University of British Columbia

About: University of British Columbia is a education organization based out in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 89939 authors who have published 209679 publications receiving 9226862 citations. The organization is also known as: UBC & The University of British Columbia.

Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis using M13-derived vectors: an efficient and general procedure for the production of point mutations in any fragment of DNA.

Abstract: This paper presents a versatile and efficient procedure for the construction of oligodeoxyribonucleotide directed site-specific mutations in DNA fragments cloned into M13 derived vectors. As an example, production of a transition mutation in a clone of the yeast MATa1 gene is described. The oligonucleotide is hybridized to the template DNA and covalently closed closed double stranded molecules are generated by extension of the oligonucleotide primer with E. coli DNA polymerase (large fragment) and ligation with T4 DNA ligase. The resulting double stranded closed circular DNA (CC-DNA) is separated from unligated and incompletely extended molecules by alkaline sucrose gradient centrifugation. This purification is essential for production of mutants at high efficiency. Competent E. coli JM101 cells are transformed with the CC-DNA fraction and single stranded DNA is isolated from individual plaques. The recombinants are screened for mutant molecules by 1) restriction endonuclease screening for the loss of the Hinf I site in the target region, and 2) by dot blot hybridization using the mutagenic oligonucleotide as probe. Double stranded DNA is isolated from the sequencing. Efficiency of mutant production is in the range of 10-45% and no precautions to prevent mismatch repair are required.

KiDS-450: cosmological parameter constraints from tomographic weak gravitational lensing

Abstract: We present cosmological parameter constraints from a tomographic weak gravitational lensing analysis of ~450deg$^2$ of imaging data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). For a flat $\Lambda$CDM cosmology with a prior on $H_0$ that encompasses the most recent direct measurements, we find $S_8\equiv\sigma_8\sqrt{\Omega_{\rm m}/0.3}=0.745\pm0.039$. This result is in good agreement with other low redshift probes of large scale structure, including recent cosmic shear results, along with pre-Planck cosmic microwave background constraints. A $2.3$-$\sigma$ tension in $S_8$ and `substantial discordance' in the full parameter space is found with respect to the Planck 2015 results. We use shear measurements for nearly 15 million galaxies, determined with a new improved `self-calibrating' version of $lens$fit validated using an extensive suite of image simulations. Four-band $ugri$ photometric redshifts are calibrated directly with deep spectroscopic surveys. The redshift calibration is confirmed using two independent techniques based on angular cross-correlations and the properties of the photometric redshift probability distributions. Our covariance matrix is determined using an analytical approach, verified numerically with large mock galaxy catalogues. We account for uncertainties in the modelling of intrinsic galaxy alignments and the impact of baryon feedback on the shape of the non-linear matter power spectrum, in addition to the small residual uncertainties in the shear and redshift calibration. The cosmology analysis was performed blind. Our high-level data products, including shear correlation functions, covariance matrices, redshift distributions, and Monte Carlo Markov Chains are available at http://kids.strw.leidenuniv.nl.

God Is Watching You Priming God Concepts Increases Prosocial Behavior in an Anonymous Economic Game

Abstract: We present two studies aimed at resolving experimentally whether religion increases prosocial behavior in the anonymous dictator game. Subjects allocated more money to anonymous strangers when God concepts were implicitly activated than when neutral or no concepts were activated. This effect was at least as large as that obtained when concepts associated with secular moral institutions were primed. A trait measure of self-reported religiosity did not seem to be associated with prosocial behavior. We discuss different possible mechanisms that may underlie this effect, focusing on the hypotheses that the religious prime had an ideomotor effect on generosity or that it activated a felt presence of supernatural watchers. We then discuss implications for theories positing religion as a facilitator of the emergence of early large-scale societies of cooperators.

Biological processes in prevention and intervention: The promotion of self-regulation as a means of preventing school failure

Abstract: This paper examines interrelations between biological and social influences on the development of self-regulation in young children and considers implications of these interrelations for the promotion of self-regulation and positive adaptation to school. Emotional development and processes of emotion regulation are seen as influencing and being influenced by the development of executive cognitive functions, including working memory, inhibitory control, and mental flexibility important for the effortful regulation of attention and behavior. Developing self-regulation is further understood to reflect an emerging balance between processes of emotional arousal and cognitive regulation. Early childhood educational programs that effectively link emotional and motivational arousal with activities designed to exercise and promote executive functions can be effective in enhancing self-regulation, school readiness, and school success.

Entropy-driven tension and bending elasticity in condensed-fluid membranes.

Abstract: Sensitive micropipet methods have been used to measure the relation between tension and the projected surface area in fluid membranes of vesicles over a 4-order-of-magnitude range in tension (10 −3 -10 dyn/cm). In the low-tension regime (<0.5 dyn/cm), the data confirm the prediction of equilibrium theory that the projected area should increase logarithmically with tension as shape fluctuations become progressively restricted