Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI): facing the challenges and pathways of global change in the 21st century

During the past several decades, the Earth system has changed significantly, especially across Northern Eurasia. Changes in the socio-economic conditions of the larger countries in the region have also resulted in a variety of regional environmental changes that can have global consequences. The Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI) has been designed as an essential continuation of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), which was launched in 2004. NEESPI sought to elucidate all aspects of ongoing environmental change, to inform societies and, thus, to better prepare societies for future developments. A key principle of NEFI is that these developments must now be secured through science-based strategies co-designed with regional decision makers to lead their societies to prosperity in the face of environmental and institutional challenges. NEESPI scientific research, data, and models have created a solid knowledge base to support the NEFI program. This paper presents the NEFI research vision consensus based on that knowledge. It provides the reader with samples of recent accomplishments in regional studies and formulates new NEFI science questions. To address these questions, nine research foci are identified and their selections are briefly justified. These foci include: warming of the Arctic; changing frequency, pattern, and intensity of extreme and inclement environmental conditions; retreat of the cryosphere; changes in terrestrial water cycles; changes in the biosphere; pressures on land-use; changes in infrastructure; societal actions in response to environmental change; and quantification of Northern Eurasia's role in the global Earth system. Powerful feedbacks between the Earth and human systems in Northern Eurasia (e.g., mega-fires, droughts, depletion of the cryosphere essential for water supply, retreat of sea ice) result from past and current human activities (e.g., large scale water withdrawals, land use and governance change) and potentially restrict or provide new opportunities for future human activities. Therefore, we propose that Integrated Assessment Models are needed as the final stage of global change assessment. The overarching goal of this NEFI modeling effort will enable evaluation of economic decisions in response to changing environmental conditions and justification of mitigation and adaptation efforts

Auditory perceptual performance of children in the identification of contrasts between stressed vowels

Purpose: To assess the auditory perceptual performance of children in a task of identification of vowel contrasts, to classify which phonemes and vowel contrasts provide higher or lower degrees of difficulty, and to verify the influence of age in this performance. Methods: Data recordings of auditory perceptual performance of 66 children in a task of identification using the software Perception Evaluation Auditive & Visuelle (PERCEVAL) were selected from a database. The task consisted of presenting sound stimuli through headphones to children, who would then choose, from two pictures arranged on the computer screen, the one corresponding to the word they heard. The time between auditory inputs and the child's reaction was automatically computed in the software. Results: The perceptual accuracy was 88% and we found a positive correlation with the variable age. The time of response was significantly longer for incorrect answers as opposed to correct answers (p=0.00). Different degrees of similarity in auditory perception were observed, where front vowels were similar more often than back vowels. The tendency for errors was prevalent in the range of non-peripheral to peripheral vowels, which suggests that the latter may serve as a reference or perceptual anchor. Conclusion: The auditory perceptual ability concerning the identification of vowel contrasts is not yet established in the age group studied. The auditory perception of vowel contrasts occurs gradually and asymmetrically, as the order of acquisition in terms of production and perception was not always the same.OBJETIVOS: Investigar o desempenho perceptivo-auditivo de crianças no tocante à identificação de contrastes entre as vogais tônicas; identificar quais fonemas e contrastes vocálicos indicam maior ou menor grau de dificuldade de identificação; e verificar se a idade influencia a acurácia perceptivo-auditiva. MÉTODOS: Foram selecionadas, de um banco de dados, informações referentes ao desempenho perceptivo-auditivo de 66 crianças em uma tarefa de identificação perceptivo-auditiva da classe das vogais tônicas do Português Brasileiro. Com o uso do software Perception Evaluation Auditive & Visuelle (PERCEVAL), foram apresentados os estímulos acústico e visual solicitando da criança a escolha da gravura correspondente à palavra apresentada auditivamente dentre duas possibilidades de imagens dispostas na tela do computador. O tempo de apresentação do estímulo e de reação das crianças foi computado automaticamente pelo software. RESULTADOS: Observou-se acurácia perceptivo-auditiva de 88% das crianças e correlação positiva com a idade. A variância do tempo de reação dos erros foi superior à dos acertos (p=0,00). Foram observados diferentes graus de similaridade perceptivo-auditiva: vogais anteriores registraram maior similaridade do que vogais posteriores. A tendência que prevaleceu nos erros foi a das vogais menos para as mais periféricas, sugerindo que estas últimas parecem servir como pontos de ancoragem na percepção. CONCLUSÃO: A habilidade perceptivo-auditiva no tocante à identificação de contrastes vocálicos ainda não está estabilizada na faixa etária estudada. O domínio perceptivo-auditivo dos contrastes vocálicos se dá de forma gradativa e assimétrica, e o paralelismo entre a ordem de aquisição em termos de produção e em termos de percepção nem sempre se manteve.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Estadual Paulista ?Júlio de Mesquita Filho School of Philosophy and SciencesUniversidade Estadual Paulista ?Júlio de Mesquita Filho School of Philosophy and SciencesFAPESP: 11/23121-2FAPESP: 13/00911-

Controlling Drug Partitioning in Individual Protein Condensates through Laser-Induced Microscale Phase Transitions

ABSTRACT Gelation of protein condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) occurs in a wide range of biological contexts, from the assembly of biomaterials to the formation of fibrillar aggregates and is therefore of interest for biomedical applications. Soluble-to-gel (sol-gel) transitions are controlled through macroscopic processes such as changes in temperature or buffer composition, resulting in bulk conversion of liquid droplets into microgels within minutes to hours. Using microscopy and mass spectrometry, we show that condensates of an engineered mini-spidroin (NT2repCT YF ) undergo a spontaneous sol-gel transition resulting in the loss of exchange of proteins between the soluble and the condensed phase. We find that liquid spidroin condensates absorb visible light, which enables us to control sol-gel transitions of individual droplets through laser pulses. Fluorescence microscopy reveals that laser-induced gelation significantly alters the interactions between droplet proteins and small molecules, which allows us to load single droplets with an anticancer drug. In summary, our findings demonstrate direct control of phase transitions in individual condensates opening new avenues for functional and structural characterization. SYNOPSIS TOC The liquid-to-solid transitions of phase-separated protein condensates are challenging to control. Leppert et al . show that condensates of engineered mini-spidroins gelate at slightly elevated temperatures. Using high-energy laser pulses at wavelengths that are absorbed by the droplets, the authors induce sol-gel transitions in single droplets. These gelated droplets are chemically stable and exhibit an increased ability to sequester drug molecules