Ebookness

Since the mid-2000s, the ebook has stabilized into an ontologically distinct form, separate from PDFs and other representations of the book on the screen. The current article delineates the ebook from other emerging digital genres with recourse to the methodologies of platform studies and book history. The ebook is modelled as three concentric circles representing its technological, textual and service infrastructure innovations. This analysis reveals two distinct properties of the ebook: a simulation of the services of the book trade and an emphasis on user textual manipulation. The proposed model is tested with reference to comparative studies of several ebooks published since 2007 and defended against common claims of ebookness about other digital textual genres

Discourse or gimmick? Digital marginalia in online scholarship

Marginalia has been studied as discourse, as historical documentation and as evidence of reader response. As many academic texts are now available electronically, it seems a natural step to incorporate the interactive, social functions of the Web 2.0. Digital marginalia in an academic publishing context has been a largely unsuccessful venture to this date, yet there are several promising developments. Tools have emerged that enable readers annotate online texts in an approximation of paper-based marginalia, with the additional affordances of two- (or many-) way discourse, digital archiving, and the ability to hide the annotations. This article reviews the contemporary practices of digital marginalia, narrowing in to focus on digital marginalia as a form of academic discourse and peer review. I analyse several case studies of digital marginalia and discourse within this context, including Nature’s trial of open peer review, Wellcome Open Research, PLOS ONE and PubPeer’s systems, as well as my own experience using open peer review with Hypothes.is in a special ‘disrupted’ issue of the Journal of Media Practice. The article examines the relative success of these initiatives, attitudes toward open peer review and concludes with some promising developments for the future of digital marginalia and discourse in academic publishing

Extracellular Histone-Induced Protein Kinase C Alpha Activation and Troponin Phosphorylation Is a Potential Mechanism of Cardiac Contractility Depression in Sepsis

Reduction in cardiac contractility is common in severe sepsis. However, the pathological mechanism is still not fully understood. Recently it has been found that circulating histones released after extensive immune cell death play important roles in multiple organ injury and disfunction, particularly in cardiomyocyte injury and contractility reduction. How extracellular histones cause cardiac contractility depression is still not fully clear. In this work, using cultured cardiomyocytes and a histone infusion mouse model, we demonstrate that clinically relevant histone concentrations cause significant increases in intracellular calcium concentrations with subsequent activation and enriched localization of calcium-dependent protein kinase C (PKC) α and βII into the myofilament fraction of cardiomyocytes in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, histones induced dose-dependent phosphorylation of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) at the PKC-regulated phosphorylation residues (S43 and T144) in cultured cardiomyocytes, which was also confirmed in murine cardiomyocytes following intravenous histone injection. Specific inhibitors against PKCα and PKCβII revealed that histone-induced cTnI phosphorylation was mainly mediated by PKCα activation, but not PKCβII. Blocking PKCα also significantly abrogated histone-induced deterioration in peak shortening, duration and the velocity of shortening, and re-lengthening of cardiomyocyte contractility. These in vitro and in vivo findings collectively indicate a potential mechanism of histone-induced cardiomyocyte dysfunction driven by PKCα activation with subsequent enhanced phosphorylation of cTnI. These findings also indicate a potential mechanism of clinical cardiac dysfunction in sepsis and other critical illnesses with high levels of circulating histones, which holds the potential translational benefit to these patients by targeting circulating histones and downstream pathways

Time-Warp–Invariant Neuronal Processing

A biophysical mechanism acting in auditory neurons allows the brain to process the high variability of speaking rates in natural speech in a time-warp-invariant manner

Testing foundations of quantum mechanics with photons

The foundational ideas of quantum mechanics continue to give rise to counterintuitive theories and physical effects that are in conflict with a classical description of Nature. Experiments with light at the single photon level have historically been at the forefront of tests of fundamental quantum theory and new developments in photonics engineering continue to enable new experiments. Here we review recent photonic experiments to test two foundational themes in quantum mechanics: wave-particle duality, central to recent complementarity and delayed-choice experiments; and Bell nonlocality where recent theoretical and technological advances have allowed all controversial loopholes to be separately addressed in different photonics experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, published as a Nature Physics Insight review articl

Improved change detection with nearby hands

Recent studies have suggested altered visual processing for objects that are near the hands. We present three experiments that test whether an observer’s hands near the display facilitate change detection. While performing the task, observers placed both hands either near or away from the display. When their hands were near the display, change detection performance was more accurate and they held more items in visual short-term memory (experiment 1). Performance was equally improved for all regions across the entire display, suggesting a stronger attentional engagement over all visual stimuli regardless of their relative distances from the hands (experiment 2). Interestingly, when only one hand was placed near the display, we found no facilitation from the left hand and a weak facilitation from the right hand (experiment 3). Together, these data suggest that the right hand is the main source of facilitation, and both hands together produce a nonlinear boost in performance (superadditivity) that cannot be explained by either hand alone. In addition, the presence of the right hand biased observers to attend to the right hemifield first, resulting in a right-bias in change detection performance (experiments 2 and 3)

Relationship between craving and personality in treatment-seeking women with substance-related disorders

BACKGROUND: Individual differences may impact susceptibility to addiction. The impact of personality features on drug craving, however, has not been studied, particularly in women. METHODS: Ninety-five treatment-seeking women with substance dependence, abstinent for at least 5 and no more than 21 days, were investigated regarding the correlation between personality factors and craving. Personality was assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), the NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R), and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS-11). Cravings were assessed through the Pennsylvania Craving Scale (PCS), and the Craving Questionnaire (CQ). Anxiety and depressive symptomatology were also recorded. RESULTS: Craving scores were positively correlated with depression and negatively correlated with number of days abstinent from substance use. Also, craving scores were positively associated with the novelty-seeking factor from the TCI and the total score on the BIS-11, and negatively associated with the conscientiousness and agreeableness facets of the NEO-PI-R. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that personality features, particularly impulsiveness, can be important predictors of craving in women, which has important implications for treatment planning