The ontological screening of contemporary life: a phenomenological analysis of screens

In this paper, we attempt to show how phenomenology, in a traditional methodological form, can provide an interesting and novel basis for thinking about screens in a world where screens now pervade a great many aspects of human experience. In our analysis, we aim to give a phenomenological account of screen(ing), that is, of its fundamental and foundational meaning. In doing the phenomenological analysis, we ground our argument on the ontology of Heidegger's Being and Time. In doing this, we claim that the screen will only show itself, as that which it is, as a screen in-the-world, where screens already are or have their being ‘as screens’ for this and that purpose, activity or work. We claim, and aim to show, that our analysis provides many insights about the meaning of screens that would be difficult to gain through any other method of investigation. We also argue and show that, although our method is not empirical, its results have important implications for the empirical world.     

DESIGN OF REDUCED‐ORDER FUNCTIONAL OBSERVERS FOR LINEAR SYSTEMS WITH UNKNOWN INPUTS

This brief paper presents new conditions for the existence and design of reduced‐order linear functional state observers for linear systems with unknown inputs. Systematic procedures for the synthesis of reduced‐order functional observers are given. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the attractiveness and simplicity of the new design procedures.     

Nano-scale Au supported on Fe3O4: characterization and application in the catalytic treatment of 2,4-dichlorophenol

Catalytic hydrodechlorination (HDC) is an effective means of detoxifying chlorinated waste. Gold nanoparticles supported on Fe(3)O(4) have been tested in the gas phase (1 atm, 423 K) HDC of 2,4-dichlorophenol. Two 1% w/w supported gold catalysts have been prepared by: (i) stepwise deposition of Au on α-Fe(2)O(3) with subsequent temperature-programmed reduction at 673 K (Au/Fe(3)O(4)-step); (ii) direct deposition of Au on Fe(3)O(4) (Au/Fe(3)O(4)-dir). TEM analysis has established the presence of Au at the nano-scale with a greater mean diameter (7.6 nm) on Au/Fe(3)O(4)-dir relative to Au/Fe(3)O(4)-step (4.5 nm). We account for this difference in terms of stronger (electrostatic) precursor/support interactions in the latter that can be associated with the lower pH point of zero charge (with respect to the final deposition pH) for Fe(2)O(3). Both catalysts promoted the preferential removal of the ortho-Cl substituent in 2,4-dichlorophenol, generating 4-chlorophenol and phenol as products of partial and total HDC, respectively, where Au/Fe(3)O(4)-step delivered a two-fold higher rate (2 × 10(-4) mol(Cl) h(-1) m(Au)(-2)) when compared with Au/Fe(3)O(4)-dir. This unprecedented selectivity response is attributed to activation of the ortho-C-Cl bond via interaction with electron-deficient Au nanoparticles. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a controlled recovery/recycling of chlorophenol waste using nano-structured Au catalysts.     

Mesophase behaviour of polyhedral particles

Translational and orientational excluded-volume fields encoded in particles with anisotropic shapes can lead to purely entropy-driven assembly of morphologies with specific order and symmetry. To elucidate this complex correlation, we carried out detailed Monte Carlo simulations of six convex space-filling polyhedrons, namely, truncated octahedrons, rhombic dodecahedrons, hexagonal prisms, cubes, gyrobifastigiums and triangular prisms. Simulations predict the formation of various new liquid-crystalline and plastic-crystalline phases at intermediate volume fractions. By correlating these findings with particle anisotropy and rotational symmetry, simple guidelines for predicting phase behaviour of polyhedral particles are proposed: high rotational symmetry is in general conducive to mesophase formation, with low anisotropy favouring plastic-solid behaviour and intermediate anisotropy (or high uniaxial anisotropy) favouring liquid-crystalline behaviour. It is also found that dynamical disorder is crucial in defining mesophase behaviour, and that the apparent kinetic barrier for the liquid-mesophase transition is much lower for liquid crystals (orientational order) than for plastic solids (translational order).     

Ethics is fragile,goodness is not

This paper first illustrates what kind of ethical issues arise from the new information, communication and automation technology. It then argues that we may embrace the popular idea that technology is ethically neutral or even ambivalent without having to close our eyes to those issues and in fact, that the ethical neutrality of technology makes them all the more urgent. Finally, it suggests that the widely ignored fact of normal responsible behaviour offers a new and fruitful starting point for any future thinking about such issues.     

Dipotassium Glycyrrhizinate on Melanoma Cell Line: Inhibition of Cerebral Metastases Formation by Targeting NF-kB Genes-Mediating MicroRNA-4443 and MicroRNA-3620—Dipotassium Glycyrrhizinate Effect on Melanoma

Glycyrrhizic acid (GA), a natural compound isolated from licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), has exhibited anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects in vitro. Dipotassium glycyrrhizinate (DPG), a dipotassium salt of GA, also has shown an anti-tumor effect on glioblastoma cell lines, U87MG and T98G. The study investigated the DPG effects in the melanoma cell line (SK-MEL-28). MTT assay demonstrated that the viability of the cells was significantly decreased in a time- and dose-dependent manner after DPG (IC₅₀ = 36 mM; 24 h). DNA fragmentation suggested that DPG (IC₅₀) induced cellular apoptosis, which was confirmed by a significant number of TUNEL-positive cells (p-value = 0.048) and by PARP-1 [0.55 vs. 1.02 arbitrary units (AUs), p-value = 0.001], BAX (1.91 vs. 1.05 AUs, p-value = 0.09), and BCL-2 (0.51 vs. 1.07 AUs, p-value = 0.0018) mRNA compared to control cells. The proliferation and wound-healing assays showed an anti-proliferative effect on DPG-IC₅₀-treated cells, also indicating an inhibitory effect on cell migration (p-values < 0.001). Moreover, it was observed that DPG promoted a 100% reduction in melanospheres formation (p-value = 0.008). Our previous microRNAs (miRs) global analysis has revealed that DPG might increase miR-4443 and miR-3620 expression levels. Thus, qPCR showed that after DPG treatment, SK-MEL-28 cells presented significantly high miR-4443 (1.77 vs. 1.04 AUs, p-value = 0.02) and miR-3620 (2.30 vs. 1.00 AUs, p-value = 0.01) expression compared to control cells, which are predicted to target the NF-kB, CD209 and TNC genes, respectively. Both genes are responsible for cell attachment and migration, and qPCR revealed significantly decreased CD209 (1.01 vs. 0.54 AUs, p-value = 0.018) and TNC (1.00 vs. 0.31 AUs, p-value = 2.38 × 10⁻⁶) mRNA expression levels after DPG compared to untreated cells. Furthermore, the migration of SK-MEL-28 cells stimulated by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was attenuated by adding DPG by wound-healing assay (48 h: p-value = 0.004; 72 h: p-value = 7.0 × 10⁻⁴). In addition, the MMP-9 expression level was inhibited by DPG in melanoma cells stimulated by TPA and compared to TPA-treated cells (3.56 vs. 0.99 AUs, p-value = 0.0016) after 24 h of treatment. Our results suggested that DPG has an apoptotic, anti-proliferative, and anti-migratory effect on SK-MEL-28 cells. DPG was also able to inhibit cancer stem-like cells that may cause cerebral tumor formation.     

Sudden scene change detection in compressed video using interpolated macroblocks in B-frames

This paper addresses an important area in video processing, namely compressed domain processing. For video indexing, video scene transition detection is an essential step to segment the video. Current techniques for scene change detection tend to suffer from a major limitation as most of them cannot identify scene transitions in the compressed domain. Since most video is expected to be stored in the compressed domain, scene transition detection in this domain is highly desirable. In this paper an algorithm for video scene change detection is proposed to overcome this limitation. In this scheme, properties of the B-frames are used as it is capable of measuring the correlation between two adjacent reference frames. The results show that this scheme performs better than schemes based on P-frames. Proposed scheme can be directly applied with compressed data with minimum decompression and hence it is computationally efficient and makes real time implementations possible. Results show that video scene transitions can be identified satisfactorily with the proposed scheme.