisco's guerrilla gardeners as they interrupt and transform the urban landscape through small-scale, creative interventions. Paying particular attention to their interactions with the hostile architecture that shapes the politics of visibility in metropolitan centres, my research builds on ongoing cross-disciplinary debates that evaluate guerrilla gardeners' capacity to pursue and enact 'spatial justice,' democratising the 'right to the city,' (Soja 2010; Lefebvre 1968). Simultaneously engaging so-called "defensive" urban design, my project seeks to illuminate the violent spatial ordering realised through mundane and often overlooked features of the "modern" cityscape while envisioning courses of resistance that re-configure and re-purpose these sites.

In undertaking this project, I address the following primary research question:

What is the relationship between guerrilla gardening and discourses of spatial justice, and how does this form of intervention transform the urban landscape in ways that may disrupt or contribute to the violent ordering of peoples, plants and space?

I also explore several sub-questions:
What forms of hostile architecture are present in San Francisco and how do guerrilla gardeners interact with these spaces? Here, I examine both the active installation of hostile design and areas of neglect.
How do gardens engage in and reproduce narratives of exclusion and belonging? In creating and transforming gardens, how do guerrilla gardeners participate in and potentially disrupt these discourses?
What are the heterogeneous networks, consisting of human and non-human actors, involved in the production and transformation of urban space, and how are these entangled agencies potentially reconfigured through guerrilla gardening practices?

Exploring these themes, I respond to ongoing discourses in environmental humanities, critical plant studies, and anthropology that call for a renewed interest in other-than-human lifeforms and our entanglements with them - even in urban centres which are frequently imagined as impenetrable or antithetical to "nature" and its interventions. Attending to urban gardens, my analysis will also reflect on gardens as spaces laden with colonial histories that continue to perpetuate violence, but that have the potential to be disrupted and transformed through subversive manoeuvres collaboratively authored by both people and plants. Working with those who cultivate disused and neglected sites in 'the space of the other,' my project similarly contributes to a budding literature of guerrilla gardening that explores this practice as a potentially empowering mode of re-opening space and the possibilities contained within it (De Certeau 1984). Specifically engaging guerrilla gardeners' interactions with hostile architecture, my research opens a new avenue to critically interrogate guerrilla gardening as an instrument of 'spatial justice.'

In responding to these questions, my project will involve ethnographic fieldwork with guerrilla gardening communities in San Francisco, both in-person and online. Shadowing guerrilla gardeners with diverse strategies, like those that re-purpose abandoned plots of land or graft fruit onto ornamental trees, I will gain access to guerrilla gardening networks operating in the city to observe their practices. Throughout my fieldwork project, I also plan to draw on dynamic methods including sensory and multimodal approaches like walking ethnography, mapping, and filmmaking, to capture the embodied experience of the cityscape. Applying these techniques, over the course of my DPhil project, I aim to create both a thesis documenting guerrilla gardening engagements with hostile architecture in San Francisco, as well as accessible materials that can assist in drawing wider attention to the violent ordering of people, plants and space actualised through "unremarkable" features of the urban landscape.


REU Site: Collaborative Research: Undergraduate Research in Immigration Policy

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. The REU program has both scientific and societal benefits integrating research and education. The Undergraduate Research on Immigration Policy REU Site will provide undergraduate researchers with training in social science research methods related to issues facing the U.S. Mexico border region, particularly in the El Paso/Las Cruces area. With political debates about the border taking center stage, more on the ground research is needed to truly understand the nature of enforcement measures and their impacts on border communities in a highly dynamic and complex region. Students will learn techniques for collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data as they collaborate with local organizations engaged with immigration and border enforcement debates. The goal is to produce research that is highly relevant to local needs, rather than academic research based purely on theoretical concerns. Students will explore topics related to border enforcement at the ports of entry, interior checkpoints, enforcement between ports and relationships between law enforcement, and the larger community. This project will help to produce the next generation of applied social scientists for the academy, in government, and the private sphere, while also contributing to the literature on immigration policy.

The project seeks to fill a gap in existing literature regarding the local impacts of state and federal policies regarding immigration and border security, while preparing undergraduate students (especially underrepresented students) to pursue academic STEM studies and careers using Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). The program has three main goals: 1) Further develop CBPR as a framework for education and research methodology; 2) Provide students the research skills necessary for conducting CBPR; and 3) Provide students with opportunities to conduct quality CBPR by involving them in interdisciplinary research projects related to the social impacts of immigration policy and to share their findings in scholarly venues. Student activities will be grounded within a ten-week summer program comprised of seven methodology workshops, faculty mentorship, a field trip and collaborative research resulting in written and visual products.


ZINC COORDINATION AND REGULATION OF ZINC METALLOPROTEINS


Vicarious Dissonance, Attitude Change &Social Identity


Modeling Temporality with Natural Language Processing to Predict Readmission Risk of Patients with Psychosis

Project Narrative Reducing and predicting unplanned readmission are major unmet needs of psychiatric care. This project will use electronic health record databases and computational linguistic approaches to develop a psychiatric specific temporal relation annotation scheme, create readmission prediction models, and compare against expert human performance. Developing readmission prediction tools could not only be used to help target the delivery of resource-intensive interventions to those patients at greatest risk, but also reduce psychiatric health-care costs.


PROSTANOIDS IN COLON CANCER--CELL/MOLECULAR MECHANISMS


Problems faced by recipients, donors, and their families following living donor liver transplantation and support they require

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the problems faced by donors, recipients, and their families following living donor liver transplantation and to examine the support they require. The results revealed that the living donors experienced “thankfulness” and “a sense of limitation” toward the transplantation surgery; these experiences appeared to be influenced by the recipients’ situation. In addition, it was revealed that the recipients experienced “anxiety” for their donors and families. Furthermore, we interviewed transplant coordinators regarding family problems. From these results, the donors’ and recipients’ families should receive support based on the family members’ feelings toward each other, because their problems could be influenced by the situations of others.

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science


Online monitoring of pathogens in times of Corona virus, influenza and legionella - eliminating infection risk for 20 million Europeans

WHO declared Legionella as the highest health burden of all water borne pathogens - even for our developed European countries. There are thousands of infections with mortality rates between 5%-30%. Due to similar symptoms like with pneumonia or with flu (fever, coughing and diarrhoea, shivers, headache and body aches) presumed numbers of unidentified and unregistered cases are estimated to be much higher.

There is no automated and scalable solution on market which allows the continuous monitoring of in-house water quality regarding detection and quantification of legionella. Current solutions are laboratory procedures, e.g. cell cultivation, which are time-consuming, costly and mostly error-prone, e.g. by detecting no viable-but-non-cultivatable infectious legionella cells.

To improve the health safety of all Europeans, including 20 million people currently under concrete health risks, we developed a worldwide unique solution for highly accurate and automated detection and quantification of legionella bacteria in water. Moreover, our system is able to give predictions and warnings already BEFORE critical value is reached, enabling counter measures. LegioDetect is easy to use also for non-experts, data is easy to understand and thus, the system is perfectly scalable for the fast growing market of Legionella monitoring. Our system is intended for owners/operators of rental houses, public buildings or buildings of special interest (e.g. hospitals, hotels, baths or swimming pools), for private households, but also for operators of cooling towers.


Virtuell målning - extern uppladdning av pullver- och våtfärg

Purpose and goal:
The unique methods and tools for simulation of spray painting, which were developed in earlier FFI and MERA project, have in this projects been extended to simulation of powder and externally charged wet paint, and support companies to develop and optimize their surface treatment
to be more environmentally friendly,
to be more energy efficient,
to be more cost efficient,
to give a higher product quality result

Expected results and effects:
The project results show that it is possible to accurately simulate spray painting of a truck cab or a car in only a few hours on a standard computer. This is an extreme improvement compared to earlier approaches that require weeks of simulation time. Unique algorithms for coupled simulations of air flows, electrostatic fields and charged paint particles have made this possible. Several successful measurements campaigns have been performed on relevant industrial cases with very good results.

Approach and implementation:
The project was divided into seven work packages. The first three focused on the modeling, simulation and optimization, and the remaining four concerned the measurements and validation, software demonstrator and exploitation, long term strategy of the area and project management.

STIFTELSEN FRAUNHOFER-CHALMERS CENTRUM FÖR INDUSTRIMATEMATIK


PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We hypothesize that phosphorylation of S776 (residue number based on human ATXN1 with 30Q), is a target for therapeutic development. One aim of this project will undertake a dissection of the ATXN1-S776 phosphorylation signaling pathway in vivo -- not only to better understand the biology of ATXN1 and SCA1 but to also identify additional targets for therapeutic intervention. The second goal will be to examine the extent to which the pS776 pathway contributes to SCA1 in regions of the brain beyond the cerebellum, i.e. does S776 have role in SCA1 phenotypes in addition to the cerebellar ataxia?


PORTABLE IMPACT TESTER FOR PLAYGROUND SURFACES


Shared and disparate genomic features of TDP-43 proteinopathies

Project Narrative Frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TAR DNA-binding ~43kDa (TDP-43) inclusions (FTLD-TDP) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) share common pathological features but can present with heterogeneous clinical features including dementia (FTLD-TDP), motor neuron dysfunction (ALS), or both (ALS-FTD). The overall aim of this proposal is to leverage genotype and transcriptomic approaches to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms that contribute to the observed clinical heterogeneity across these sporadic TDP-43 proteinopathies. Disentangling this heterogeneity may help inform the development of therapeutic targets to attenuate the course of these devastating neurodegenerative diseases.


ATTACHMENT PROTEIN INTERACTION WITH PERIODONTAL BACTERIA


プラズマイオンプロセスによる新高分子材料の合成と応用に関する研究

Principal Investigator：村山 洋一, Project Period (FY)：1984 – 1985, Research Category：Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C), Research Field：Applied materials


Ion Beam Engineering of Single-Crystal Sapphire Fibers for Fabrication of Buried Optical Claddings in Harsh Environment Sensing Applications

The implementation of advanced sensing technology based on single-crystal sapphire fiber optics in harsh environment sensing applications is hindered by the lack of an appropriate cladding structure for sapphire fibers that is able to function without degradation or failure under harsh conditions. This NSF project aims to address the challenge by exploring a solution relying on ion implantation and thermal annealing for achieving buried optical claddings within single-crystal sapphire fibers. Basic knowledge about the effects of ion implantation and thermal annealing on the optical and structural properties of single-crystal sapphire fibers, will be acquired. On the basis of such knowledge, design and fabrication of embedded claddings in sapphire fibers will be performed. The performance of prototyped sapphire fiber claddings will be evaluated under harsh conditions encountered in combustion processes of industrial applications (e.g., power plants and engines). Possible correlation between the performance characteristics of such claddings and the material properties of sapphire fibers, will be identified to optimize materials processing in fabrication of high-quality buried claddings in single-crystal sapphire fibers.

The success of the research would be very useful for industrial applications requiring harsh environment sensing. The project will facilitate a close collaboration/partnership between university and industry, promising a rapid transfer of enabling harsh-condition sensing technology from an academic setting to the industry if the technology proves viable. The research will enable a coherent integration of research with education, by establishing connections between basic scientific concepts and industrial applications in teaching of graduate student courses, and by providing the involved graduate student and underrepresented undergraduate students with various research experiences on materials processing and characterization, as well as fabrication and testing of fiber-based optical devices. These will prepare the students for their future research careers, and in turn will help the industry recruit talents for its R&D programs.


Collaborative Proposal:  Ash Particles and the Bubbles that Make Them: Measuring Bubble Size from Ash Fragments for New Insights Regarding Eruption Dynamics

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

Explosive volcanic eruptions are driven by the rapid growth of gas bubbles in magma that burst in the eruption column as they rapidly expand. By measuring the size of these bubbles just before they burst, it is possible to explore the processes that culminate in dangerous, explosive eruptions. However, it is impossible to monitor the interior of an exploding eruption column at the level of detail required, and by the time the final volcanic product of ash is observable, the bubbles that drove the eruption have already burst. Consequently, it is necessary to examine the surfaces of individual ash particles to analyze the imprints that these exploding bubbles have left on ash surfaces. This project is directed to developing a technique to determine the size distribution of these bubbles, and thus shed light on the processes of vesiculation and disruption immediately prior to fragmentation during explosion.

Bubble sizes can be measured on the basis of the radius of curvature of concavities on the surfaces of ash particles. These ash particles would have been the remnants of inter-bubble films and Plateau borders that existed prior to the fragmentation of the erupting magmatic foam, so should preserve information about the bubbles that separated them. Bubble fragment curvature can be constructed using digital elevation maps for individual ash fragments derived from Stereo-Scanning Electron Microscopy (SSEM). 3D shapes and bubble volumes can then be reconstructed from the imprinted curvatures in orthogonal cross sections of bubble "craters." This way, it is possible to determine bubble size, even when the expanding bubbles have burst during eruption (fragmentation). The technique developed in this project will be applied to natural ashes from recent eruptions of Fuego, Mt. Spurr, and Mt. St. Helens volcanoes, and the relations between bubble size distributions (BSD), bubble number densities (BND), and ash particle size distributions (PSD) will be quantified. This will make it possible to test a number of scientific hypotheses that can determine the relations between magma vesiculation dynamics of energetic volcanic eruptions and their products. It is expected that this study will result in new volcanic product analysis tools available for the broader community of volcanologists for application to, among others, pre-fragmentation vesiculation in ashes from highly energetic volcanic eruptions; hazard assessment of past and future eruptions; and stratospheric ash and its climate implications.


Stereoelektronische Effekte in Reaktionen von Sulfoxiden, Sulfiden und Sulfiliminen

Man weiß, dass stereoelektronische Effekte einen signifikanten, häufig einen dominierenden Effekt auf die Stereochemie von Reaktionen haben. Obwohl Sulfoxide in zahlreichen organischen Reaktionen eine Schlüsselrolle einnehmen, sind die stereoelektronischen Effekte in der Chemie der Sulfoxide anders als für Carbonyl-Verbindungen kaum systematisch untersucht. Um diese Effekte zu ermitteln und für ein besseres Verständnis der Reaktionen nutzbar zu machen, sollen konformationell fixierte, cyclische Sulfoxide hergestellt und die Stereochemie in deren Reaktionen untersucht werden. Hier bieten sich vor allem tert-Butyl-substituierte Thiane und Dithiane sowie Thiadecaline als Substrate an. Neben der Deprotonierung und Substitution in ¿-Position soll auch die Diastereoselektivität von Michael-Additionen an Alkylidensulfoxide genau untersucht werden. Für Sulfide sind ebenfalls stereoelektronische Effekte zu erwarten, die sich in geeigneten Substraten in einer diastereoselektiven Oxidation oder auch hier in einer diastereoselektiven Deprotonierung nachweisen lassen sollten. Dies hätte z. B. Konsequenzen für die Corey-Seebach-Reaktion, deren stereochemischer Verlauf nie detailliert untersucht wurde. Wie sich die Reaktivität von Sulfoxiden verändern lässt, soll durch Reaktionen unter Zusatz von Lewissäuren oder durch Verwendung der isoelektronischen Sulfilimine ermittelt werden.


Morphological and molecular systematics and biogeography of Mygalomorph spiders of Atlantic Forest

The infraorder Mygalomorphae (Araneae) are currently divided into 16 families, 11 of those occur in Brazil:  Actinopodidae, Barychelidae, Ctenizidae, Cyrtaucheniidae, Dipluridae, Idiopidae, Mecicobothriidae, Microstigmatidae, Nemesiidae, Paratropididae e Theraphosidae. These spiders show high morphological uniformity, making it difficult the proposition of phenotypic homologies. Furthermore, the traditional method of delimiting species based on morphology, in many cases, involves few characters, being restricted to minor details, which are hard to quantify. Mygalomorphs show limited dispersal skills and are sedentary spiders with high fidelity to their retreat. In this scenario, delimiting species and investigating phylogenetic relationships becomes a though task, requiring distinct sources of evidence. Moreover, low dispersal skills make these spiders susceptible to population divergence, which may lead to speciation processes (vicariance and/or parapatric divergence), representing objects to be explored in biogeographic approaches. Recent studies with opilionids and anurans showed the south and southeastern portions of Brazilian Atlantic Forest as a complex mosaic of areas of endemism. We aim to understand the significance of morphological and molecular characters in systematic studies for Mygalomorphae spiders, more specifically concerning the limits among species and how these distinct types of evidence interact. A total of eight sympatric mygalomorph genera were select for the present proposal: Vitalius Lucas, Silva e Bertani, Grammostola Simon, Rachias Simon, Homoeomma Ausserer, Prorachias Mello-Leitão e Pycnothele Chamberlin. Each of these genera will be studied under morphological, molecular and biogeographic approaches. The research group assembled for this proposal includes undergrad, postgrad and researchers working on distinct taxa and approaches, establishing the Spider Systematics Lab in UNESP Rio Claro. We expect to generate data for publication regarding the systematics of all genera included here, as well as promoting information for more detailed biogeographic studies and future molecular works (tissue collection). (AU)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Jovens Pesquisadores

Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Instituto de Biociências (IB)


Increasing Children's Defending Behaviors: Using Deviance Regulation Theory to Combat Bullying

Project Narrative One mission of the NICHD is to support research that addresses bullying and to identify methods to reduce children’s exposure to violence. The proposed study will: a) test whether increasing children’s positive perceptions of defenders increases their own defending behaviors, b) identify those children most likely to be affected by the intervention, and c) determine whether the intervention leads to decreases in children’s aggression and exposure to bullying. If successful, this intervention can be easily implemented in schools and incorporated into existing anti-bullying interventions providing a low-cost method of increasing defending behaviors and decreasing bullying among children.


Patterns of Care/Quality of Care Study: Diagnosis Year 2013 (SEER) Period of Performance: 08/15/2014 - 08/14/2015


D^-状態を用いた高感度超高速サブミリ波検知器の研究

Principal Investigator：谷口 雅樹, Project Period (FY)：1981, Research Category：Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists (A), Research Field：物理計測・光学


Développement d'un vaccin contre les infections dues à Streptococcus suis sérotype 2 chez l'espèce porcine

No summary - Aucun sommaire

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Collaborative Research and Development Grants


SUPPLY SCHISTOSOME INFECTED SNAILS &MAMMALS


Ventricular Dynamics from Surgically Inserted Markers


NOVEL INTERNEURONS MEDIATING FEEDFORWARD THALAMOCORTICAL INHIBITION


フラーレン分子の電気推進機への適用に関する研究

Principal Investigator：中山 宜典, Project Period (FY)：1998, Research Category：Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows, Section：国内, Research Field：Aerospace engineering

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science


Establishment of a body-wide non-coding RNA cell type enrichment atlas, with a focus on endothelial enriched non-coding gene function

In this proposal, we plan to generate a publicly accessible cell type specificity atlas for human non-protein coding RNAs (ncRNAs), and to investigate the function of those enriched in endothelial cells. There are >20,000 known ncRNAs, a diverse group of genes that can have important regulatory functions, but little is known about their expression profiles, making determination of their role in cell biology challenging; the vast majority have no annotated function. We will use an integrated correlation-based analysis of bulk RNA sequencing data, to profile ncRNA enrichment signatures in over 70 cell types from over 20 different human organs, a method we previously developed and validated for the profiling of protein coding genes. The data we generate will be available on the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) portal, providing body-wide, cell-type enrichment signatures for all sequenced ncRNAs. We will perform a cross-tissue analysis to identify ncRNAs with EC enrichment in multiple tissue beds and validate their expression profile using fluorescence in situ hybridization. We will knockdown or overexpress these candidates in cultured primary ECs, and determine their role in various cell specific functions, such as response to inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, hypoxia, shear stress, interactions with blood leucocytes and regulation of coagulation. This project will create an important tool for the study of ncRNA biology, as well providing insight into endothelial ncRNA biology.


Predoctoral Training Consortium in Affective Science


This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This award supports research focusing on the study of the classical and quantum mechanical properties of black holes and black-hole-like entities. The structure of special types of black holes will be investigated in detail using a variety of recently developed techniques. These black holes will serve as theoretical laboratories to develop understanding of how to unify gravity and quantum mechanics. The search for a consistent theory of quantum gravity is one of the outstanding open problems in theoretical physics. It is likely that understanding the classical and quantum properties of black holes in all dimensions will play an important role in the development of a successful theory of quantum gravity. Undergraduate students will be fully engaged in all aspects of research. Significant learning outcomes for the students will be available, thus facilitating a successful transition to graduate school or future career. An extensive outreach program to middle grade and high school students will be developed, including the construction of a webpage on black hole physics aimed at high school students, and undergraduates.


Organ donation after cardiac death: optimizing the donor heart.

Soon overtaking organ donation following neurological death is a route to donation following cardiac standstill (cardiac death). Currently all organs but heart are transplanted; this proposal aims to investigate methods to protect and eventually transplant these hearts.


Approximation Theory in Normed Linear Spaces


OXIDE DISPERSION STRENGTHENED IRON ALUMINIDE BY CVD COATED POWDERS


A Center For Umass-Industry Research on Polymers


Determining the Phase Behavior of polarizable Water Models


Genome sequencing of Panamanian cyanobacteria to uncover cyanobacterial biodiversity and investigate novel routes for hydrocarbon biosynthesis


MECHANISMS OF RENAL MALIGNANCY IN TUBEROUS SCLEROSIS


RECEPTIVE FIELDS OF LAYER IV (BARREL FIELD) NEURONS


Impact of Bundled Payment Reforms on Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Hip and Knee Replacement Surgeries

Project Narrative: The proposed project will evaluate whether the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model of 2016 has exacerbated disparities in the use and outcomes of hip and knee replacement care among elderly Medicare patients belonging to racial minority groups, and to lower socioeconomic groups. The knowledge generated from the proposed study will influence the design of this and other related bundled payment models, such that existing racial and socioeconomic disparities can be effectively reduced. This knowledge will benefit (i) patients undergoing these surgeries in the future by supporting provision of equitable care; (ii) hospitals, clinicians, and post-acute care facilities by generating evidence to better understand their responses to this Model; and (iii) policy makers by generating knowledge that will support the design of current and future policy reforms to effectively reduce disparities.


Après les gaz à effet de serre, les aérosols sulfatés représentent le plus important facteur influençant le bilan radiatif de l'atmosphère terrestre. En augmentant la densité des noyaux de condensation de nuage, les émissions de soufre accroissent la réflectivité des nuages et refroidissent le climat. Les émissions océaniques du diméthylsulfure (DMS) représentent une source importante de ces aérosols. Le précurseur du DMS est le diméthylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), un composé synthétisé par la plupart des espèces phytoplanctoniques. La conversion du DMSP en DMS fait cependant intervenir l'ensemble de la chaîne trophique marine, des virus au zooplancton. En 1987, Charlson et ses collaborateurs ont émis l'hypothèse qu'il existerait une boucle de rétroaction entre la production marine de DMS et le climat, laquelle contribuerait à la régulation du climat. Cette hypothèse n'est toujours pas vérifiée. L'objectif de ce projet est d'identifier les rôles respectifs du phytoplancton et des bactéries dans la production de DMS dans deux systèmes contrastés : l'océan Pacifique subarctique pauvre en fer et l'océan Arctique pauvre en azote. Dans le Pacifique, je déterminerai l'influence des différentes sources de fer (poussières des déserts asiatiques, mélange vertical et tourbillons côtiers) sur la production microbienne de DMS. Dans l'Arctique, mes travaux porteront sur l'impact des changements de disponibilité des éléments nutritifs sur la synthèse algale de DMSP et sur sa conversion bactérienne en DMS. L'ensemble de mes travaux contribuera à mieux comprendre la relation existant entre la croissance du phytoplancton, la production de matière organique dissoute et la production microbienne de DMS. Les nouvelles informations générées par ce projet seront incorporées à un modèle mécanistique de la production océanique de DMS (Northern Oceans DMS Models - NODEM) développé dans mon laboratoire et permettront de simuler de façon plus réaliste l'impact des changements globaux sur les émissions de DMS et le climat.


Understanding the role of κB-Ras proteins in tumorigenesis

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE:  The development of cancer is a complex interplay between a large number of variables that include oncogenes, tumor suppressors and inflammation in the tumor microenvironment. The experiments described in this proposal are designed to elucidate the role of a novel class of tumor suppressors, the B-Ras proteins that bridge inflammation and cancer by regulating two central cellular signaling pathways through separate mechanisms. Understanding how B-Ras proteins function in tumor development will not only help us to assess their potential as targets for novel cancer therapies, but also deepen our understanding of the relative contributions of inflammatory and proliferative pathways to carcinogenesis.


Symmetrie basierte Skalierung der MultiPunkt Statistik einer turbulenten Couette Strömung erweitert durch WandTranspiration

Das zentrale Ziel des vorliegenden Antrags ist ein tieferes Verständnis turbulenter Scherströmungen auf der Basis von Lie Symmetrien und hierbei eine Erweiterung der Kenntnisse der Multi-Punkt Korrelationen (MPK) hin zu den weitaus fundamentaleren Wahrscheinlichkeitsdichte Funktionen (WDF).Unser derzeitiges Verständnis, ob gewisse Symmetrien in kanonischen Strömungen aktiv sind oder nicht muss grundlegend verändert werden, da physikalische Einflüsse wie Wand-Transpiration gewisse Symmetrien brechen, aber gleichzeitig sogar neue Symmetrien für höhere Korrelationen erschaffen.Mit dem Antrag soll diese Wissenslücke auf der Basis der Symmetrie Theorie geschlossen werden, erstmalig auch angewandt auf die WDF, indem eine Couette Strömung mit und ohne Wand-Transpiration untersucht wird, wobei als Datenbasis große Simulationen geplant sind. Die Strömung ist insofern ideal, als dass gewisse Symmetrien weitgehen beliebig an- und abgeschaltet werden können.Hintergrund ist, dass turbulente Skalengesetze Symmetrie-basierte Lösungen der MPK Gleichungen sind. Dies hat der Antragsteller in einer Reihe von Publikationen (2000,2001) für die mittlere Geschwindigkeit ebener Scherströmungen zeigen konnte, wobei die Couette Strömung hiervon auszunehmen ist.Ein wesentlicher Fortschritt in 2010 war die Entdeckung weitere statistischer Symmetrien in den MPK Gleichungen. Dies führte zu einem grundlegend veränderten Verständnis von Turbulenz und lieferte gleichzeitig und erstmalig Korrelationen höherer Ordnung, die für viele Strömungen sehr gut belegt werden konnten.Im Vorgängerprojekt konnte sogar ein neues logarithmisches Gesetz im Zentrum einer turbulente Poiseuille mit Wandtranspiration sowie den entsprechenden höheren Korrelationen entwickelt und mittels DNS belegt werden.Trotzdem sind eine Reihe von Schlüsselfragen in der Theorie ungelöst: (i) eine spezielle statistische Symmetrie für ebene Scherströmungen konnte bislang nur die Couette Strömung belegt werden. (ii) höhere Korrelationen scheinen selektiv von statistischen Symmetrien abzuhängen, wobei z.B. in ebenen Scherströmungen gewisse Symmetrien nur in der 11-Komponente auftraten, diese aber z.B. bei einsetzender Wandtranspiration für alle Korrelationen zentral sind.Besonders wichtig ist in diesem Zusammenhang, dass jede Symmetrie der MPK einer Symmetrie der sehr viel zentraleren WDF entspricht. Symmetrie-invariante Lösungen der WDF müssen positiv sein, was eine zentrale Bedingung an dies Lösung darstellt und die Werte der Gruppenparameter einschränkt. Diese wiederum sind Teil der Parameter in turbulenten Skalengesetzen wie z.B. $\kappa$ im Log-Gesetz, so dass eines der zentralen Ziele sein wird fundamentale Einschränkungen hierfür die finden.


LISTERIA HEMOLYSIN AND ESCAPE FROM A VACUOLE


A Study on Efficiency of OA Work by people with Low Vision

The study was performed to promote the efficiency of OA works by low-vision computer users. Following results were obtained.1) A teaching-playback mechanism was embedded in a power-assisted X-Y table for a closed-circuit television (CCTV) to support data entry tasks. Good performance was obtained by an experimental evaluation.2) We proposed to use a television with a horizontally wide screen as a visual display unit for text typing. Two items are displayed simultaneously on the screen of the television : a field of a text captured by CCTV, and a screen of a word processing program.3) A new CCTV with a power-assisted moving camera was developed. In the developed CCTV, the camera moves over a fixed reading materials. It is driven by two stepping motors and operated by a foot switch or by a joystick.4) Software user interfaces of the teaching-playback mechanism embeded in the power-assisted X-Y table and the CCTV with a power-assisted moving camera were improved to enable low-vision users to use them by themselves.5) Algorithm of the recognition of doubled clicks of a foot switch was modified by observing users' temporal characteristics of doubled clicks.


Multizentrische, randomisierte Studie zahnärztlichprothetischer Therapieformen der verkürzten Zahnreihe

Der zu erwartende gesundheitliche Nutzen stellt unter Beachtung von gesundheitsökonomischen Gesichtspunkten den entscheidenden Parameter für Therapieentscheidungen in der Zahnheilkunde dar. Die Therapieoptionen bei vollständigem Verlust der großen Backenzähne in einem Kiefer reichen von dem Erhalt einer verkürzten Zahnreihe bis hin zu deren vollständigen Wiederherstellung. Daten hoher Evidenzstufen, welche die zahnärztliche Therapieentscheidung in dieser Frage unterstützen können, fehlen nach wie vor. In der zur Verlängerung anstehenden multizentrischen Therapiestudie werden zwei Konzepte verglichen. Personen mit vollständigem Verlust der großen Backenzähne in einem Kiefer bilden die Grundgesamtheit. Als Therapiekonzepte werden die Wiederherstellung einer vollständigen Bezahnung mit einer abnehmbaren Prothese und alternativ die Erhaltung oder Herstellung einer verkürzten Zahnreihe bis einschließlich der kleinen Backenzähne ohne abnehmbare Prothese einander gegenübergestellt. Das Maß für den gesundheitlichen Nutzen der Therapiekonzepte ist das Auftreten weiteren Zahnverlustes, der als Hauptzielgröße definiert wurde. Nebenzielgrößen sind unter anderem die Patientenzufriedenheit, die Zahngesundheit, das Auftreten von Schmerzen sowie die Notwendigkeit einer prothetischen Neuversorgung. Von der Studie ist ein Zuwachs an Grundlagenwissen und eine Erweiterung der klinischen Wissensbasis zu erwarten.


Training Grant in Neurobehavioral Genetics

Relevance Following this training, PhD candidates will be uniquely poised to perform the type of team-oriented, multi- disciplinary or translational genetic research that is necessary to forward our understanding and treatment of diseases of brain and behavior, for example autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, each of which is a pressing public health concern.


THE ROLE OF PLACENTAL LACTOGEN IN FETAL DEVELOPMENT


INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING IN THE CHEMICAL SENSES


Fulfilling the Atomic Physics Needs for Spectral Diagnostics of Cosmic Chemical Evolution

Understanding the evolution of chemical elements in the Universe is crucial for understanding the evolution of galaxies.  Optical spectra of atoms and ions known as damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) absorbers observed against background quasars and gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows represent the most sensitive tools to measure elemental abundances in distant galaxies.  This project will generate accurate and reliable data required to derive elemental abundances from DLA absorbers, allowing astronomers to interpret observations of distant galaxies and test models of chemical evolution.  The project will train graduate and undergraduate students in astrophysical research, provide research experience to high school students, as well as engage a diverse population through astronomy outreach activities.

Using high-level theoretical atomic physics methods, the research team will calculate oscillator strengths for optical transitions of key DLA and sub-DLA absorbers.  The team will then test the reliability of the calculated data by benchmarking them against high-quality astronomical spectra in conjunction with photoionization modeling.  By enabling accurate interpretation of large-scale spectroscopic observations of high-redshift quasars, GRBs, and star-forming galaxies, this project will help advance our understanding of the chemical evolution of galaxies.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

University of South Carolina at Columbia


Effect of Insulin on Carbohydrate Oxidation by Mitochondrial Preparations


Twin Family Study of Vulnerability to Substance Abuse


地方裁判文書から見た清代中国の口誦文化と書字文化

清代中国(1644-1912)の地方レヴェル裁判文書(档案史料)は、裁判に関わった一般民衆の生活、慣習、心性などについて第一級の情報を提供する。本研究は、19世紀中国における告訴状を主資料として、そこに現れる文芸的な技巧とナラティヴ上の戦略の形式と内容を分析した。1999年度は、告訴状において訴えられている当事者の社会的地位・役割に応じて用いられた語彙と出来事(事件)の筋立てのパターンを明らかにした。告訴状においては、訴えられた当事者の社会的地位と役割に応じて、彼らの行為や性格を形容する攻撃的語彙が戦略的に選び取られていた。また、出来事を説明する筋立ても、個々の地位や役割に関して清代中国の社会が共有していた「かくかくの地位・役割はしかじかの性質だ」というステレオタイプ(多くが負のイメージ)に沿うかたちで物語られる。告訴状に現れるストーリーとことばは、現実にありえそうだと清代中国の人々が考えたであろう出来事を提示し、それを読んだり聞いたりする人々(告訴状の提出先である地方官を含む)が文化的に受容しうるよう形成されていた。従って、書字文化に属し、告訴状を代作していた下層識字層が、口誦伝統に属する農民が口頭で語った出来事の説明を文章化するに際しては、非識字層と識字層の両者が受容しうるステレオタイプに依拠し、またそれを社会的に増幅していたのである。2000年度は、前年度に従事した基礎的作業を具体的な成果に発展させた。清代中国における書字文化と口誦文化の境界領域で作用していた文化的イメージの循環を、告訴状、俗文学、地方官の布告に見られる仏僧のイメージの共有を例にとり、米国でのコンファレンスで発表した。また、告訴状における様々な文字表現の技巧にテクスト分析の手法でアプローチすることが、現代歴史学が直面している史料と社会現実との複雑な関係を再考する手がかりになることを、中国社会文化学会のシンポジウムにて発表した。

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science


Principal Investigator：東島 清, Project Period (FY)：1982, Research Category：Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists (A), Research Field：核・宇宙線・素粒子


Student Participation in 2022 Society of Engineering Science Annual Technical Meeting; College Station, Texas; 16-19 October 2022

This award provides travel support for 75 undergraduate and graduate students to attend the 2022 Society of Engineering Science (SES) Annual Technical Meeting to be held from October 16 to 19 on the Texas A&M University Campus in College Station, Texas. The selected students will attend the conference and present a poster or presentation. Students will benefit from the technical experience and professional networking in both formal and informal settings. Consideration in the selection process will be given to the inclusion of members of underrepresented groups, diversity of institutions that the students represent, and diversity of programs within engineering. This opportunity will have societal and economic impact of the field of mechanics of materials, and in developing the next generation of researchers and engineers from diverse backgrounds.

The SES Annual Technical Meetings are a leading forum for bringing together diverse, interdisciplinary groups of researchers to discuss advances in highly focused symposia. In 2022, the conference will have approximately eighty symposia within multiple technical thematic areas that include solids and structures, soft and flexible, biomechanics and mechanobiology, data science and machine learning, fluid and granular, manufacturing and infrastructure, multifunctional and multifield, and robotics and controls. The opportunity to attend and present will broaden the participating students’ technical understanding, stimulate the development of new ideas and research topics, and provide numerous professional development and networking opportunities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station


Influência da composição da tinta látex nos mecanismos de transporte de água em concretos

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo


Collaborative Research:    The Processing and Radiative Properties of Aerosols over the Western North Atlantic Ocean at Bermuda

The primary objectives of this project are: 1) To characterize major processes controlling the chemical, physical, and optical properties of near-surface aerosols, including elemental and organic carbon (EC/OC), over the western North Atlantic Ocean; 2) To quantify long-term trends in aerosol concentrations and fluxes and assess their influences on climate forcing; and 3) To provide data for and to collaborate with (a) the modeling community to develop reliable predictive capabilities for direct climate forcing by aerosols and (b) the remote sensing community to improve the accuracy of algorithms used to retrieve atmospheric and oceanic information.  Super- and sub-micron diameter aerosols will be sampled daily at Bermuda and analyzed for EC/OC, spectrally resolved absorption, major organic and inorganic ions, and mineral aerosol mass.  Aerosol light scattering will be measured continuously, and wet-deposition fluxes of major ions and EC/OC will be quantified.  In collaboration with NASA, profiles of aerosol backscatter, extinction, and cloud height will be measured continuously.  Three-dimensional back trajectories will be calculated and clustered into characteristic transport regimes.  Data will be integrated into climatologies of aerosol chemical, physical, and optical properties as a function of transport regime, and long-term trends will be evaluated.  Individual cases representative of major regimes will be interpreted in conjunction with satellite-derived humidity and aerosol optical depth fields and infrared (IR) cloud fields.

This effort will enhance efforts to predict the influence of changing aerosol composition on radiative transfer and, in turn, on meteorology and climate.  Broader impacts also include training of undergraduate and graduate students in atmospheric chemistry and physics.


Manganese and basal ganglia dysfunction: role of NO


Gefüge und mechanische Eigenschaften verzweigter Blechstrukturen

Über Spaltprofilieren und -biegen erzeugte Werkstücke sind durch große, inhomogen verteilte Umformgradegekennzeichnet. Die bei den komplexen Umformvorgängen auftretenden Änderungen derMikrostruktur sowie die hieraus resultierenden mechanischen Eigenschaften spaltprofilierter Bauteilesind bisher weitgehend unbekannt. Ziel des Vorhabens ist es daher, die während der Umformprozesseauftretenden Gefügeveränderungen zu charakterisieren, eine Korrelation mit mechanischen Eigenschaftenherzustellen und eine Optimierung des Prozesses des Spaltprofilierens mit materialwissenschaftlichenAnsätzen zu erarbeiten. Schließlich soll der Einfluss nachgeschalteter Prozessschritte aufGefüge und Eigenschaften untersucht werden.


ANG FIREFIGHTERS

NATIONAL GUARD MILITARY OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE


COMPLEX LOCUS INVOLVED IN CYTOCHROME B MRNA MATURATION


Functional genetic screening to elucidate novel mitochondrial DNA repair factors using organelle-targeted chemical probes

Narrative:  Mitochondria are compartments within human cells that execute critical functions in the production of energy for the cell and coordination of cell death. Their proper function is directly related to the integrity of the DNA within the organelle (mtDNA) and in recent years mtDNA damage has been linked to many biological phenomena related to human health including cancer metastasis, degenerative neurological diseases and the aging process. We are using novel targeted-probes that were developed within our lab to understand the mechanisms by which mitochondria respond to and repair damage to mtDNA. This information will help elucidate new biological pathways and may reveal new targets for drug development.


Environmental Changes and their Categories of Analysis This project seeks to question the categories that inform our perceptions of environmental changes as dynamics that file continuities and discontinuities between men and their environment. The key objective of the project is to move beyond the dualism between environmental change and social and cultural change, as such dualism informs western ontologies, through an understanding of how this dualism has been produced and how it can be reshuffled. To put it another way, how are such categories produced by humans, negotiating and fighting with human and non-human actors around the way this environment should be understood and possessed? This defines their notion of political and cultural community, within a context of moving environmental and economic constraints. The originality of the consortium lies in the association of different disciplinary research communities, which have already a genuine expertise and maturity on environmental issues, in order to develop an inter-disciplinary approach, but also – and most of all – shape a common space that does not exist yet and will produce lasting effects on the organization of research. No research project funded under the programme “CEP&S” then “SOC&ENV” has yet gathered historians, philosophers, political scientists, agro-ecologist and specialists of American studies in an inter-disciplinary research structure (the Observatory of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, host of the project), able to initiate a dialogue with specialists of environmental and climatic changes from natural sciences. The method of analysis of the historical and philosophical foundations of the concept of nature is four-pronged: First, which are the ethical and philosophical categories that structure the relationship between man and nature? The originality of the question, which lies on a wide body of literature, is a proposal to unleash the dualism between nature and culture, exploring pairs of tensions such a nature/artifice, or savage/domestic. Second, how are such categories incarnated in cultural forms that are specific to different societies? The originality here lies in a comparison between schemes of arrangement that are historically situated between humans and non-humans, from three different schemes that are close to each other because they are westerners, but yet firmly unlike each other: the wilderness (US), the terra nullius (Australia), and the landscape (France). Third, how do these categories translate into forms of government and how are they tested by extreme events in a contact of environmental changes? Sovereignty here is addressed from the hypothesis of a biotic right that leads to a re-foundation of the cosmopolitics of nature. This hypothesis of political theory will be tested from the most extreme kind of environmental change: the natural disaster, understood as a laboratory, a dream/nightmare for the government of nature, and government at large. Fourth, what is the capacity of researchers to invent and explore new modes of expressing themselves, thus contributing to the construction of more sustainable communities, beyond the borders of academic research? The moving exhibition (in the footsteps of the exhibition ‘Native Land. Stop Eject’ of the Fondation Cartier), the digital writing of history (the programme Narrativesofchange, UVSQ-UNESCO-MEDDE) and the gallery of natural history (the National Museum of Canberra, the Australian Museum of Sydney and the Natural History Museum of Lille) will be mobilized in this cluster. The final output of NATCAT will be a contribution to the opening of new perspectives to make nature our home, from philosophical categories that can be mobilized by communities whose sense of place, renewed by the integration of environmental issues, will make them more able to face upcoming challenges.

Centre d'Histoire Culturelle des Sociétés contemporaines / Observatoire de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines


Online Orchestral Stem-Production Service

**CONTEXT**

In films, computer games, television, etc., orchestral soundtracks are one of the most powerful tools to shape emotional impact. During the period of Covid-19 working restrictions, musicians, engineers, production studios and others cannot work, so most orchestral soundtrack production is on hold.

Following the pandemic, producers will have to find ways to reduce costs while maintaining quality, especially if the UK is to be competitive in global markets.

**OUR VISION**

Our project will deliver an online service that enables users to easily create high-quality, industry-standard recordings of instrumental groups ('stems'), that are combined ('mixed') into a final soundtrack. The service will be intuitive, affordable and quick.

During the pandemic, musicians will be able to participate in the production of Stems from home. That will enable producers to deliver high-quality recordings, thereby reducing the pandemic's financial impact on the industry.

Following the pandemic, the service will alleviate some financial pressures on the UK media industry. It will continue to increase employment opportunities for British musicians and other recording professionals, and simplify production processes.

**HOW?**

We can create this service by implementing technology that has been proven in live performances over the course of the last three years ([www.symphonova.com][0]). Our technology uses conventional recording techniques to capture musicians' individual musical expression from their recordings, and applies it to virtual instruments. The process is unique, unprecedented and transformational for the industry.

**IMPACT**

Using our technology, high-quality full orchestral stems can be created with a small group of musicians. With the lowest production cost for stems, it will make British musicians highly competitive in an industry that frequently takes the work offshore or uses computers to replace humans. Even small-budget media projects seeking an original orchestral soundtrack will be able to afford British musicians. Beneficiaries will include all UK music-production stakeholders, who will be more competitive in the global market, and thereby have significantly increased work opportunities. The widening of a competitive export revenue stream will contribute to strengthening the UK balance of global trade. And global audiences will enjoy improved content.

**EXPLOITATION PLAN**

The project includes a series of exploitation, dissemination and training activities:

Exploitation Activities
- Customers’ Beta testing
- A public database of profiled musicians, studios and trained recording engineers

Dissemination Activities
- Curate a series of online events, including workshops and webinars on topics related to the service
- Create a new forum for user’s community
- Invite composers to write short works aimed at exploring the system capabilities

Training and Educational Activities
- Create and publish a series of tutorials (films and texts) aimed at composers, recording engineers and session musicians
- Organise a series of webinars focusing on the process for using the service
- Offer a series of online ‘clinics’ open to the community to address problems.

Britain has a long history of excellence and introducing innovation. We are grateful to have the chance to be part of that tradition.

[0]: http://www.symphonova.com/


エンドトキシンショックに対する特異的治療法の研究

Principal Investigator：小川 龍, Project Period (FY)：1984, Research Category：Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C), Research Field：麻酔学


Elastic Wave Velocity Measurements on Unquenchable Mantle Phases

Li, Baosheng
EAR-0003340

This proposal is focused on the study the elastic properties of two unquenchable mantle phases, high pressure phase of clinoenstatite, and calcium silicate perovskite. This project will utilize the DIA-type cubic anvil high pressure apparatus (SAM85) installed at beamline X17B1 of the NSLS at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) using synchrotron X-ray radiography and X-ray diffraction techniques in conjunction with high pressure ultrasonic interferometry. The investigators will use an X-ray radiography technique to record the sample image at the same time as the travel time through the sample is measured, providing the length of the sample needed for the calculation of velocity. When the formation of the unquenchable phase is confirmed by X-ray diffraction, simultaneous measurement of pressure, temperature, volume, Vp, Vs, and the length of the sample (P-V-T-Vp-Vs-L) at subsequent P-T conditions will provide data for both equation of state analysis and the determination of the pressure and temperature derivatives of the elastic bulk and shear moduli. Such data for clinopyroxene and calcium silicate perovskite phases are crucial for interpreting seismic observations to determine the composition and the mineralogy of the mantle.


The study of basic mechanisms that govern memory is an urgent public health need because disorders of memory, such as Alzheimer's disease and other common forms of human memory pathology, impose a significant socioeconomic burden on society. Deficits in the content of memory for what, where, and when events occurred are implicated in disorders of memory. Therefore, investigating the discrimination of what, where, and when in animals holds enormous potential for understanding the neurobiological bases of human memory disorders.


母語音声と非母語音声の処理能力の直接的関係

グローバル化が進む中、国際的な場で英語をツールとして用いる機会が増している。先行研究や、申請者が行ってきた聴取実験の結果から「英語学習者（英語非母語話者）は静かな環境で英語を聞き取ることができても、雑音や残響が入ると途端に聞き取れなくなる」ことが分かっている。日本人英語学習者が雑音・残響環境下で英語音声を正確に聴取できるようになるための訓練教材の開発をこれまでに進めてきた中で、個人差が結果に与える影響が大きいことが明らかになった。本研究では、さらに効果的なシステムに発展させるため、母語音声および非母語音声の聞き取り能力の測定と比較を行い、個人にとってより最適な訓練環境の特定を目指す。