scholarly journals Split or slip – passive generation of monodisperse double emulsions with cores of varying viscosity in microfluidic tandem step emulsification system

RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (39) ◽  
pp. 23058-23065
Author(s):  
Adam S. Opalski ◽  
Karol Makuch ◽  
Ladislav Derzsi ◽  
Piotr Garstecki
Keyword(s):  
Viscosity Ratio ◽  
Double Emulsion ◽  
Droplet Formation ◽  
Double Emulsions ◽  
The Core ◽  
System P ◽  
Varying Viscosity

We investigate the role of fluid viscosities on formation of double emulsion in a microfluidic step emulsification system. The ratio of fluid viscosities controls double droplet formation, leading to splitting of the core for low core-to-shell viscosity ratio.

Does a Ribosome Really Read? On the Cognitive Roots and Heuristic Value of Linguistic Metaphors in Molecular Genetics. Part 2

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-62
Author(s):  
Suren T. Zolyan
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Genetic Information ◽  
Formal Organization ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
The Core ◽  
Genetic Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Frame ◽  
Effective Instrument

We discuss the role of linguistic metaphors as a cognitive frame for the understanding of genetic information processing. The essential similarity between language and genetic information processing has been recognized since the very beginning, and many prominent scholars have noted the possibility of considering genes and genomes as texts or languages. Most of the core terms in molecular biology are based on linguistic metaphors. The processing of genetic information is understood as some operations on text – writing, reading and editing and their specification (encoding/decoding, proofreading, transcription, translation, reading frame). The concept of gene reading can be traced from the archaic idea of the equation of Life and Nature with the Book. Thus, the genetics itself can be metaphorically represented as some operations on text (deciphering, understanding, code-breaking, transcribing, editing, etc.), which are performed by scientists. At the same time linguistic metaphors portrayed gene entities also as having the ability of reading. In the case of such “bio-reading” some essential features similar to the processes of human reading can be revealed: this is an ability to identify the biochemical sequences based on their function in an abstract system and distinguish between type and its contextual tokens of the same type. Metaphors seem to be an effective instrument for representation, as they make possible a two-dimensional description: biochemical by its experimental empirical results and textual based on the cognitive models of comprehension. In addition to their heuristic value, linguistic metaphors are based on the essential characteristics of genetic information derived from its dual nature: biochemical by its substance, textual (or quasi-textual) by its formal organization. It can be concluded that linguistic metaphors denoting biochemical objects and processes seem to be a method of description and explanation of these heterogeneous properties.

Exploring the Mechanism of Lingzhu San in Treating Febrile Seizures by Using Network Pharmacology

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Zhou ◽  
Xiao-Fei Zhang ◽  
Dong-Yan Guo ◽  
Yan-Jun Yang ◽  
Lin Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Febrile Seizures ◽  
Network Pharmacology ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Active Compounds ◽  
Potential Core ◽  
R Language ◽  
The Core ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Therapeutic Mechanism

Objective: Lingzhu San (LZS) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription which can be effective in treating febrile seizures (FS) and has few researches on the mechanisms. In order to better guide the clinical use of LZS, we used the research ideas and methods of network pharmacology to find the potential core compounds, targets and pathways of LZS in the complex TCM system for the treatment of FS, and predict the mechanism. Materials and Methods: Databases such as BATMAN, TCMSP, TCMID, and SWISS TARGET are used to mine the active compounds and targets of LZS, and the target information of FS was obtained through GENECARDS and OMIM. Using Venny2.1.0 and Cytoscape software to locked the potential core compounds and targets of FS. The R language and ClusterProfiler software package were adopt to enrich and analyze the KEGG and GO pathways of the core targets and the biological processes and potential mechanisms of the core targets were revealed. Results: 187 active compounds and 2113 target proteins of LZS were collected. And 38 potential core compounds, 35 core targets and 775 metabolic and functional pathways were screened which involved in mediating FS. Finally, the role of the core compounds, targets and pivotal pathways of LZS regulated FS in the pathogenesis and therapeutic mechanism of FS was discussed and clarified. Conclusions: In this paper, the multi-compounds, multi-targets and multi-pathways mechanism of LZS in the treatment of FS was preliminarily revealed through the analysis of network pharmacology data, which is consistent with the principle of multi-compounds compatibility of TCM prescriptions and unified treatment of diseases from multiple angles, and it provides a new way for TCM to treat complex diseases caused by multiple factors.

Acid ceramidase, a double-edged sword in cancer aggression: A minireview

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Shiphrah Vethakanraj ◽  
Niveditha Chandrasekaran ◽  
Ashok Kumar Sekar
Keyword(s):  
Cell Fate ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Tumour Progression ◽  
Acid Ceramidase ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sphingosine 1 Phosphate ◽  
Key Enzyme

: Acid ceramidase (AC), the key enzyme of the ceramide metabolic pathway hydrolyzes pro-apoptotic ceramide to sphingosine, which by the action of sphingosine-1-kinase is metabolized to mitogenic sphingosine-1-phosphate. The intracellular level of AC determines ceramide/sphingosine-1-phosphate rheostat which in turn decides the cell fate. The upregulated AC expression during cancerous condition acts as a “double-edged sword” by converting pro-apoptotic ceramide to anti-apoptotic sphingosine-1-phosphate, wherein on one end, the level of ceramide is decreased and on the other end, the level of sphingosine-1-phosphate is increased, thus altogether aggravating the cancer progression. In addition, cancer cells with upregulated AC expression exhibited increased cell proliferation, metastasis, chemoresistance, radioresistance and numerous strategies were developed in the past to effectively target the enzyme. Gene silencing and pharmacological inhibition of AC sensitized the resistant cells to chemo/radiotherapy thereby promoting cell death. The core objective of this review is to explore AC mediated tumour progression and the potential role of AC inhibitors in various cancer cell lines/models.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis L. F Lee ◽  
Joseph M Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Media System ◽  
System P ◽  
Connective Action ◽  
Integrated Media ◽  
Media And Communication ◽  
The Ideal

Chapter 1 introduces the background of the Umbrella Movement, a protest movement that took hold in Hong Kong in 2014, and outlines the theoretical principles underlying the analysis of the role of media and communication in the occupation campaign. It explicates how the Umbrella Movement is similar to but also different from the ideal-typical networked social movement and crowd-enabled connective action. It explains why the Umbrella Movement should be seen as a case in which the logic of connective action intervenes into a planned collective action. It also introduces the notion of conditioned contingencies and the conceptualization of an integrated media system.

Choice Matters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Moore ◽  
John A. Quelch ◽  
Emily Boudreau
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Healthcare Provider ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Consumer Choice ◽  
Marketing Management ◽  
Appropriate Use ◽  
System P ◽  
The U.S

Choice Matters: How Healthcare Consumers Make Decisions (and Why Clinicians and Managers Should Care) is a timely and thoughtful exploration of the controversial role of consumers in the U.S. healthcare system. In most markets today, consumers have more options and autonomy than ever before. Empowered consumers easily shop around for products and services that better meet their needs, and they widely share their reviews on social media to inform and influence other consumers. Businesses have responded with better experiences and prices to compete for consumers’ business. Though healthcare has lagged behind other industries in this respect, there is a rising tide of interest in consumer choice and empowerment in healthcare markets. However, most healthcare provider organizations, individual doctors, and health insurers are unprepared to consider patients as consumers. The authors draw upon the fields of medicine, marketing, management, psychology, and public policy as they take a substantive, in-depth look at consumer choice and point out its appropriate use, as well as its limitations. This book addresses perplexing issues, such as how healthcare differs from other consumer-driven markets, how consumers make healthcare decisions, and how increased consumer choice in healthcare can not only aid and empower American consumers but also improve the overall healthcare system.

The Fox Diet

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Justice Department ◽  
Fox News ◽  
The Core ◽  
Deep State ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
Conservative Media ◽  
The Right

This chapter focuses on the role of the dominant player in conservative media, Fox News, during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. It looks at three case studies to illustrate how Fox News used its position at the core of the right-wing media ecosystem repeatedly to mount propaganda attacks in support of Trump: the Michael Flynn firing in March 2017, when Fox adopted the “deep state” framing of the entire controversy; the James Comey firing and Robert Mueller appointment in May 2017; when Fox propagated the Seth Rich murder conspiracy; and in October and November, when the arrests of Paul Manafort and guilty plea of Flynn seemed to mark a new level of threat to the president, Fox reframed the Uranium One story as an attack on the integrity of the FBI and Justice Department officials in charge of the investigation.

Beyond Bias

2020 ◽  
pp. 736-753
Author(s):  
Chelsea Barabas
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
System P ◽  
Accuracy Measures ◽  
Criminal Legal System ◽  
And Function ◽  
Role And Function

This chapter discusses contemporary debates regarding the use of artificial intelligence as a vehicle for criminal justice reform. It closely examines two general approaches to what has been widely branded as “algorithmic fairness” in criminal law: the development of formal fairness criteria and accuracy measures that illustrate the trade-offs of different algorithmic interventions; and the development of “best practices” and managerialist standards for maintaining a baseline of accuracy, transparency, and validity in these systems. Attempts to render AI-branded tools more accurate by addressing narrow notions of bias miss the deeper methodological and epistemological issues regarding the fairness of these tools. The key question is whether predictive tools reflect and reinforce punitive practices that drive disparate outcomes, and how data regimes interact with the penal ideology to naturalize these practices. The chapter then calls for a radically different understanding of the role and function of the carceral state, as a starting place for re-imagining the role of “AI” as a transformative force in the criminal legal system.

scholarly journals The role of AGN activity in the building up of the BCG at z ∼ 1.6

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S356) ◽  
pp. 280-284
Author(s):  
Angela Bongiorno ◽  
Andrea Travascio
Keyword(s):  
Galaxy Cluster ◽  
Cluster Galaxy ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Groups Of Galaxies ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Multi Wavelength

AbstractXDCPJ0044.0-2033 is one of the most massive galaxy cluster at z ∼1.6, for which a wealth of multi-wavelength photometric and spectroscopic data have been collected during the last years. I have reported on the properties of the galaxy members in the very central region (∼ 70kpc × 70kpc) of the cluster, derived through deep HST photometry, SINFONI and KMOS IFU spectroscopy, together with Chandra X-ray, ALMA and JVLA radio data.In the core of the cluster, we have identified two groups of galaxies (Complex A and Complex B), seven of them confirmed to be cluster members, with signatures of ongoing merging. These galaxies show perturbed morphologies and, three of them show signs of AGN activity. In particular, two of them, located at the center of each complex, have been found to host luminous, obscured and highly accreting AGN (λ = 0.4−0.6) exhibiting broad Hα line. Moreover, a third optically obscured type-2 AGN, has been discovered through BPT diagram in Complex A. The AGN at the center of Complex B is detected in X-ray while the other two, and their companions, are spatially related to radio emission. The three AGN provide one of the closest AGN triple at z > 1 revealed so far with a minimum (maximum) projected distance of 10 kpc (40 kpc). The discovery of multiple AGN activity in a highly star-forming region associated to the crowded core of a galaxy cluster at z ∼ 1.6, suggests that these processes have a key role in shaping the nascent Brightest Cluster Galaxy, observed at the center of local clusters. According to our data, all galaxies in the core of XDCPJ0044.0-2033 could form a BCG of M* ∼ 1012Mȯ hosting a BH of 2 × 108−109Mȯ, in a time scale of the order of 2.5 Gyrs.

Unprecedentedly high efficiency for photocatalytic conversion of methane to methanol over Au–Pd/TiO2 – what is the role of each component in the system?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojiao Cai ◽  
Siyuan Fang ◽  
Yun Hang Hu
Keyword(s):  
Methane Conversion ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Mild Conditions ◽  
Highly Efficient ◽  
System P ◽  
Conversion Of Methane

Direct and highly efficient methane conversion to methanol under mild conditions is achieved via photocatalysis over Au–Pd/TiO2.

scholarly journals A militant defence of democracy: A few replies to my critics

2020 ◽  
pp. 019145372097472
Author(s):  
Cristina Lafont
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Core ◽  
Difficult Question ◽  
Proper Role

In this essay, I address some questions and challenges brought about by the contributors to this special issue on my book ‘ Democracy without Shortcuts’. First, I clarify different aspects of my critique of deep pluralist conceptions of democracy to highlight the core incompatibilities with the participatory conception of deliberative democracy that I defend in the book. Second, I distinguish different senses of the concept of ‘blind deference’ that I use in the book to clarify several aspects and consequences of my critique of epistocratic conceptions of democracy and their search for ‘expertocratic shortcuts’. This in turn helps me briefly address the difficult question of the proper role of experts in a democracy. Third, I address potential uses of empowered minipublics that I did not discuss in the book and highlight some reasons to worry about their lack of accountability. This discussion in turn leads me to address the difficult question of which institutions are best suited to represent the transgenerational collective people who are supposed to own a constitutional project. Finally, I address some interesting suggestions for how to move the book’s project forward.

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