131 research outputs found
An Unlimited Memeiosis of The Godfather: Diachronic and Synchronic Observations of a Pervasive and Ubiquitous Meme
No full textThis chapter is informed by its author’s intent to offer and demonstrate a novel semio-memetic model for the interpretation of Italian signs in the periphery using Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) as a prime example. After discussing ‘The Godfather meme’ this chapter moves beyond the constraints of the materiality of the original cultural artifact (where it originated, i.e., the Puzo text), suggesting that it has now surpassed the original idea and intent of the novel, evolved into a film trilogy, and reached its apotheosis via popular culture, where there is now a plethora of multimodal variations indexed to it. While it is true that The Godfather was and is an Italian American-based text, it has now achieved global multimodality going beyond its original ethnic connection to Italian and Italian American themes. The author concludes by stating that this text has achieved an influence usually reserved for religious and other canonical texts
Using the slice rank for finding upper bounds on the size of cap sets
No full textThe cap set problem consists of finding the maximum size cap sets, i.e. sets without a 3-term arithmetic progression in F₃. In this thesis several known results on the behavior of this number as n → ∞ are presented. In particular we discuss a reformulation by Terence Tao and Will Sawin of a proof found by Dion Gijswijt and Jordan Ellenberg. It uses the slice rank, a rank that is defined for elements of tensor products, to give upper bounds on the size of the cap sets. In this report we will explain the slice rank and how it is related to the size of cap sets. We will also explore whether the slice rank might be used for bounding the size of arithmetic progression-free sets in F_q for q ≠ 3. We show that we can not use the slice rank to give a non-trivial upper bound on the size of n-term progression-free sets for n ≥ 7. This was already known for n ≥ 8
Manipulate energy transport via fluorinated spacers towards record-efficiency 2D Dion-Jacobson CsPbI<sub>3</sub> solar cells
No full textTwo-dimensional (2D) Dion-Jacobson (D-J)-type cesium lead iodide CsPbI 3 perform remarkably in terms of stability. However, the complex interactions between spacer and inorganic layers limit its excellent progress in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, starting from the considerable structural diversity of organic spacers, we engineer 2D CsPbI 3 with fine-tuning functionalities. Specifically, for the first time we embedded fluorinated aromatic cations in 2D D-J CsPbI 3, and successfully applied it into construction of high-performance PSCs. Compared with constitutive 1,4-diaminobenzene (PDA), the fluorinated 2-fluorobenzene-1,4-diamine (F-PDA) component greatly expands the dipole moment from 0.59D to 3.47D, which reduces the exciton binding energy of the system. A theoretical study shows that the spacer layer and inorganic plane are more enriched with charge accumulation in (F-PDA)Cs n– 1Pb nI 3 n+ 1. The results show that (F-PDA)Cs n– 1Pb nI 3 n+ 1 demonstrates more significant charge transfer between organic and inorganic layers than (PDA)Cs n– 1Pb nI 3 n+ 1, and it is confirmed in the femtosecond transient absorption experiment. Moreover, the interactions of the fluorinated spacer with the [PbI 6] 4 – plane effectively manipulate the crystallization quality, and thus the ion migration and defect formation of target 2D CsPbI 3 are inhibited. As a result, we obtained a record power conversion efficiency (PCE) beyond 15% for 2D D-J (F-PDA)Cs 3Pb 4I 13 (n = 4) PSCs with significantly improved environmental stability compared with the three-dimensional (3D) counterparts. Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Photovoltaic Materials and Device
A complex and punctate distribution of three eukaryotic genes derived by lateral gene transfer
No full textAbstract Background Lateral gene transfer is increasingly invoked to explain phylogenetic results that conflict with our understanding of organismal relationships. In eukaryotes, the most common observation interpreted in this way is the appearance of a bacterial gene (one that is not clearly derived from the mitochondrion or plastid) in a eukaryotic nuclear genome. Ideally such an observation would involve a single eukaryote or a small group of related eukaryotes encoding a gene from a specific bacterial lineage. Results Here we show that several apparently simple cases of lateral transfer are actually more complex than they originally appeared: in these instances we find that two or more distantly related eukaryotic groups share the same bacterial gene, resulting in a punctate distribution. Specifically, we describe phylogenies of three core carbon metabolic enzymes: transketolase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and ribulose-5-phosphate-3-epimerase. Phylogenetic trees of each of these enzymes includes a strongly-supported clade consisting of several eukaryotes that are distantly related at the organismal level, but whose enzymes are apparently all derived from the same lateral transfer. With less sampling any one of these examples would appear to be a simple case of bacterium-to-eukaryote lateral transfer; taken together, their evolutionary histories cannot be so simple. The distributions of these genes may represent ancient paralogy events or genes that have been transferred from bacteria to an ancient ancestor of the eukaryotes that retain them. They may alternatively have been transferred laterally from a bacterium to a single eukaryotic lineage and subsequently transferred between distantly related eukaryotes. Conclusion Determining how complex the distribution of a transferred gene is depends on the sampling available. These results show that seemingly simple cases may be revealed to be more complex with greater sampling, suggesting many bacterial genes found in eukaryotic genomes may have a punctate distribution.</p
[[alternative]]Studies on the Constituents of Ganoderma Comphoratum
No full text[[abstract]]Ganoderma comphoratum Zang et Su, SP. nov., growing rarely on the inner cavity wall of Cinnamomum comphora (L) Prcsl. in Taiwan, is a new genus of Ganoderma species. The methanolic extract of the fruiting body of the ganoderma comphoratum is separated by column chromatography, normal phase high performance liquid chromatography. As a result, thirteen compounds were isolated and identified by the spectral analysis. These Compounds are:
＊Compound A：4α-Methylergost-8, 24 (28)-dien-3, 11-dion-26-oic acid.
Compound B：4α-Methylergost-8, 24 (28)-dien-3, 7, 11-trion -26-oic acid.
＊Compound C：7β-Hydroxy-4a-methylergost-8, 24(28)-dien-3, 11-dion-26-oic acid.
Compound D：7β-Hydroxy-4a-methylergost-8, 24(28)-dien-3, 7, 11-trion-26-oic acid.
＊Compound E：4α-Methylergost-8, 14, 24 (28)-trien-3, 11-dion-26-oic acid.
＊Compound F：7β-Hydroxy-4α-methylergost-8, 14, 24(28)-trien-3, 11-dion-26-oic acid.
＊Compound G：Methyl-3α, 2α-dihydroxy-4α-methylergost-8, 24(28)-dien-7, 11-dion-26-oate.
＊Compound H：2, 2', 5, 5' -tetramethoxy-3, 4, 3', 4'-di-methylenedioxy-6, 6'-dimethyl biphenyl.
Compound I：3β-Hydroxy-24-methylenelanost-7, 9(11)-dien-21-oic acid.
Compound J：3β, 15α-Dihydroxy-24-methylenelanost-7, 9(11)-dien-21-oic acid.
Compound K：24-Methylenedihydrolanosterol.
Compound L：9(E)-Octadecenoic acid.
Compound M：9, 12(E, E)-Octadecadienoic acid.
There were six new compounds (＊ symbol) which haven't reported on any paper.
Advances in radiation therapy
No full textRadiation therapy (or radiotherapy) and surgery are the two main treatments available for curing solid tumour malignancies. Radiation therapy uses high-energy ionising radiation to destroy the DNA of cancer cells, and can be used to cure cancers, either alone or in conjunction with surgery or chemotherapy.
According to the available evidence, one in two patients with cancer in Australia would benefit from receiving radiation therapy as part of their treatment. In cases of incurable disease, radiotherapy relieves distressing
symptoms, such as pain, in two of three patients. Radiation therapy is an effective, safe cancer treatment that is also cost-efficient. Data analysis by Medicare and the federal Department of Health indicate that less than 9 cents of each dollar spent on cancer care in Australia is for radiation therapy. In the past decade, major technological advances have transformed the field,
allowing patients to be treated with greater precision than ever before
On large subsets of F<i>nq</i> with no three-termarithmetic progression
No full textIn this note, we show that the method of Croot, Lev, and Pach can be used to bound the size of a subset of F n q Fqn with no three terms in arithmetic progression by c n cn with c<q c<q . For q=3 q=3 , the problem of finding the largest subset of F n 3 F3n with no three terms in arithmetic progression is called the cap set problem. Previously the best known upper bound for the affine cap problem, due to Bateman and Katz, was on order n −1−ϵ 3 n n−1−ϵ3n
Nodal parameters of FDG PET/CT performed during radiotherapy for locally advanced mucosal primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma can predict treatment outcomes : SUVmean and response rate are useful imaging biomarkers
No full textPurpose: To evaluate the prognostic utility of nodal metabolic parameters derived from FDG PET/CT performed before radiotherapy (prePET) and during the third week of radiotherapy (iPET) in patients with mucosal primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (MPHNSCC). Methods: This analysis included 75 patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced node-positive MPHNSCC treated with radical radiotherapy and concurrent systemic therapy who underwent prePET and iPET: N1 11 patients, N2a 38, N2b 12, N2c 9, N3 5. The median follow-up was 28 months (9 – 70 months). The maximum and mean standardized uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean), metabolic tumour volume (MTV) and total lesional glycolysis (TLG) of the index lymph node (node with the highest TLG) and the combined total lymph nodes, and their percentage reductions on iPET were determined, and the results were correlated with 3-year Kaplan-Meier locoregional, regional and distant metastatic failure-free survival (FFS), disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Optimal cut-off values were derived from receiver operating characteristic curves. Cox regression univariate and multivariate analyses with clinical covariates were performed. Results: Based on assessment of residual nodal metabolic burden during treatment, the iPET index node SUVmean (optimal cut-off value 2.95 g/ml) and the total node SUVmean (optimal cut-off value 3.25) were the best independent predictors of outcome in the multivariate analysis: index node SUVmean for DFS and OS p = 0.033 and 0.003, respectively, and the total node SUVmean for locoregional FFS, DFS and OS p = 0.028, 0.025 and 0.014, respectively. Based on the assessment of response rates during treatment, a reduction of more than 50 % in the total node TLG was the best biomarker for locoregional and regional FFS, DFS and OS in the multivariate analysis (p = 0.001, 0.016, 0.001 and 0.004, respectively), and reduction in the total node MTV for locoregional FFS, DFS and OS (p = 0.026, 0.003 and 0.014, respectively). There were no significant correlations between oncological outcomes and prePET nodal parameters. Conclusion: We demonstrated that the index node and total node SUVmean on iPET and a reduction of more than 50 % in MTV and TLG are useful imaging biomarkers, and can potentially identify those patients with MPHNSCC who have a high risk of locoregional metastatic failure and death
Necrotic enteritis locus 1 diguanylate cyclase and phosphodiesterase (cyclic-di-GMP) gene mutation attenuates virulence in an avian necrotic enteritis isolate of Clostridium perfringens
No full textNecrotic enteritis (NE) caused by netB-positive strains of Clostridium perfringens is an important disease of intensively-reared broiler chickens. It is widely controlled by antibiotic use, but this practice that has come under increasing scrutiny and alternative approaches are required. As part of the search for alternative approaches over the last decade, advances have been made in understanding its pathogenesis but much remains to be understood and applied to the control of NE. The objective of this work was to assess the effect on virulence of mutation of the cyclic-di-GMP signaling genes present on the large pathogenicity locus (NELoc-1) in the tcp-encoding conjugative virulence plasmid, pNetB. For this purpose, the diguanylate cyclase (dgc) and phosphodiesterase (pde) genes were individually insertionally inactivated and the two mutants were subsequently complemented with their respective genes. Southern blotting showed that a single gene insertion was present. Mutation of either gene resulted in almost total attenuation of the mutants to cause NE in experimentally-infected broiler chickens, which was fully restored in each case by complementation of the respective mutated gene. Production of NetB-associated cytotoxicity for Leghorn male hepatoma (LMH) cells was unaffected in mutants. We conclude that the cyclic-di-GMP signaling system is important in controlling virulence in a NE C. perfringens strain and might be a target for control of the disease.Canadian Poultry Research Council and Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaOntario Ministry of AgricultureFood and Rural AffairsNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad
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Manipulation of hot carrier cooling dynamics in two-dimensional Dion–Jacobson hybrid perovskites via Rashba band splitting
No full textHot-carrier cooling processes of perovskite materials are typically described by a single parabolic band model that includes the effects of carrier-phonon scattering, hot phonon bottleneck, and Auger heating. However, little is known (if anything) about the cooling processes in which the spin-degenerate parabolic band splits into two spin-polarized bands, i.e., the Rashba band splitting effect. Here, we investigated the hot-carrier cooling processes for two slightly different compositions of two-dimensional Dion–Jacobson hybrid perovskites, namely, (3AMP)PbI4 and (4AMP)PbI4 (3AMP = 3-(aminomethyl)piperidinium; 4AMP = 4-(aminomethyl)piperidinium), using a combination of ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and first-principles calculations. In (4AMP)PbI4, upon Rashba band splitting, the spin-dependent scattering of hot electrons is responsible for accelerating hot-carrier cooling at longer delays. Importantly, the hot-carrier cooling of (4AMP)PbI4 can be extended by manipulating the spin state of the hot carriers. Our findings suggest a new approach for prolonging hot-carrier cooling in hybrid perovskites, which is conducive to further improving the performance of hot-carrier-based optoelectronic and spintronic devices. © 2021, The Author(s).Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]
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