7,444 research outputs found

    Wonderful news - As of June 2023 Scots poet and former Makar Jackie Kay is a patron of Loop!!!

    No full text
    Jackie Kay was born and brought up in Scotland. She is the author of—among other books—The Adoption Papers, which won the Forward Prize, Red Dust Road, winner of the Scottish Book of the Year Award, Trumpet, and the Costa-shortlisted Fiere. She was the third Makar, or National Poet for Scotland (2016-2021). She is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Salford. Photo credit: Denise Els

    oocytes and HeLa cells requires complex formation with mPER1

    No full text
    Several transcription factors with the function of setting the biological clock in vertebrates have been described. A detailed understanding of their nucleocytolasmic transport properties may uncover novel aspects of the regulation of the circadian rhythm. This assumption led us to perform a systematic analysis of the nuclear import characteristics of the different murine PER and CRY proteins, using Xenopus oocytes and HeLa cells as experimental systems. Our major finding is that nuclear import of mPER3 requires complex formation with mPER1. We further show that the nuclear localization signal (NLS) function of mPER1 and not activation of a masked NLS in mPER3 is critical for the import of the mPER1-mPER3 complex. Finally, and as previously described in other cell systems, nuclear import of mPER proteins in Xenopus oocytes correlates positively with their phosphorylation

    Modification of Loop 1 Affects the Nucleotide Binding Properties of Myo1c, the Adaptation Motor in the Inner Ear

    No full text
    Myo1c is one of eight members of the mammalian myosin I family of actin-associated molecular motors. In stereocilia of the hair cells in the inner ear, Myo1c presumably serves as the adaptation motor, which regulates the opening and closing of transduction channels. Although there is conservation of sequence and structure among all myosins in the N-terminal motor domain, which contains the nucleotide- and actin-binding sites, some differences include the length and composition of surface loops, including loop 1, which lies near the nucleotide-binding domain. To investigate the role of loop 1, we expressed in insect cells mutants of a truncated form of Myo1c, Myo1c1IQ, as well as chimeras of Myo1c1IQ with the analogous loop from other myosins. We found that replacement of the charged residues in loop 1 with alanines or the whole loop with a series of alanines did not alter the ATPase activity, transient kinetics properties, or Ca2+ sensitivity of Myo1c1IQ. Substitution of loop 1 with that of the corresponding region from tonic smooth muscle myosin II (Myo1c1IQ-tonic) or replacement with a single glycine (Myo1c1IQ-G) accelerated the release of ADP from A.M 2?3-fold in Ca2+, whereas substitution with loop 1 from phasic muscle myosin II (Myo1c1IQ-phasic) accelerated the release of ADP 35-fold. Motility assays with chimeras containing a single ?-helix, or SAH, domain showed that Myo1cSAH-tonic translocated actin in vitro twice as fast as Myo1cSAH-WT and 3-fold faster than Myo1cSAH-G. The studies show that changes induced in Myo1c via modification of loop 1 showed no resemblance to the behavior of the loop donor myosins or to the changes previously observed with similar Myo1b chimeras

    mPER1‐mediated nuclear export of mCRY1/2 is an important element in establishing circadian rhythm

    No full text
    Receptor-mediated nucleocytoplasmic transport of clock proteins is an important, conserved element of the core mechanism for circadian rhythmicity. A systematic analysis of the nuclear export characteristics for the different murine period (mPER) and cryptochrome (mCRY) proteins using Xenopus oocytes as an experimental system demonstrates that all three mPER proteins, but neither mCRY1 nor mCRY2, are exported if injected individually. However, nuclear injection of heterodimeric complexes that contain combinations of mPER and mCRY proteins shows that mPER1 serves as an export adaptor for mCRY1 and mCRY2. Functional analysis of dominant-negative mPER1 variants designed either to sequester mPER3 to the cytoplasm or to inhibit nuclear export of mCRY1/2 in synchronized, stably transfected fibroblasts suggests that mPER1-mediated export of mCRY1/2 defines an important new element of the core clock machinery in vertebrates

    Manufacturer-remanufacturing vs supplier-remanufacturing in a closed-loop supply chain

    No full text
    Remanufacturing at the component level could be performed by either a manufacturer or a supplier. In this paper, we analyze the performance of manufacturer-remanufacturing and supplier-remanufacturing in a decentralized closed-loop supply chain, and examine their desirability from different stakeholder perspectives. We find that the manufacturer may engage in remanufacturing of used components even if remanufacturing is costlier than traditional manufacturing; given remanufacturing is costlier, the manufacturer may forgo remanufacturing due to a marginal increase in consumer willingness-to-pay for the remanufactured product. If the unit remanufacturing cost is high enough, the manufacturer and consumers prefer manufacturer-remanufacturing, while the supplier and the environment prefer supplier-remanufacturing; otherwise, the manufacturer, the supplier, and consumers prefer supplier-remanufacturing, while the environment׳s preference is contingent on the environmental impact discount for the remanufactured product. Finally, the key findings are distilled into a roadmap to guide the development of remanufacturing

    Wavelength tunable 10-GHz 3-ps pulse source using a dispersion decreasing fiber-based nonlinear optical loop mirror

    No full text
    We experimentally demonstrate the use of a dispersion decreasing fiber (DDF)-based nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) for the generation of wavelength tunable soliton-like pulses at a repetition rate of 10 GHz. We compress ~12 ps Gaussian pulses from an electro-absorption modulator (EAM) (followed by 125 m of DCF for preliminary linear dispersion compensation) into 3 ps pedestal-free pulses using both high-order soliton compression and nonlinear switching effects within an 8.5 km DDF-based loop mirror. The output pulses from the DDF-based NOLM show considerable pedestal reduction compared to those obtained by directly compressing the EAM seed pulses via a single passage through the DDF. Wavelength tuning of the compressed pulses over a ~15 nm bandwidth (from 1541 to 1556 nm) is demonstrated without a significant increase in pulse duration or degradation in pulse quality

    Two-loop Sudakov form factor in ABJM

    No full text
    This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited

    Wind Turbine Generator Condition Monitoring via the Generator Control Loop

    No full text
    This thesis focuses on the development of condition monitoring techniques for application in wind turbines, particularly for offshore wind turbine driven doubly fed induction generators. The work describes the significant development of a physical condition monitoring Test Rig and its MATLAB Simulink model to represent modern variable speed wind turbine and the innovation and application of the rotor side control signals for the generator fault detection. Work has been carried out to develop a physical condition monitoring Test Rig from open loop control, with a wound rotor induction generator, into closed loop control with a doubly fed induction generator. This included designing and building the rotor side converter, installing the back-to-back converter and other new instrumentation. Moreover, the MATLAB Simulink model of the Test Rig has been developed to represent the closed loop control, with more detailed information on the Rig components and instrumentation and has been validated against the physical system in the time and frequency domains. A fault detection technique has been proposed by the author based on frequency analysis of the rotor-side control signals, namely; d-rotor current error, q-rotor current error and q-rotor current, for wind turbine generator fault detection. This technique has been investigated for rotor electrical asymmetry on the physical Test Rig and its MATLAB Simulink model at different fixed and variable speed conditions. The sensitivity of the each proposed signal has been studied under different operating conditions. Measured and simulated results are presented, a comparison with the results from using stator current and total power has been addressed and the improvement in condition monitoring detection performance has been demonstrated in comparison with previous methods, looking at current, power and vibration analysis

    Method to Determine the Closed-Loop Precision of Resonant Sensors from Open-Loop Measurements

    No full text
    Resonant sensors determine a sensed parameter by measuring the resonance frequency of a resonator. For fast continuous sensing, it is desirable to operate resonant sensors in a closed-loop configuration, where a feedback loop ensures that the resonator is always actuated near its resonance frequency, so that the precision is maximized even in the presence of drifts or fluctuations of the resonance frequency. However, in a closed-loop configuration, the precision is not only determined by the resonator itself, but also by the feedback loop, even if the feedback circuit is noiseless. Therefore, to characterize the intrinsic precision of resonant sensors, the open-loop configuration is often employed. To link these measurements to the actual closed-loop performance of the resonator, it is desirable to have a relation that determines the closed-loop precision of the resonator from open-loop characterisation data. In this work, we present a methodology to estimate the closed-loop resonant sensor precision by relying only on an open-loop characterization of the resonator. The procedure is beneficial for fast performance estimation and benchmarking of resonant sensors, because it does not require actual closed-loop sensor operation, thus being independent on the particular implementation of the feedback loop. We validate the methodology experimentally by determining the closed-loop precision of a mechanical resonator from an open-loop measurement and comparing this to an actual closed-loop measurement. Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Dynamics of Micro and Nano SystemsQN/Steeneken LabMicro and Nano Engineerin

    Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author

    No full text
    The question motivating this review paper is, how can computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn- ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory, and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in- teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that, as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency. Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip- ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in- teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity
    corecore