Identification of in vivo Hox13 binding sites reveals an essential locus controlling zebrafish brachyury expression

During early embryogenesis the vertebrate embryo extends from anterior to posterior due to the progressive addition of cells from a posteriorly localized neuromesodermal progenitor (NMp) population. An autoregulatory loop between Wnt and Brachyury/Tbxt is required for the NMps to retain mesodermal potential, and hence normal axis development. We recently showed that the Hox13 genes help to support body axis formation and to maintain the autoregulatory loop, although the direct Hox13 target genes were unknown. Here, using a new method for identifying in vivo transcription factor binding sites, we identified over 500 potential Hox13 targets. Importantly, we found two highly conserved Hox13 binding elements far from the tbxta transcription start site, which also contain a conserved Tcf7/Lef1 (Wnt response) site. We show that the proximal of the two elements is sufficient to confer somitogenesis stage expression to a tbxta promoter that alone only drives NMp expression during gastrulation. Importantly, elimination of this proximal element produces shortened embryos due to aberrant formation of the most posterior somites. Our study provides a potential direct connection between Hox13 and regulation of the Wnt/Brachyury loop.

A Coupled Lagrangian-Earth System Model for Predicting Oil Photooxidation

During the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout, photooxidation of surface oil led to the formation of persistent photooxidized compounds, still found in shoreline sediments a decade later. Studies demonstrated that photooxidation modified both biodegradation rates of the surface oil and the effectiveness of aerial dispersant applications. Despite the significant consequences of this weathering pathway, the lack of measurements prevented photooxidation to be accounted for in the DWH oil budget calculations and in most predictive models. Here we develop a Lagrangian photooxidation module that estimates the dose of solar radiation individual oil droplets receive while moving in the ocean, quantifies the likelihood of photooxidative changes, and continues to track the transport of these persistent photooxidized compounds. We estimate and track the likelihood of photooxidation of Lagrangian oil droplets in the upper layers of the water column for the DWH case by coupling the net shortwave radiation from NOGAPS to the oil application of the Connectivity Modeling System (oil-CMS). The dose of solar radiation upon a droplet is computed with the intensity of the incoming irradiance at the ocean’s surface, the light attenuation coefficient, and the depth of the oil droplets. Considering a range of DWH empirical irradiance thresholds, we find that photooxidation can happen at short time scales of hours to days, in agreement with the new paradigm of oil photooxidation. Furthermore, the oxidized compounds are likely to form in a 110 km radius around the response site, suggesting that the oil reaching the coastline was already photooxidized. This new dynamic coupling provides a powerful tool to test oil weathering hypotheses, refine the oil budget during the DWH, and ultimately inform rapid response in future oil spills.

Time Series Analysis on the Damage Report of the Northern Kyushu Heavy Rainfall in July 2017

After a natural disaster occurs, the production and sharing of damage reports are extremely important for a disaster response site. However, one of the problems is that the data shared by the damage reports cannot clearly indicate when the damage situation could be grasped because such data change day by day. Accordingly, in this study, the data of the damage reports of the Headquarters for Disaster Control are treated as unequally spaced time series data to evaluate the changing conditions of the data quantitatively. For this purpose, a case is examined for the Headquarters for Disaster Control of Fukuoka Prefecture at the time of the Northern Kyushu Heavy Rainfall event in July 2017. As a result of the examination, it is indicated that the quantitative evaluation would be possible for 1) analysis on timing when the data of the damage reports are updated, 2) analysis on the characteristics of time series of the report data, and 3) visualization of the progress of the damage report service.

An Analysis of the Effectiveness of the National Prevention System: Response to the MERS Outbreak in 2018

As international exchanges have become more active, the inflow of new infections has become easier and the damage from these new infections has increased. It is an important task for a nation to protect its people from disease. Therefore, in order to look at the governance of the national prevention system that was reorganized in 2015, we aimed to analyze how well the governance system was implemented by taking the MERS outbreak into account. We use the three aspects of prevention of domestic inflow, initial response site, and epidemic response based on four criteria: responsiveness, expertise, transparency, and connectivity. The analysis showed that the expertise and transparency have significantly improved and the responsiveness of the immigration control sector and the connection of the initial response site were insufficient. If these analyses make up for the deficiencies, it is expected to be resolved quickly and accurately even if there are new viruses in the future.

Soil–Structure Interaction Assessment of the 23 November 1980 Irpinia-Basilicata Earthquake

This paper aimed to present a systematic study of the effects caused by the strong earthquake that struck southern Italy on 23 November 1980 (Ms = 6.9) and affected the Campania and Basilicata regions. Two aspects are discussed here: The broadening of the knowledge of the response site effects by considering several soil free-field conditions and the assessment of the role of the soil–structure interaction (SSI) on a representative benchmark structure. This research study, based on the state-of-the-art knowledge, may be applied to assess future seismic events and to propose new original code provisions. The numerical simulations were herein performed with the advanced platform OpenSees, which can consider non-linear models for both the structure and the soil. The results show the importance of considering the SSI in the seismic assessment of soil amplifications and its consequences on the structural performance.