bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unphosphorylated STAT1 represses apoptosis in macrophages during Mycobacterium t
uberculosis infection
Authors: Yao Kezhen , Chen Qi , Wu Yongyan , Liu Fayang , Chen Xin , Zhang Yong
Published: March 2017

In murine macrophages infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the level of phosphorylated STAT1 (P-STAT1), which drives the expression of many pro-apoptosis genes, increases quickly but then declines over a period of hours. By contrast, infection induces a continued increase in the level of unphosphorylated STAT1 that persists for several days. Here, we found that the level of unphosphorylated STAT1 correlated with the intracellular bacterial burden during the later stages of infection. To investigate the significance of a high level of unphosphorylated STAT1, we increased its concentration exogenously, and found that the apoptosis rate induced by Mtb was sufficiently decreased. Further experiments confirmed that unphosphorylated STAT1 affects the expression of several immune-associated genes and lessens the sensitivity of macrophages to CD95 (FAS)-mediated apoptosis during Mtb infection. Furthermore, we characterized 149 proteins that interacted with unphosphorylated STAT1 and the interactome network. The cooperation between unphosphorylated STAT1 and STAT3 results in downregulation of CD95 expression. Additionally, we verified that unphosphorylated STAT1 and IFIT1 competed for binding to eEF1A. Taken together, our data show that the role of unphosphorylated STAT1 differs from that of P-STAT1, and represses apoptosis in macrophages to promote immune evasion during Mtb infection.
Olfactory sensitivity of the marine flatfishSolea senegalensisto conspecific body fluids
Authors: Fatsini Elvira , Carazo Ignacio , Chauvigné François , Manchado Manuel , Cerdà Joan , Hubbard Peter C. , Duncan Neil J.
Published: March 2017

Chemical communication is better understood in freshwater than marine fish. The Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is a marine flatfish wherein one of the problems in aquaculture is the poor reproductive performance of hatchery-bred males. Is chemical communication involved in the reproduction of this species? Urine, intestinal fluid and mucus samples were taken from adult fish, wild-caught and hatchery-bred, over the spawning season (March to May), and assessed for olfactory potency using the electro-olfactogram (EOG). The effect of stimulation of the olfactory system with adult female urine on circulating luteinizing hormone (LH) levels was also tested in males. Intestinal fluid and urine were potent olfactory stimuli for both juvenile and adult conspecifics, evoking large-amplitude, concentration-dependent EOG responses, and thresholds of detection estimated at 1:106. However, the amplitude of response to urine depended on the sex and state of maturity of both the donor and the receiver. Most olfactory activity could be extracted by C18 solid-phase cartridges. Urine from mature females evoked a slight, but significant, increase in circulating [LH] levels in mature males 30 minutes after exposure. Furthermore, the olfactory potency of urine differed between wild-caught and hatchery-bred fish; however, contrary to expectations, urine from wild-caught females was less potent than that from hatchery-bred females. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that faeces- and urine-released odorants are involved in reproduction in the Senegalese sole, and establish a basis for further investigation into pheromonal communication in marine teleosts.
Expresso: A database and web server for exploring the interaction of transcription factors and their target genes in Arabidopsis thaliana using ChIP-Seq peak data
Authors: Aghamirzaie Delasa , Raja Velmurugan Karthik , Wu Shuchi , Altarawy Doaa , Heath Lenwood S. , Grene Ruth
Published: March 2017

Motivation: The increasing availability of chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) data enables us to learn more about the action of transcription factors in the regulation of gene expression. Even though in vivo transcriptional regulation often involves the concerted action of more than one transcription factor, the format of each individual ChIP-Seq dataset usually represents the action of a single transcription factor. Therefore, a relational database in which available ChIP-Seq datasets are curated is essential.

Results: We present Expresso (database and webserver) as a tool for the collection and integration of available Arabidopsis ChIP-Seq peak data, which in turn can be linked to a user’s gene expression data. Known target genes of transcription factors were identified by motif analysis of publicly available GEO ChIP-Seq data sets. Expresso currently provides three services: 1) Identification of target genes of a given transcription factor; 2) Identification of transcription factors that regulate a gene of interest; 3) Computation of correlation between the gene expression of transcription factors and their target genes.

Availability: Expresso is freely available at http://bioinformatics.cs.vt.edu/expresso/
Does Technology Substitute for Nurses? Staffing Decisions in Nursing Homes
Authors: Lu Susan F. , Rui Huaxia , Seidmann Abraham
Published: March 2017

Over the past 10 years, many healthcare organizations have made significant investments in automating their clinical operations, mostly through the introduction of advanced information systems. Yet the impact of these investments on staffing is still not well understood. In this paper, we study the effect of information technology (IT)-enabled automation on staffing decisions in healthcare facilities. Using unique nursing home IT data from 2006 to 2012, we find that the licensed nurse staffing level decreases by 5.8% in high-end nursing homes but increases by 7.6% in low-end homes after the adoption of automation technology. Our research explains this by analyzing the interplay of two competing effects of automation: the substitution of technology for labor and the leveraging of complementarity between technology and labor. We also find that increased automation improves the ratings on clinical quality by 6.9% and decreases admissions of less profitable residents by 14.7% on average. These observations are consistent with the predictions of an analytical staffing model that incorporates technology adoption and vertical differentiation. Overall, these findings suggest that the impact of automation technology on staffing decisions depends crucially on a facility’s vertical position in the local marketplace.

The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2695 .

This paper was accepted by Chris Forman, information systems.
A compassionate journey part 3: the client experience
Authors: Sheridan Libby , Tottey Helen
Published: March 2017

The role of the practice team in the client's end-of-life journey with their pet is one that can make or break the client's experience. Euthanasia experiences are remembered by the pet owner days, weeks, and even years later. For an owner, whose emotions will already be heightened by the quality-of-life decisions they face, and the turmoil of losing a treasured companion, sensitivity to the veterinary environment and their experiences ‘front-of-house’ will play a role in shaping their impressions. It is important that the non-clinical aspects of euthanasia or end-of-life care are comprehensively assessed within a practice, and the support team trained in the customer care aspects of the final client journey.
Politische Konsumentinnen im Social Web
Authors: Witterhold Katharina
Published: March 2017

Politische Beteiligung wandelt sich. Der sozialwissenschaftliche Diskurs weist immer wieder auf eine Hinwendung der Bürger_innen zu neuen Formen des Engagements hin, die außerhalb der Einflusskanäle des repräsentativen Systems liegen. Dem Social Web kommt in diesem Prozess eine besondere Bedeutung zu, da es potenziell einen Raum für bürgerschaftliche Bildungsprozesse darstellt. Katharina Witterhold untersucht die dieser Entwicklung zugrunde liegenden Bedingungen am Beispiel politischer Konsumentinnen. Mit dem Blick auf Frauen als Wegbereiterinnen eines neuen Politikstils sowie mit der Entwicklung einer praxeologischen Analyseperspektive auf Alltagspolitik betritt ihre Studie auch theoretisch Neuland.
On the Threshold of Knowing
Authors: Rainer Lucia
Published: March 2017

In this in-depth analysis of artistic and academic lectures and performances, Lucia Rainer features an innovative conceptual and methodological tool that augments Goffman's Frame Analysis with a praxeological perspective. This way, she gives profound insight into how knowledge - as a practice and a concept - is associated with clarity rather than truth. Based on four case studies - including John Cage's unpublished and unabridged audio recording of Lecture on Nothing - the study explores how the concept of lecture performances, which adheres to two frames that never entirely blend, provides a space to (re-)negotiate the artistic-academic relationship.
Neue Freunde
Authors: Vedder Björn
Published: March 2017

Nie war Freundschaft populärer als heute. Sie gilt als entscheidende Zutat für ein gutes und glückliches Leben. Viele haben auch viele Freunde - jedoch will sich das versprochene Glück nicht so recht einstellen. Woran liegt das? Björn Vedder verknüpft in seiner Zeitdiagnose der Freundschaft philosophische Überlegungen mit der Analyse von popkulturellem Material sowie literarischen Klassikern. Er zeigt, was Freundschaft heute bedeutet, wie sie (auch zu uns selbst) gelingen kann und warum Facebook-Freunde echte Freunde sind. Dabei nimmt er die pessimistischen Kulturkritiken der Gegenwart ernst, teilt deren Defätismus aber nicht, sondern zeigt Wege aus den Pathologien der modernen Freundschaft auf.
States and Local Legal Cultures in Medieval Islam: A comparative study of Akbar’s Mughal Rule and Sultan Agung’s Mataram in 16th and 17th Century
Authors: Achmad Noor , Nurcholis Nanang
Published: March 2017

This study seeks to expand the horizon of existing literatures on the dialectic of religion, legal culture and local dynamics by comparing two great Muslim rulers in two different parts of the world in the first Islamic millennium: Mughal Emperor Akbar and Mataram’s Sultan Agung. It specifically aims to analyze historical accounts on the dynamic relations between Islamic norms and local culture with corresponding results of distinctive ways of ruling by these two great rulers. While both rulers Akbar and Sultan Agung shared similar concerns in political imagination, their difference was particularly shown in the representation of religion in the courts’ political and legal culture, with the latter was heavily determined by different challenges they faced during their rule. This paper argues that a comparative overview of these two great figures, who ruled in different parts of the world and at rather successive periods, would be beneficial for the studies of religion-culture relations in flagging the variation and extent of manifestation of Islamic global norms in local legal cultures which heavily determined by their corresponding local dynamics. As a literary or library research, it uses eclectic, blended, with qualitative method in content analysis.[Studi ini berupaya memperluas horison literatur-literatur yang ada tentang dialektika agama, budaya hukum dan dinamika lokal dengan membandingkan dua penguasa besar Muslim di dua belahan dunia yang berbeda pada millennia Islam pertama yaitu Raja Akbar dari Dinasti Mughal dan Sultan Agung Kerajaan Mataram. Secara spesifik, studi ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa catatan-catatan historis relasi dinamis antara norma Islam dengan budaya lokal dengan hasil temuan yang menunjukkan cara berkuasa/memerintah yang berbeda diantara dua penguasa tersebut. Sementara keduanya (Akbar dan Agung) memiliki kemiripan dalam imajinasi politik, di sisi lain, perbedaan mereka ditunjukkan dalam hal representasi agama dalam budaya hukum dan politik terutama ditentukan oleh perbedaan tantangan yang mereka hadapi ketika mereka berkuasa. Studi ini membuktikan bahwa dengan membandingkan dua figur yang memerintah di belahan dunia yang berbeda pada masa yang berurutan, akan memberikan manfaaat terhadap studi relasi agama dan budaya dalam mewarnai variasi dan lingkup manifestasi norma-norma global Islam dalam budaya hukum lokal yang banyak ditentukan oleh dinamika lokal yang bersesuaian. Sebagai penelitian kepustakaan (literer), studi ini menggunakan pendekatan eklektik dengan metode kualitatif dalam analisis ini (content analysis)].
The Dynamics of lennawa: Exchange, Sharing and Sensorial Techniques for Managing Life Substances in Ifugao
Authors: Remme Jon Henrik Ziegler
Published: March 2017

For the Ifugao of Northern Luzon, the Philippines, life, health and well-being depend on the containment of the life force called lennawa within the body. The life sustaining lennawa-body relation is, however, inherently unstable. Hence, there is a need to engage in practices that sustain the lennawa-body relation. While, as also previous studies have shown, exchange and sharing are ways in which this is achieved, I argue that the containment of the life force within and its eventual release from the body depend on the sensorially enacted relations with other humans and spirits. I describe how the Ifugao use olfactory, auditory and tactile techniques to manage relations with other humans and spirits and how performing these sensorial techniques properly stabilizes the lennawa-body relation. When this relation is weakened, the Ifugao I worked with engaged in elaborate therapeutic rituals, the purpose of which was to retrieve the lennawa and ensure that it was rejoined with the body. The rituals took the form of exchange of lennawa between humans and spirits, and this exchange too was brought about by various multi-sensorial means. In sum, I discuss how Ifugao techniques of containing life must be understood within a framework that acknowledges the sensorial enactment of relations.
Myanmar-Studien: Ein Überblick
Authors: Gärtner Uta
Published: March 2017

Whithin the last few years Myanmar has been attracting much international attention, which is reflected in the rising number of academic research papers on this country as well. Against this background the article gives a concise review of the history of worldwide Myanmar studies with due consideration of German traditions in this field. Thereby it is focussing on institutions, which follow a holistic approach combining research and teaching. Emphasising the need of language proficiency for acquiring authentic information it advocates the re-establishment of a permanent base, which comprises language instruction as well as area studies and can promote the coordination of research work.
Tying the Hand: Life Sustaining Technique in Northern Thailand
Authors: Iida Junko
Published: March 2017

In Thai folk thought, human life is believed to be sustained and animated by a life essence or soul spirit called khwan. At certain times of crisis, the khwan tends to leave the body, and its temporary absence causes suffering including sickness and misfortune. Thai people therefore perform rituals to recall the khwan to their bodies when they are in a state of suffering. They also perform rituals to bind the khwan to their bodies in order to contain it within the body and prevent it from leaving when they are in a state of transition. This article explores these rituals concerning khwan in northern Thailand. The focus of anthropological studies on khwan and the related rituals has been on the meaning of the words and the function of the whole process of the rituals. In contrast to this, I demonstrate the importance of the body techniques, routines, and sensory experiences as well as the spoken messages of the recitations in the rituals. In these rituals, elders or healers bind khwan to the body of the participants by tying a piece of cotton thread to each of the participant’s wrists. I argue that this action – mat mue, which means “tying the hand” – forms the heart of the ritual.
Permeable Personhood and Techniques for Negotiating Boundaries of the Self among the Luangans of Indonesian Borneo
Authors: Herrmans Isabell
Published: March 2017

This article explores the negotiation of permeable personhood and human health and well-being in the healing rituals (belian) of the Luangans, a group of indigenous people of Indonesian Borneo. I describe different techniques employed in the rituals relating to the soul and other components of the self and to extraneous, unbound spirit agencies. Luangan rituals express a relational ontology according to which the constitution of personhood and human well-being is based on the condition of the notoriously volatile human soul or life-force (juus) and the nature of social relations with human and nonhuman beings. Rituals most centrally seek to advance well-being by increasing the fixity and hardness of souls and by improving the relationship with spirits and humans. These efforts are closely interconnected; the condition of the soul is inextricably bound up with the condition of relations with others. This entails a constitutively dual and contextually variable aspiration to both reinforce and open up the boundaries of persons and to associate and dissociate with others. While well-being is generally contingent on containing the soul within the body and alleviating the harmful influence on it of spirits and other humans, it is also adversely affected by alienation and neglect of relations and obligations, and dependent on the help of spirits and human shamans and consociates. The article describes the ambiguous and convoluted nature of Luangan human-spirit relations and how the unpredictability of these relations and the volatility of the soul is reflected in the structure of ritual performances.
The Shuhi House between Reformist China and Revivalist Tibet
Authors: Huber Franz K. , Weckerle Caroline S. , Hsu Elisabeth
Published: March 2017

The Shuhi of Muli County, Sichuan province, inhabit the Tibetan-Chinese borderlands. In this paper, we focus on Shuhi kinship practices that accord the house the importance it appears to have for the Shuhi themselves. We demonstrate that the Shuhi engage in kinship practices that are ‘hearth-oriented’ (Hsu 1998b: 67–99) in a dynamic process affected by the current political economic changes in reformist China and religious revivalism in Tibet. The ‘hearth-oriented’ kinship practices we discuss include issues of who among the offspring continues to live in the house of their parents, how places of worship in a house are oriented in relation to the physical environment and the divine landscape, and how practices regarding the naming of houses are changing from deictics of place to lineage and family names. Based on empirical data, gathered between 1996–2011, we show that there are significant differences in all practices, which reflect a Tibetan-Chinese gradient along the north-south axis of Shuhi settlements. But there are also striking continuities.
Le « film d’exploration » dans les textes de la critique de cinéma en République populaire de Chine
Authors: Signer Léa
Published: March 2017

Since the 1980s, Chinese cinema has attracted considerable critical attention at international festivals. The films have been received and interpreted according to “art cinema” criteria and compared to those of other famous “auteurs”. However, these concepts were not widely used by film critics in the People’s Republic of China at the time. The analysis of articles published in two film journals, Dianying Yishu 电影艺术 and Dangdai Dianying 当代电影 between 1979 and 2001 revealed that the label tansuopian 探索片 or “exploration film” is used to refer to these films instead. In this paper, different theoretical conceptions of “art cinema” are briefly presented, in order to highlight the similarities and points of difference with the Chinese critics’ “exploration film”. As a conclusion, I argue that the concept of “art cinema”, in spite of its relative absence in the Chinese critics’ writings of the 1980s, can lead to a better understanding of Chinese cinema in its specific social, economic and political context.
L’assujettissement des textes: quelques réflexions sur le classement par catégories dans les « encyclopédies » (leishu 類書) en Chine ancienne
Authors: Barbier Thomas
Published: March 2017

This paper focuses on the logic of categorization of three Chinese « encyclopedias » (leishu 類書), and the influence the categories have on the texts they contain. The choices made by the compilers are in fact not always easy to understand, and are indeed often quite subjective, which leads to think that leishu may not always prove reliable when used for research on specific topics. In order to exemplify this idea, I present here the case of a short narrative which can be found in three different leishu, namely the Yiwen leiju, the Taiping guangji and the Taiping yulan. Despite the text’s different versions being roughly the same, I argue that its meaning is modified by the way it is categorized in each of these books. By their choices, the compilers therefore influence our perception of the writings found in leishu, which are one of our most important sources concerning ancient Chinese literature.
Vilnius Multicolor CCD Photometry of the Open Cluster NGC 752
Authors: Bartašiūtė S. , Janusz R. , Boyle R. P. , Philip A. G. Davis
Published: March 2017

We have performed multicolor CCD observations of the central area of NGC 752 to search for faint, low-mass members of this open cluster. Four 12’ x 12’ fields were taken on the 1.8 m Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (Mt. Graham, Arizona) using a 4K CCD camera and eight intermediate-band filters of the Strömvil (Strömgren + Vilnius) system. In this paper we present a catalog of photometry for 405 stars down to the limiting magnitude V = 18.5, which contains V magnitudes and color indices of the Vilnius system, together with photometric determinations of spectral types, absolute magnitudes M
How Struve and Tenner Started the Work of Their Life
Authors: Viik T. , Randjärv J.
Published: March 2017

The great Russian-Scandinavian arc measurement was initiated by two men: F. G. W. Struve and C. F. Tenner. When they decided to join their endeavours, they both had obtained a substantial experience - Struve had completed the Livonia triangulation and he had measured the meridian arc from Jekabpils to Hogland, and Tenner had finished the triangulation for the Vilnius government and was continuing it for Kurland, Grodno and Minsk governments. In 1827 Tenner came forward with the idea to join their arcs, and during the meeting of both men in Tartu in 1828 they signed the respective agreement. The most difficult point in merging the projects was the use of measuring rods with different units of length: Struve used European toises and Tenner Russian sazhens. These rods had to be thoroughly compared, which they did and the results were checked independently by F. F. Schubert and F. W. Bessel who found them to be in a very good accordance. The later extension of the meridian arc northward to Fuglenes and to Stara-Nekrasivka in south allowed Struve to determine the preliminary result for the oblateness of the Earth with a great precision (α = 1:294.73).
Anders Celsius’ Contributions to Meridian Arc Measurements and the Establishment of an Astronomical Observatory in Uppsala
Authors: Stempels H. C.
Published: March 2017

Astronomy has been on the curriculum of Uppsala University from at least the middle of the 15th century. However, since Uppsala also was the ecclesiastical centre of Sweden, the acceptance of new ideas, such as the Copernican heliocentric system, was slow. At the same time, more peripheral universities in the Swedish empire, including Dorpat/Tartu, enjoyed a larger freedom. It was not until the early 18th century that a ‘modern’ astronomy emerged in Uppsala. This effort was to a large extent led by Anders Celsius (1701-1744), who was able to establish good international contacts with astronomers in continental Europe. Celsius participated in De Maupertuis’ expedition to the far north of Sweden, in order to measure the meridian arc and determine the shape of the Earth. This paper explores how Celsius became involved in De Maupertuis’ expedition, and how this effort paved the way to the establishment of a fully equipped astronomical observatory, including an extensive collection of books and instruments, most of which survives up to this day.
Bernhard Schmidt and the Schmidt Telescope for Mapping the Sky
Authors: Wolfschmidt G.
Published: March 2017

Bernhard Voldemar Schmidt (1879-1935) was born in Estonia. He ran an optical workshop in Mittweida, Saxonia, between 1901 and 1927. Astronomers appreciated the quality of his telescopes. Starting in 1925, working freelance in Hamburg Observatory, he developed a short focal length optical system with a large field of view. He succeeded in inventing the “Schmidt Telescope” in 1930, which allows the imaging a large field of the sky without any distortions. Shortly after Schmidt’s death, the director of the observatory published details on the invention and production of the Schmidt Telescope. After World War II, Schmidt telescopes have been widely used. The first large Schmidt telescope was built in 1948, the “Big Schmidt” (126 cm), Mount Palomar, USA. Schmidt telescopes are also important tools for cosmology. The result of the Palomar Observatory Sky Surveys (1949-1958, 1985-1999) is a data base of about 20 million galaxies and over 100 million stars, supplemented in 1971 by the ESO Schmidt for the southern sky. Also high resolution spectrometers can be fitted to the Schmidt telescope. The 80 cm Schmidt telescope of Hamburg Observatory, planned since 1936, finished 1955, is on Calar Alto, Spain, since 1975. Combined with two objective prisms, it was used for a Quasar survey project.
Astrometry Lost and Regained
Authors: Høg E.
Published: March 2017

Technological and scientific developments during the past century made a new branch of astronomy flourish, i.e. astrophysics, and resulted in our present deep understanding of the whole Universe. But this brought astrometry almost to extinction because it was considered to be dull and old-fashioned, especially by young astronomers. Astrometry is the much older branch of astronomy, in fact 2000 years of age, which performs accurate measurements of positions, motions and distances of stars and other celestial bodies. Astrometric data are of great scientific and practical importance for investigation of celestial phenomena and also for control of telescopes and satellites and for monitoring of Earth rotation. Our main subject is the development during the 20th century which finally made astrometry flourish as an integral part of astronomy through the success of the Hipparcos astrometric satellite, soon to be followed by the even more powerful Gaia mission.
Measuring the Cosmic Web
Authors: Müller Volker , Hoffmann Kai , Nuza Sebastián E.
Published: March 2017

A quantitative study of the clustering properties of the cosmic web as a function of absolute magnitude and color is presented using the SDSS Data Release 7 galaxy survey. Mark correlations are included in the analysis. We compare our results with mock galaxy samples obtained with four different semi-analytical models of galaxy formation imposed on the merger trees of the Millenium simulation. The clustering of both red and blue galaxies is studied separately.
Cosmological Neutrino Background and Connected Problems
Authors: Sapar A.
Published: March 2017

Applying the formulae derived by us (A. Sapar 1964) for the Universe filled with baryonic matter and decoupled particles (photons and massive neutrinos), a scenario of evolution of the Universe is studied. The dark energy can be treated as the kinetic energy excess over the potential energy of all particles in the hyperbolic Universe which is going to its new, kinetic energy dominated epoch of evolution. The dark mass can be due to slowly moving rest-mass neutrinos, crossing the galaxies where they form wide iso-potential (constant orbital velocity) shells. The real Big Bang is assumed to precede the Planck unit time and this removes necessity of the later inflation phenomenon. The possibility to modify the equations of cosmology into the non-local ones by gravitational potential of the Universe is shortly discussed.
High-Quality Fast QPOs from Magnetars: An Electric Circuit Model
Authors: Stepanov Alexander , Zaitsev Valery , Valtaoja Esko
Published: March 2017

An interpretation of high-frequency (20-2400 Hz) fast quasiperiodic oscillations of magnetars in terms of an equivalent electric circuit is given. Observed periods and the very high quality of quasi-periodic oscillations are explained. The oscillation source is represented as a hot electron-positron plasma in a ‘trapped fireball’, a system of current-carrying magnetic loops of various sizes. The physical parameters of a ‘trapped fireball’ in the flare of SGR 1806-20 (2004 December 27) are estimated.
Studying the Patterns of the Universe
Authors: Sepp T. , Tempel E. , Gramann M. , Nurmi P. , Haupt M.
Published: March 2017

The SDSS galaxy catalog is one of the best databases for galaxy distribution studies. The SDSS DR8 data is used to construct the galaxy cluster catalog. We construct the clusters from the calculated luminosity density field and identify denser regions. Around these peak regions we construct galaxy clusters. Another interesting question in cosmology is how observable galaxy structures are connected to underlying dark matter distribution. To study this we compare the SDSS DR7 galaxy group catalog with galaxy groups obtained from the semi-analytical Millennium N-Body simulation. Specifically, we compare the group richness, virial radius, maximum separation and velocity dispersion distributions and find a relatively good agreement between the mock catalog and observations. This strongly supports the idea that the dark matter distribution and galaxies in the semi-analytical models and observations are very closely linked.
A Photo-Ionization Method for Black Hole Mass Estimation in Quasars
Authors: Marziani Paola , Negrete C. Alenka , Dultzin Deborah , Sulentic Jack W.
Published: March 2017

Determining the masses of the central compact object believed to power all active galactic nuclei is relevant to our understanding of their evolution and of their inner workings. Keys to present-day mass estimates are: (1) the assumption of line broadening due to virial motion of the emitting gas, (2) an estimate of the distance of broad-line emitting gas from the central compact object, and (3) a measure of the AGN luminosity. We discuss the merits and the limitations of an alternative method based on estimates of physical conditions in the broad line emitting region derived from an appropriate multi-component analysis of emission line profiles. This ‘photo-ionization method’, applied to UV intermediate-ionization lines appears to be promising for at least a sizable population of high-z quasars.
AGN Dusty Tori as a Clumpy Two-Phase Medium: the 10 μm Silicate Feature
Authors: Stalevski Marko , Fritz Jacopo , Baes Maarten , Nakos Theodoros , Popović Luka Č.
Published: March 2017

We investigated the emission of active galactic nuclei dusty tori in the infrared domain, with a focus on the 10 μm silicate feature. We modeled the dusty torus as a clumpy two-phase medium with high-density clumps and a low-density medium filling the space between the clumps. We used a three-dimensional radiative transfer code to obtain spectral energy distributions and images of tori at different wavelengths. We calculated a grid of models for different parameters and analyzed the influence of these parameters on the shape of the mid-infrared emission. A corresponding set of clumps-only models and models with a smooth dust distribution is calculated for comparison. We found that the dust distribution, the optical depth and a random arrangement of clumps in the innermost region, all have an impact on the shape and strength of the silicate feature. The 10 μm silicate feature can be suppressed for some parameters, but models with smooth dust distribution are also able to produce a wide range of the silicate feature strength.
The Influence of Solar Spectral Lines on Electron Concentration in Terrestrial Ionosphere
Authors: Nina A. , Čadež V. , Srećković V. A. , Šulić D.
Published: March 2017

One of the methods of detection and analysis of solar flares is observing the time variations of certain solar spectral lines. During solar flares, a raise of electron concentration occurs in Earth’s ionosphere which results in amplitude and phase variations of the recorded very low frequency (VLF) waves. We compared the data obtained by the analysis of recorded VLF signals and line spectra for different solar flares. In this paper we treated the DHO VLF signal transmitted from Germany at the frequency of 23.4 kHz recorded by the AWESOME system in Belgrade (Serbia) during solar flares in the period between 10:40 UT and 13:00 UT on 2011 April 22.
Plasmas Generated with Gas Mixtures at the Atmospheric Pressure
Authors: Calzada M. D. , Muñoz J. , Rincón R. , Jiménez M. , Sáez M.
Published: March 2017

Several applications, such as metal surface nitriding, medical instrument sterilization and chemical analysis, have been developed or improved using a gas mixture as plasmogen gas. Research carried out on these subjects covers the aspect of knowing the processes that take place in plasmas which depend on the densities of the different plasma particles and their energy values. In this paper, the results obtained from the application of spectroscopic techniques for the characterization of surface wave discharges at the atmospheric pressure, generated with more than one gas type, are presented, particularly for the Ar-He, Ar-Ne and Ar-N2 plasmas.
Multiwavelength SED as a Tool in Understanding Outbursts of Symbiotic Binaries
Authors: Skopal A.
Published: March 2017

Symbiotic binaries consist of a few sources of radiation contributing to spectral energy distribution (SED) from hard X-rays to radio wavelengths. To identify the basic physical processes forming the observed spectrum, we have to disentangle the composite SED into its individual components of radiation, i.e., to determine their physical parameters. Spectral disentangling of different objects at different stages of activity allows us to understand the mechanism of their outbursts. In this contribution I demonstrate the method of multiwave-length modeling SEDs on the example of two classical symbiotic stars, AG Dra and Z And.
RR Tel: Determination of Dust Properties During Minimum Obscuration
Authors: Jurkić T. , Kotnik-Karuza D.
Published: March 2017

the ISO infrared spectra and the SAAO long-term JHKL photometry of RR Tel in the epochs during minimum obscuration are studied in order to construct a circumstellar dust model. the spectral energy distribution in the near- and the mid-IR spectral range (1–15 μm) was obtained for an epoch without the pronounced dust obscuration. the DUSTY code was used to solve the radiative transfer through the dust and to determine the circumstellar dust properties of the inner dust regions around the Mira component. Dust temperature, maximum grain size, dust density distribution, mass-loss rate, terminal wind velocity and optical depth are determined. the spectral energy distribution and the long-term JHKL photometry during an epoch of minimum obscuration show almost unattenuated stellar source and strong dust emission which cannot be explained by a single dust shell model. We propose a two-component model consisting of an optically thin circmustellar dust shell and optically thick dust outside the line of sight in some kind of a flattened geometry, which is responsible for most of the observed dust thermal emission.
News from AG Draconis
Authors: Leedjärv L. , Burmeister M.
Published: March 2017

AG Dra is a classical symbiotic star that undergoes major outbursts at intervals between 12-15 years. We present spectroscopic observations of four emission lines (Hα, Hβ, He II 4686 Å, Raman scattered OVI 6825 Å) before, during and after the major outburst that started in 2006. Interesting strengthenings of the emission lines took place in late 2005 and in early 2008. the latter was followed by a very deep minimum in the line strengths in 2008–2009.
A Composite Light Curve Model of the Symbiotic Nova PU Vul (1979)
Authors: Kato M. , Mikołajewska J. , Hachisu I.
Published: March 2017

PU Vul (1979) is a symbiotic nova that shows a long-lasting flat optical peak followed by a slow decline. We made a quasi-evolution model for outbursts on a 0.6 M⊙ white dwarf consisting of a series of static solutions with optically-thin winds. Our theoretical models reproduce well the observed visual/UV light curves as well as the new estimates of the temperature and radius of the hot component. We also modeled the light curve of the 1980 and 1994 eclipses as the total eclipse occulted by a pulsating M-giant companion star. In the second eclipse, the visual magnitude is dominated by nebular emission which is possibly ejected from the hot component between 1990 to 2000. We have quantitatively estimated three components of emission, i.e., the white dwarf, companion and nebular, and made a composite light curve that represents well the evolution of the PU Vul outburst.
Science Initiatives of the US Virtual Astronomical Observatory
Authors: Hanisch Robert J.
Published: March 2017

The United States Virtual Astronomical Observatory program is the operational facility successor to the National Virtual Observatory development project. The primary goal of the US VAO is to build on the standards, protocols, and associated infrastructure developed by NVO and the International Virtual Observatory Alliance partners and to bring to fruition a suite of applications and web-based tools that greatly enhance the research productivity of professional astronomers. To this end, and guided by the advice of our Science Council (advisory committee), we are focusing on five science initiatives in the first two years of VAO operations: (1) scalable cross-comparisons between astronomical source catalogs, (2) dynamic spectral energy distribution construction, visualization, and model fitting, (3) integration and periodogram analysis of time series data from the Harvard Time Series Center and NASA Star and Exoplanet Database, (4) integration of VO data discovery and access tools into the IR AF data analysis environment, and (5) a web-based portal to VO data discovery, access, and display tools. We are also developing tools for data linking and semantic discovery, and have a plan for providing data mining and advanced statistical analysis resources for VAO users. Initial versions of these applications and web-based services are being released over the course of the summer and fall of 2011, with further updates and enhancements planned for throughout 2012 and beyond.
The New Version of the Binary Star Database (BDB)
Authors: Kaygorodov P. , Debray B. , Kolesnikov N. , Kovaleva D. , Malkov O.
Published: March 2017

The Binary star database contains data on about 100 000 stellar systems of multiplicity 2 to 22, taken from a large variety of published catalogues for all types of binary stars: visual, orbital, astrometric, interferometric, spectroscopic, photometric, eclipsing, etc. Positional, kinematic, photometric, spectroscopic, orbital and astrophysical parameters are provided when available. The database can be queried by identifier, coordinates, catalogue and stellar/orbital parameters (including binary type) of objects. Lists of objects can be submitted as well. Also, the database provides links to some other online services, both of general purpose and on binary stars. A pilot version of BDB can be accessed at http://bdb.inasan.ru
UkrVO Joint Digitized Archive and Scientific Prospects
Authors: Vavilova I. B. , Pakuliak L. K. , Protsyuk Yu. I. , Shlyapnikov A. A. , Savanevich V. E. , Kondrashova N. N. , Yatsenko A. I. , Andruk V. N.
Published: March 2017

The UkrVO (Ukrainian Virtual Observatory) database consists of about 200 000 astronomical photographic plates and 500 000 CCD frames containing unique astronomical information for formulating important scientific tasks. This database is compiled from observations conducted in 1898-2011 at the observing sites of 8 Ukrainian observatories, with about 60 instruments. This paper deals with some principal scientific projects where the UkrVO databases are used, namely, the creation of the Joint Digitized Archive (JDA); compilation of new stellar catalogues; search for optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts; spectroscopic study of solar flares and solar active formations; development of software for searches for new small bodies of the solar system.
Study on simultaneous adsorption of phosphate and fluoride from water environment by modified laterite ore from Northern Vietnam
Authors: Hue Nguyen Thi , Tung Nguyen Hoang
Published: March 2017

Natural laterite can be regarded as a strong adsorbent due to its special structure and composition. In this study, the laterite was modified by manganese oxide (MnO2) to create a new good adsorbent for treating phosphate and fluoride in water environment. Under the optimized conditions of the adsorbent dose (pH 6, temperature 20°C, and the contact time 180 min), laterite, doped manganese, with diameter of grains from 0.1 to 0.5 mm has maximum adsorption capacity of 31.25 mg/g and 10.99 mg/g for phosphate and fluoride, respectively. The characteristics of the manganese doping laterite were confirmed using various techniques like SEM, BET, XRD, EDX. The adsorption process of the material was investigated by both kinetic models (pseudo-first and second orders) and isotherm models (Freundlich and Langmuir). This new material was tested for treatment of wastewater taken from the superphosphate fertilizer factory, with the results obtained showing high potential for application in reality.
Timelines and multimodal constructions: Facing new challenges
Authors: Cánovas Cristóbal Pagán , Valenzuela Javier
Published: March 2017

There is little doubt that spatial information underlies a great deal of our processing of temporal information. Research on the ways in which timelines are associated with specific grammatical constructions has just started, and has brought forward new challenges for construction grammar. A true multimodal construction grammar cannot be developed using the same tools and mechanisms applied so far, but will require instead a fresh approach and a careful rethinking of the whole communicative process. It is our belief than in this transition from a narrow conception of linguistic communication to a broader and more complete view of communication “in the wild”, multimodal construction grammar will play an important role.
Early Golgi Abnormalities and Neurodegeneration upon Loss of Presynaptic Proteins Munc18-1, Syntaxin-1, or SNAP-25
Authors: Santos Tatiana C. , Wierda Keimpe , Broeke Jurjen H. , Toonen Ruud F. , Verhage Matthijs
Published: March 2017

The loss of presynaptic proteins Munc18-1, syntaxin-1, or SNAP-25 is known to produce cell death, but the underlying features have not been compared experimentally. Here, we investigated these features in cultured mouse CNS and DRG neurons. Side-by-side comparisons confirmed massive cell death, before synaptogenesis, within 1–4 DIV upon loss of t-SNAREs (syntaxin-1, SNAP-25) or Munc18-1, but not v-SNAREs (synaptobrevins/VAMP1/2/3 using tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT), also in TI-VAMP/VAMP7 knock-out (KO) neurons). A condensedcis-Golgi was the first abnormality observed upon Munc18-1 or SNAP-25 loss within 3 DIV. This phenotype was distinct from the Golgi fragmentation observed in apoptosis. Cell death was too rapid after syntaxin-1 loss to study Golgi abnormalities. Syntaxin-1 and Munc18-1 depend on each other for normal cellular levels. We observed that endogenous syntaxin-1 accumulates at the Golgi of Munc18-1 KO neurons. However, expression of a non-neuronal Munc18 isoform that does not bind syntaxin-1, Munc18-3, in Munc18-1 KO neurons prevented cell death and restored normalcis-Golgi morphology, but not synaptic transmission or syntaxin-1 targeting. Finally, we observed that DRG neurons are the only Munc18-1 KO neurons that do not degeneratein vivoorin vitro. In these neurons,cis-Golgi abnormalities were less severe, with no changes in Golgi shape. Together, these data demonstrate that cell death upon Munc18-1, syntaxin-1, or SNAP-25 loss occurs via a degenerative pathway unrelated to the known synapse function of these proteins and involving earlycis-Golgi abnormalities, distinct from apoptosis.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThis study provides new insights in a neurodegeneration pathway triggered by the absence of specific proteins involved in synaptic transmission (syntaxin-1, Munc18-1, SNAP-25), whereas other proteins involved in the same molecular process (synaptobrevins, Munc13–1/2) do not cause degeneration. Massive cell death occurs in cultured neurons upon depleting syntaxin-1, Munc18-1, and/or SNAP-25, well before synapse formation. This study characterizes several relevant cellular phenotypes, especially earlycis-Golgi abnormalities, distinct from abnormalities observed during apoptosis, and rules out several other phenotypes as causal (defects in syntaxin-1 targeting and synaptic transmission). As proteins, such as syntaxin-1, Munc18-1, or SNAP-25, modulate α-synuclein neuropathy and/or are dysregulated in Alzheimer's disease, understanding this type of neurodegeneration may provide new links between synaptic defects and neurodegeneration in humans.
Decrease in Ins+Glut2LO β-cells with advancing age in mouse and human pancreas
Authors: Beamish Christine A , Mehta Sofia , Strutt Brenda J , Chakrabarti Subrata , Hara Manami , Hill David J
Published: March 2017

The presence and location of resident pancreatic β-cell progenitors is controversial. A subpopulation of insulin-expressing but glucose transporter-2-low (Ins+Glut2LO) cells may represent multipotent pancreatic progenitors in adult mouse and in human islets, and they are enriched in small, extra-islet β-cell clusters (<5 β cells) in mice. Here, we sought to identify and compare the ontogeny of these cells in mouse and human pancreata throughout life. Mouse pancreata were collected at postnatal days 7, 14, 21, 28, and at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months of age, and in the first 28 days after β-cell mass depletion following streptozotocin (STZ) administration. Samples of human pancreas were examined during fetal life (22–30 weeks gestation), infancy (0–1 year), childhood (2–9), adolescence (10–17), and adulthood (18–80). Tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for the expression and location of insulin, GLUT2 and Ki67. The proportion of β cells within clusters relative to that in islets was higher in pancreas of human than of mouse at all ages examined, and decreased significantly at adolescence. In mice, the total number of Ins+Glut2LO cells decreased after 7 days concurrent with the proportion of clusters. These cells were more abundant in clusters than in islets in both species. A positive association existed between the appearance of new β cells after the STZ treatment of young mice, particularly in clusters and smaller islets, and an increased proportional presence of Ins+Glut2LO cells during early β-cell regeneration. These data suggest that Ins+Glut2LO cells are preferentially located within β-cell clusters throughout life in pancreas of mouse and human, and may represent a source of β-cell plasticity.