161,954 research outputs found
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Computer-Aided Patient-Specific Coronary Artery Graft Design Improvements Using CFD Coupled Shape Optimizer
No full textThis study aims to (i) demonstrate the efficacy of a new surgical planning framework for complex cardiovascular reconstructions, (ii) develop a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled multi-dimensional shape optimization method to aid patient-specific coronary artery by-pass graft (CABG) design and, (iii) compare the hemodynamic efficiency of the sequential CABG, i.e., raising a daughter parallel branch from the parent CABG in patient-specific 3D settings. Hemodynamic efficiency of patient-specific complete revascularization scenarios for right coronary artery (RCA), left anterior descending artery (LAD), and left circumflex artery (LCX) bypasses were investigated in comparison to the stenosis condition. Multivariate 2D constraint optimization was applied on the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft, which was parameterized based on actual surgical settings extracted from 2D CT slices. The objective function was set to minimize the local variation of wall shear stress (WSS) and other hemodynamic indices (energy dissipation, flow deviation angle, average WSS, and vorticity) that correlate with performance of the graft and risk of re-stenosis at the anastomosis zone. Once the optimized 2D graft shape was obtained, it was translated to 3D using an in-house “sketch-based” interactive anatomical editing tool. The final graft design was evaluated using an experimentally validated second-order non-Newtonian CFD solver incorporating resistance based outlet boundary conditions. 3D patient-specific simulations for the healthy coronary anatomy produced realistic coronary flows. All revascularization techniques restored coronary perfusions to the healthy baseline. Multi-scale evaluation of the optimized LIMA graft enabled significant wall shear stress gradient (WSSG) relief (~34%). In comparison to original LIMA graft, sequential graft also lowered the WSSG by 15% proximal to LAD and diagonal bifurcation. The proposed sketch-based surgical planning paradigm evaluated the selected coronary bypass surgery procedures based on acute hemodynamic readjustments of aorta-CA flow. This methodology may provide a rational to aid surgical decision making in time-critical, patient-specific CA bypass operations before in vivo execution
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Larry O. Spencer, Conference Author Presentation
No full textGen. Larry O. Spencer, USAF (Ret.), author of Dark Horse: A Journey from the Horseshoe to the Pentago
Potential of morin and hesperidin in the prevention of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity
No full textCOSKUN CEVHER, SULE/0000-0001-6204-2845WOS: 000383902000020PubMed: 27425870Oxidative stress is one of the important mechanisms of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the potential protective effects of morin and/or hesperidin on oxidative stress in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. This study was performed on 42 Wistar rats. Rats were divided into seven groups: control, morin, hesperidin, cisplatin, cisplatin+morin, cisplatin+hesperidin, and cisplatin+morin+hesperidin. Morin and/or hesperidin were given for 10 consecutive days by oral gavage and on the 4th day a single dose of cisplatin (7mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally. After administrations, on the 11th day of the experiment the animals were killed, and malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NOx), glutathione (GSH) levels and myeloperoxidase (MPO), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were measured. Cisplatin-treated rats showed increased levels of MDA, and decreased levels of NOx also activity of CAT. Morin and/or hesperidin pretreatment prevent oxidative stress in kidney tissue, while they increase the NOx level, CAT activity, and decrease MPO activity. In conclusion, morin+hesperidin pretreatment may have a significant potential for protection of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Author Correction: Inceptor counteracts insulin signalling in β-cells to control glycaemia.
No full textIn this Article, the affiliations for author Ünal Coskun were incorrect. They should be ‘German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany’, ‘Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden of Helmholtz Center Munich, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany’ and ‘Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic Carl Gustav Carus, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany’ (affiliations 2, 10 and 14, respectively), and not ‘Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany’ (affiliation 5). The original Article has been corrected online
ALBI grade: Evidence for an improved model for liver functional estimation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
No full textHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) usually arises in the context of a chronically damaged liver. Liver functional estimation is of paramount importance in clinical decision making. The Child-Pugh score (CPS) can be used to categorise patients into 3 classes (A to C) based on the severity of liver functional impairment according to 5 parameters (albumin, bilirubin, prothrombin time, presence of ascites and hepatic encephalopathy). The albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade has emerged as an alternative, reproducible and objective measure of liver functional reserve in patients with HCC, defining worsening liver impairment across 3 grades (I to III). The ALBI score can identify different subgroups of patients with different prognoses across the diverse Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stages and CP classes, making it an appealing clinical predictor. In patients treated with potentially curative approaches (resection, transplantation, radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation), ALBI grade has been shown to correlate with survival, tumour relapse, and post-hepatectomy liver failure. ALBI grade also predicts survival, toxicity and post-procedural liver failure in patients treated with transarterial chemoembolisation, radioembolisation, external beam radiotherapy as well as multi-kinase inhibitors (sorafenib, lenvatinib, cabozantinib, regorafenib) and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. In this review, we summarise the body of evidence surrounding the role of ALBI grade as a biomarker capable of optimising patient selection and therapeutic sequencing in HCC
Photoelectron spectra and electronic structures of some acceptor-substituted cyclopropanes: Linear correlation of substituent effects on MO energies with molecular structures
No full textThe relationship between electronic and geometrical structures in acceptor-substituted cyclopropanes has been investigated by B3LYP DFT calculations and photoelectron (PE) spectroscopy. The spectra of cyclopropane-carbaldehyde (2), cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (3), cyclopropanecarboxylic acid methyl ester (4), nitrocyclopropane (5), isothiocyanatocyclopropane (6), cyanocyclopropane (7), and 1,1-dicyano-cyclopropane (8) have been analyzed. The first ionization potential (IP1) of compounds 2-5 was found to be 0.1-0.4 eV higher than that of the analogous isopropyl derivatives indicating-contrary to expectation-that in these compounds the cyclopropyl group acts as a weaker electron donor than an isopropyl group. In the other compounds, IP1, values are 0.4-1.1 eV lower than in the open-chain congeners. The Walsh orbitals omega(S) and omega(A) of the three-membered ring are substantially stabilized to different extents by interactions with substituent orbitals, and this is reflected in shortened distal and elongated vicinal C-C bonds. Although the nitro group in compound 5 causes large stabilizations of both omega(S) and omega(A), their energy difference Deltaomega remains rather small; this is in agreement with a relatively small difference Deltar of the C-C bond lengths. For the investigated monosubstituted cyclopropanes 2-7, the largest effects with respect to Deltaomega and Deltar are caused by the formyl group in carboxaldehyde 2. Comparison of the results for nitriles 7 and 8 indicates that the effects of the cyano groups are additive. A linear relationship between Deltaomega and Deltar was established by B3LYP DFT calculations on geometrically distorted cyclopropane (1) and from the PE data of 2 - 8
An Adjustable-Stiffness MEMS Force Sensor: Design, Characterization, and Control
No full textFull text access from Treasures at UT Dallas is restricted to current UTD affiliates (use the provided link to the article). Non UTD affiliates will find the web address for this item by clicking the Show full item record link and copying the "relation.uri" metadata.This paper presents a novel one-degree-of-freedom microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) force sensor. The high-bandwidth device contains on-chip sensing and actuation mechanisms, enabling open- and closed-loop modalities. An active compliance mechanism is incorporated to render the device more conducive to characterization of soft samples. When operated in closed loop, the adjustable stiffness enables the sensor to attain a larger dynamic range and minimize the nonlinearities originating from flexures. Analytical models are employed to design and calibrate the sensor. In open loop, the sensing resolution of 23.3 nN within a bandwidth of 2.35 kHz and a full-scale range of ± 42.6 µ N are experimentally obtained. The resolution is enhanced to 9.3 nN by employing an active compliance mechanism. When operated in closed loop, a resolution of 12.9 nN is achieved within a dynamic range of 71.2 dB and a sensing bandwidth of 3.6 kHz is demonstrated. The sensor performance is tested by obtaining the stiffness of an atomic force microscope probe and measuring the force produced by a self-actuated piezoelectric microcantilever.Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Scienc
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