BACKGROUND: Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are conveyed through binding interfaces or surface patches on proteins that become buried upon binding. Structural and biophysical analysis of many protein-protein interfaces revealed certain unique features of these surfaces that determine the energetics of interactions and play a critical role in protein evolution. One of the significant aspects of binding interfaces is the presence of binding hot spots, where mutations are highly deleterious for binding. Conversely, binding cold spots are positions occupied by suboptimal amino acids and several mutations in such positions could lead to affinity enhancement. While there are many software programs for identification of hot spot positions, there is currently a lack of software for cold spot detection. RESULTS: In this paper, we present Cold Spot SCANNER, a Colab Notebook, which scans a PPI binding interface and identifies cold spots resulting from cavities, unfavorable charge-charge, and unfavorable charge-hydrophobic interactions. The software offers a Py3DMOL-based interface that allows users to visualize cold spots in the context of the protein structure and generates a zip file containing the results for easy download. CONCLUSIONS: Cold spot identification is of great importance to protein engineering studies and provides a useful insight into protein evolution. Cold Spot SCANNER is open to all users without login requirements and can be accessible at: https://colab.google.com/github/sagagugit/Cold-Spot-Scanner/blob/main/Co... .
This article aims to contribute to the emerging body of research on community engagement of college students from minority and underserved groups. It examines community engagement programs involving students from the Jewish ultra-Orthodox society in Israel, a minority group that is clearly underrepresented in the higher education system in Israel. Using qualitative methods, this article analyzes how ultra-Orthodox students experience their community engagement and perceive its effects on themselves and on their communities. The findings illuminate how the students' social interactions during their volunteer work enhance meaningful learning despite considerable challenges and dilemmas. Ultra-orthodox students constantly cross social and cultural boundaries, and their choice to enroll in higher education is often delegitimized in their communities. Their ability to contribute to their communities through collegiate community engagement programs helps justify their decision to pursue an academic education. This ability also empowers them in the challenging liminal state between the ultra-Orthodox society and academia. Hence, community engagement helps reinforce the academization of the ultra-Orthodox society. This case study proposes that student volunteers from underrepresented minority groups can bridge the gap between academic institutions and their minority communities, serving as agents of societal change.
The proliferating research in ontological security (OS) studies explores how irregular situations of ‘radical disjuncture’ remove the protective cocoon of routinised trust relations that enables the actors to ‘bracket out’ daily threats and dangers. Following this loss of trust, the actors perform a variety of OS-seeking strategies in their attempts to re-establish their lost trust in themselves and their surroundings. But how do disempowered actors in global politics, who suffer multiple marginalities and flee states that turn against their own citizens, seek ontological security (OS)? Focusing on Eritrean asylum-seeking women in southern Tel-Aviv, we rely on ‘thick’ ethnographic data to demonstrate how even when statist violence is the norm, the quest for OS persists in unexpected ways. Adding new insight to the growing research on trust and OS in international relations (IR) and security studies, the article exposes the multiple emerging OS-seeking strategies that thrive in the developing spaces of global politics, while shedding new light on the gendered politics of migration.
We present a comprehensive study on the conformational behavior of diversely substituted 4-fluorotetrahydrothiopyran derivatives. Through quantum chemical simulations including DFT as well as NBO and NPA analysis, we elucidate the pivotal role of electrostatic interactions, occasionally complemented by hyperconjugative interactions, in stabilizing axial fluorine conformers. Less polar conformers were occasionally obtained, attributed to the interplay of electrostatic and hyperconjugative interactions. Experimental validation through NMR spectroscopy aligns with the computational analysis, thus providing a coherent understanding of the structural dynamics of these compounds.
Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) language models have elevated the vision of using conversational AI support for mental health, with a growing body of literature indicating varying degrees of efficacy. In this paper, we ask when, in therapy, it will be easier to replace humans and, conversely, in what instances, human connection will still be more valued. We suggest that empathy lies at the heart of the answer to this question. First, we define different aspects of empathy and outline the potential empathic capabilities of humans versus AI. Next, we consider what determines when these aspects are needed most in therapy, both from the perspective of therapeutic methodology and from the perspective of patient objectives. Ultimately, our goal is to prompt further investigation and dialogue, urging both practitioners and scholars engaged in AI-mediated therapy to keep these questions and considerations in mind when investigating AI implementation in mental health.
A novel approach, i.e., Continuous Material Deposition on Filaments (CMDF), for the incorporation of active materials within 3D-printed structures is presented. It is based on passing a filament through a solution in which the active material is dissolved together with the polymer from which the filament is made. This enables the fabrication of a variety of functional 3D-printed objects by fused deposition modeling (FDM) using commercial filaments without post-treatment processes. This generic approach has been demonstrated in objects using three different types of materials, Rhodamine B, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs), and Ciprofloxacin (Cip). The functionality of these objects is demonstrated through strong antibacterial activity in ZnO NPs and the controlled release of the antibiotic Cip. CMDF does not alter the mechanical properties of FDM-printed structures, can be applied with any type of FDM printer, and is, therefore, expected to have applications in a wide variety of fields.
