Using mobile phones in pub talk

We present the findings from a study of how people interleave mobile phone use with conversation in pubs. Our findings, informed by ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, unpack the interactional methods through which groups of people in pubs occasioned, sustained, and disengaged from mobile device use during conversation with friends. Fundamentally, the work that is done consists of various methods of accounting for mobile device use, and displaying involvement in social interaction while the device is used. We highlight multiple examples of the nuanced ways in which interleaving is problematic in interaction, and relate our findings to the CSCW and HCI literature on collocated interaction. We conclude by considering avenues for future research, and discuss how we may support or disrupt interleaving practices through design to overcome the highlighted interactional troubles

Sister chromatid telomere fusions, but not NHEJ-mediated inter-chromosomal telomere fusions, occur independently of DNA ligases 3 and 4

Telomeres shorten with each cell division and can ultimately become substrates for non-homologous end-joining repair, leading to large-scale genomic rearrangements of the kind frequently observed in human cancers. We have characterised over 1400 telomere fusion events at the single-molecule level, using a combination of high-throughput sequence analysis together with experimentally-induced telomeric double-stranded DNA breaks. We show that a single chromosomal dysfunctional telomere can fuse with diverse non-telomeric genomic loci, even in the presence of an otherwise stable genome, and that fusion predominates in coding regions. Fusion frequency was markedly increased in the absence of TP53 checkpoint control and significantly modulated by the cellular capacity for classical, versus alternative, non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). We observed a striking reduction in inter-chromosomal fusion events in cells lacking DNA ligase 4, in contrast to a remarkably consistent profile of intra-chromosomal fusion in the context of multiple genetic knockouts, including DNA ligase 3 and 4 double-knockouts. We reveal distinct mutational signatures associated with classical NHEJ-mediated inter-chromosomal, as opposed to alternative NHEJ-mediated intra-chromosomal telomere fusions and evidence an unanticipated sufficiency of DNA ligase 1 for these intra-chromosomal events. Our findings have implications for mechanisms driving cancer genome evolution

Rate versus rhythm control and outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease: Data from the GUSTO-III Trial

Background: Atrial fi brillation (AF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) have both beenshown to portend worse outcomes after acute myocardial infarction (MI); however, the benefi tof a rhythm control strategy in patients with CKD post-MI is unclear.Methods: We prospectively studied 985 patients with new-onset AF post-MI in theGUSTO-III trial, of whom 413 (42%) had CKD (creatinine clearance < 60 mL/min).A rhythm control strategy, defi ned as the use of an antiarrhythmic medication and/orelectrical cardioversion, was used in 346 (35%) of patients.Results: A rhythm control strategy was used in 34% of patients with CKD and 36% of patientswith no CKD. At hospital discharge, sinus rhythm was present in 487 (76%) of patients treatedwith a rate control strategy, vs. 276 (80%) in those treated with rhythm control (p = 0.20). CKDwas associated with a lower odds of sinus rhythm at discharge (unadjusted OR 0.56, 95% CI0.38–0.84, p < 0.001). However, in multivariable analyses, treatment with a rhythm controlstrategy was not associated with discharge rhythm (HR 1.068, 95% CI 0.69–1.66, p = 0.77),30-day mortality (HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.54–1.12, p = 0.18) or mortality from day 30 to 1 year(HR 1.00, 95% CI 0.59–1.69, p = 0.99). CKD status did not signifi cantly impact the relationshipbetween rhythm control and outcomes.Conclusions: Treatment with a rhythm or rate control strategy does not signifi cantly impactshort-term or long-term mortality in patients with post-MI AF, regardless of kidney disease status.Future studies to investigate the optimal management of AF in CKD patients are needed

Rigidity of SU(2,2|2)-symmetric solutions in Type IIB

We investigate the existence of half-BPS solutions in Type IIB supergravity which are invariant under the superalgebra SU(2,2|2) realized on either AdS_5 x S^2 x S^1 or AdS_5 x S^3 warped over a Riemann surface \Sigma with boundary. We prove that, in both cases, the only solution is AdS_5 x S^5 itself. We argue that this result provides evidence for the non-existence of fully back-reacted intersecting D3/D7 branes with either AdS_5 x S^2 x S^1 x \Sigma or AdS_5 x S^3 x \Sigma near-horizon limits.Comment: 55 page

Supersymmetric Pair Correlation Function of Wilson Loops

We give a path integral derivation of the annulus diagram in a supersymmetric theory of open and closed strings with Dbranes. We compute the pair correlation function of Wilson loops in the generic weakly coupled supersymmetric flat spacetime background with Dbranes. We obtain a -u^4/r^9 potential between heavy nonrelativistic sources in a supersymmetric gauge theory at short distances.Comment: 18 pages, Revte

Issues of the Ends of Life: The Segelberg Series

The Segelberg Series explores the intersection of religious faith and public policy. This book contains the lectures focused on The Ends of Life. Dalhousie University’s School of Public Administration managed the series through a lecture committee under the able leadership of the former Dean of Dalhousie’s Law School, Professor Innis Christie, QC

Preparation, imaging, and quantification of bacterial surface motility assays.

Publication fees for this article were partially sponsored by Bruker Corporation.International audienceBacterial surface motility, such as swarming, is commonly examined in the laboratory using plate assays that necessitate specific concentrations of agar and sometimes inclusion of specific nutrients in the growth medium. The preparation of such explicit media and surface growth conditions serves to provide the favorable conditions that allow not just bacterial growth but coordinated motility of bacteria over these surfaces within thin liquid films. Reproducibility of swarm plate and other surface motility plate assays can be a major challenge. Especially for more "temperate swarmers" that exhibit motility only within agar ranges of 0.4%-0.8% (wt/vol), minor changes in protocol or laboratory environment can greatly influence swarm assay results. "Wettability", or water content at the liquid-solid-air interface of these plate assays, is often a key variable to be controlled. An additional challenge in assessing swarming is how to quantify observed differences between any two (or more) experiments. Here we detail a versatile two-phase protocol to prepare and image swarm assays. We include guidelines to circumvent the challenges commonly associated with swarm assay media preparation and quantification of data from these assays. We specifically demonstrate our method using bacteria that express fluorescent or bioluminescent genetic reporters like green fluorescent protein (GFP), luciferase (lux operon), or cellular stains to enable time-lapse optical imaging. We further demonstrate the ability of our method to track competing swarming species in the same experiment

Consistency Conditions for Orientifolds and D-Manifolds

We study superstrings with orientifold projections and with generalized open string boundary conditions (D-branes). We find two types of consistency condition, one related to the algebra of Chan-Paton factors and the other to cancellation of divergences. One consequence is that the Dirichlet 5-branes of the Type I theory carry a symplectic gauge group, as required by string duality. As another application we study the Type I theory on a $K3$ $Z_2$ orbifold, finding a family of consistent theories with various unitary and symplectic subgroups of $U(16) \times U(16)$. We argue that the $K3$ orbifold with spin connection embedded in gauge connection corresponds to an interacting conformal field theory in the Type I theory.Comment: Reference added. 27 pages LaTeX, 2 epsf figures. To appear in Phys.Rev.D (15Jly96

Validation of full-wave simulations for mode conversion of waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies with phase contrast imaging in Alcator C-Mod

Mode conversion of fast waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) is known to result in current drive and flow drive under optimised conditions, which may be utilized to control plasma profiles and improve fusion plasma performance. To describe these processes accurately in a realistic toroidal geometry, numerical simulations are essential. Quantitative comparison of these simulations and the actual experimental measurements is important to validate their predictions and to evaluate their limitations. The phase contrast imaging (PCI) diagnostic has been used to directly detect the ICRF waves in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. The measurements have been compared with full-wave simulations through a synthetic diagnostic technique. Recently, the frequency response of the PCI detector array on Alcator C-Mod was recalibrated, which greatly improved the comparison between the measurements and the simulations. In this study, mode converted waves for D-{superscript 3]He and D-H plasmas with various ion species compositions were re-analyzed with the new calibration. For the minority heating cases, self-consistent electric fields and a minority ion distribution function were simulated by iterating a full-wave code and a Fokker-Planck code. The simulated mode converted wave intensity was in quite reasonable agreement with the measurements close to the antenna, but discrepancies remain for comparison at larger distances.United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG02- 94ER54235