Chicago Review 

Abstract: Abstract Fusion of the viral and host cell membranes is a necessary first step for infection by enveloped viruses and is mediated by the envelope glycoprotein. The transmembrane subunits from the structurally defined “class I” glycoproteins adopt an α-helical “trimer-of-hairpins” conformation during the fusion pathway. Here, we present our studies on the envelope glycoprotein transmembrane subunit, GP2, of the CAS virus (CASV). CASV was recently identified from annulated tree boas (Corallus annulatus) with inclusion body disease and is implicated in the disease etiology. We have generated and characterized two protein constructs consisting of the predicted CASV GP2 core domain. The crystal structure of the CASV GP2 post-fusion conformation indicates a trimeric α-helical bundle that is highly similar to those of Ebola virus and Marburg virus GP2 despite CASV genome homology to arenaviruses. Denaturation studies demonstrate that the stability of CASV GP2 is pH dependent with higher stability at lower pH; we propose that this behavior is due to a network of interactions among acidic residues that would destabilize the α-helical bundle under conditions where the side chains are deprotonated. The pH-dependent stability of the post-fusion structure has been observed in Ebola virus and Marburg virus GP2, as well as other viruses that enter via the endosome. Infection experiments with CASV and the related Golden Gate virus support a mechanism of entry that requires endosomal acidification. Our results suggest that, despite being primarily arenavirus like, the transmembrane subunit of CASV is extremely similar to the filoviruses.

Abstract: This classic work on cyclopean perception has influenced a generation of vision researchers, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists and has inspired artists, designers, and computer graphics pioneers. In Foundations of Cyclopean Perception (first published in 1971 and unavailable for years), Bela Julesz traced the visual information flow in the brain, analyzing how the brain combines separate images received from the two eyes to produce depth perception. Julesz developed novel tools to do this: random-dot stereograms and cinematograms, generated by early digital computers at Bell Labs. These images, when viewed with the special glasses that came with the book, revealed complex, three-dimensional surfaces; this mode of visual stimulus became a paradigm for research in vision and perception. This reprint edition includes all 48 color random-dot designs from the original, as well as the special 3-D glasses required to view them.Foundations of Cyclopean Perception has had a profound impact on the vision studies community. It was chosen as one of the one hundred most influential works in cognitive science in a poll conducted by the University of Minnesota's Center for Cognitive Sciences. Many copies are \"permanently borrowed\" from college libraries; used copies are sought after online. Now, with this facsimile of the 1971 edition, the book is available again to cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, vision researchers, artists, and designers.

Abstract: The idea of progress from the Enlightenment to postmodernism is still very much with us. In intellectual discourse, journals, popular magazines, and radio and talk shows, the debate between those who are \"progressivists\" and those who are \"declinists\" is as spirited as it was in the late seventeenth century. In History of the Idea of Progress, Robert Nisbet traces the idea of progress from its origins in Greek, Roman, and medieval civilizations to modern times. It is a masterful frame of reference for understanding the present world. Nisbet asserts there are two fundamental building blocks necessary to Western doctrines of human advancement: the idea of growth, and the idea of necessity. He sees Christianity as a key element in both secular and spiritual evolution, for it conveys all the ingredients of the modern idea of progress: the advancement of the human race in time, a single time frame for all the peoples and epochs of the past and present, the conception of time as linear, and the envisagement of the future as having a Utopian end. In his new introduction, Nisbet shows why the idea of progress remains of critical importance to studies of social evolution and natural history. He provides a contemporary basis for many disciplines, including sociology, economics, philosophy, religion, politics, and science. History of the Idea of Progress continues to be a major resource for scholars in all these areas.