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The correct morphology and migration of neurons, which is essential for the normal development of the nervous system, is enabled by the regulation of their cytoskeletal elements. We reveal that Neurabin-I, a neuronal-specific F-actin-binding protein, has an essential function in the developing forebrain. We show that gain and loss of Neurabin-I expression affect neuronal morphology, neurite outgrowth, and radial migration of differentiating cortical and hippocampal neurons, suggesting that tight regulation of Neurabin-I function is required for normal forebrain development. Importantly, loss of Neurabin-I prevents pyramidal neurons from migrating into the cerebral cortex, indicating its essential role during early stages of corticogenesis. We demonstrate that in neurons Rac1 activation is affected by the expression levels of Neurabin-I. Furthermore, the Cdk5 kinase, a key regulator of neuronal migration and morphology, directly phosphorylates Neurabin-I and controls its association with F-actin. Mutation of the Cdk5 phosphorylation site reduces the phenotypic consequences of Neurabin-I overexpression both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that Neurabin-I function depends, at least in part, on its phosphorylation status. Together our findings provide new insight into the signaling pathways responsible for controlled changes of the F-actin cytoskeleton that are required for normal development of the forebrain. MEDLINE® is the source for the MeSH terms of this document. Peer reviewed

Peer reviewed

Nucleosynthesis processes involve reactions on several thousand nuclei, both close to and far off stability. The preparation of reaction rates to be used in astrophysical investigations requires experimental and theoretical input. In this contexts two interesting aspects are discussed: (i) the relevant gamma transition energies in astrophysical capture reactions, and (ii) the newly discovered Coulomb suppression of the stellar enhancement factor. The latter makes a number of reactions with negative Q value more favorable for experimental investigation than their inverse reactions, contrary to common belief.

Purpose: This paper makes the case for integrating Bandura’s (1986) theory of self-efficacy within the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) model and demonstrates how this could be achieved by applying it to a local community festival setting (‘The Utcazene-Fesztival’, a Street Music Festival in Veszprem, Hungary). Design/methodology/approach: The Utcazene-Fesztival was selected as previous analysis by Jepson et al (In press) had revealed the MOA model to have a number of shortcomings in relation to revealing inhibiting factors for local engagement and participation. A questionnaire was adapted within this street music festival and this forms the basis of previous analysis which has been revisited so that the model can then be analysed further in relation to integrating Bandura’s (1986) theory of self-efficacy. Findings: The research reveals that there are synergies between the MOA model and self-efficacy theory, the paper justifies the inclusion of further questions within the MOA model to test self-efficacy within community festivals and events, and proposes guidelines for researchers measuring self-efficacy within event planning and design. Finally an amended definition of community events and festivals is put forward. Research limitations/implications : Further research and testing and analysis of the adapted MOA model is needed to further understand its application and validity in the field of event studies. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the debate on community engagement and participation in local community festivals and events by empirically analysing the factors which either inhibit or facilitate engagement therein. Currently there is limited understanding, agreement and research within this increasingly important area of academic enquiry. Non peer reviewed

We describe an adaptive grid method-of-lines (MOL) solution procedure for modelling charge transport and recombination in organic semiconductor devices. The procedure we describe offers an efficient, robust and versatile means of simulating semiconductor devices that allows for much simpler coding of the underlying equations than alternative simulation procedures. The MOL technique is especially well-suited to modelling the extremely stiff (and hence difficult to solve) equations that arise during the simulation of organic—and some inorganic—semiconductor devices. It also has wider applications in other areas, including reaction kinetics, combustion and aero- and fluid dynamics, where its ease of implementation also makes it an attractive choice. The MOL procedure we use converts the underlying semiconductor equations into a series of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that can be integrated forward in time using an appropriate ODE solver. The time integration is periodically interrupted, the numerical solution is interpolated onto a new grid that is better matched to the solution profile, and the time integration is then resumed on the new grid. The efficacy of the simulation procedure is assessed by considering a single layer device structure, for which exact analytical solutions are available for the electric potential, the charge distributions and the current–voltage characteristics. Two separate state-of-the-art ODE solvers are tested: the single-step Runge–Kutta solver Radau5 and the multi-step solver ODE15s, which is included as part of the Matlab ODE suite. In both cases, the numerical solutions show excellent agreement with the exact analytical solutions, yielding results that are accurate to one part in 1x104. The single-step Radau5 solver, however, is found to provide faster convergence since its efficiency is not compromised by the periodic interruption of the time integration when the grid is updated. Peer reviewed

To determine if computed tomographic (CT) texture features of primary colorectal cancer are related to 5-year overall survival rate Final Published version Peer reviewed

Louise Rosenblatt’s theory of literary experience was a landmark in twentieth-centurycontributions to aesthetics, pedagogy, and literary theory. Her work is consistently studied,although critical re-evaluations have waned in the past ten years or so. This essay turns to Rosenblatt’spolitical commitment to democracy and argues that in her writing, her politics are in conflict with hermore personalist sympathies concerning the value of the human being. I draw on the philosophy ofpersonalism to show how Rosenblatt’s writing on imagination offers a more congenial framework forthinking about building harmonious human relations. © 2018 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Peer reviewed

We demonstrate for the first time, continuous real-time observations of airborne bio-fluorescent aerosols recorded at the British Antarctic Survey's Halley VI Research Station, located on the Brunt ice shelf close to the Weddell Sea coast (Lat. 75°34'59"S, Long. 26°10'0"W) during Antarctic Summer, 2015. As part of the NERC MAC (Microphysics of Antarctic Clouds) aircraft aerosol cloud interaction project, observations with a real-time Ultraviolet Light Induced Fluorescence (UV-LIF) spectrometer were conducted to quantify airborne biological containing particle concentrations along with dust particles as a function of wind speed and direction over a three week period. Significant, intermittent enhancements of both non- and bio-fluorescent particles were observed to varying degrees in very specific wind directions and during strong wind events. Analysis of the particle UV induced emission spectra, particle sizes and shapes recorded during these events suggest the majority of particles were likely a subset of dust with weak fluorescence emission responses. A minor fraction, however, were clearly primary biological particles that were very strongly fluorescent, with a subset identified as likely being pollen based on comparison with laboratory data obtained using the same instrument. A strong correlation of biofluorescent particles with wind speed was observed in some, but not all, periods. Interestingly the fraction of fluorescent particles to total particle concentration also increased significantly with wind speed during these events. The enhancement in concentrations of these particles could be interpreted as due to re-suspension from the local ice surface but more likely due to emissions from distal sources within Antarctica as well as intercontinental transport. Likely distal sources identified by back trajectory analyses and dispersion modelling were the coastal ice margin zones in Halley Bay consisting of bird colonies with likely associated high bacterial activity together with contributions from exposed ice margin bacterial colonies but also long range transport from the southern coasts of Argentina and Chile. Average total concentrations of total fluorescent aerosols were found to be 1.9 ± 2.6 L-1 over a 3 week period crossing over from November into December, but peak concentrations during intermittent enhancement events could be up to several 10's L-1. The usefulness of the measurement technique for quantification of airborne bioaerosol concentrations, and to understand their dispersion and potential importance for microbial colonisation of Antarctica is highlighted. © Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Peer reviewed