The other side of American exceptionalism: thematic and stylistic affinities in the paintings of the Ashcan School and in Mark Twain\u27s Captain Stormfield\u27s Visit to Heaven

This thesis is an attempt to analyze Mark Twain\u27s story Captain Stormfield\u27s Visit to Heaven as well as selected paintings from the Ashcan School in terms of American exceptionalism. In the process, I also explore the stylistic affinities that reflect the times in which the works were executed, and evaluate how the styles in turn help to enhance the themes. Like Twain\u27s Stormfield, until recent years, works by the Ashcan artists were rarely discussed: they apparently did not fit the common perception of America as a City on a Hill, an exceptional country with exceptional people. The works of the Ashcan artists and Mark Twain\u27s Stormfield seem to contradict or at least show that there is another side to the myth of American exceptionalism. In my attempt to see how far thematic affinities and differences between Stormfield and the paintings of the Ashcan School impinge on the idea of American exceptionalism, I first explain my eclectic approach towards the works in question. Then I discuss some aspects of American exceptionalism, after which I narrate the theory on the relationship between painting and literature. Next I explore Mark Twain\u27s Captain Stormfields Visit to Heaven in terms of American exceptionalism and use the ideas gathered to compare with the themes found in selected paintings from the Ashcan School. Finally, I analyze how the times in which the works were executed influenced the styles, besides showing how the styles enhanced the content. I hope this attempt in investigating the thematic and stylistic affinities and differences between the Sister Arts will serve to illuminate further the ongoing controversy of American exceptionalism

Mosquitoes of Kudat: species composition and their medical importance(diptera: culicidae)

A survey of mosquito fauna was done to determine the mosquito population and species composition in Kudat. Outdoor human landing catches (HLC) were done from April to June 2015. A total of 4,350 mosquitoes, representing eight genera and 37 species were collected. These include Aedes (Stegomyia), Aedimorphus, Anopheles, Armigeres, Culex, Mansonia, Phagomyia and Uranotaenia. Medical important species are specially noted and discussed. Armigeres (52.7%) was the most abundant, followed by Culex (31.9%), Aedes (9.4%), and Anopheles (4.3%). Armigeres kesseli and Ar. subabaltus were the two most common species. Armigeres annulipalpi and Phagomyia prominens are new records of Sabah

Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Surgery (LESS) for a Large Ovarian Tumour: First Clinical Case Report

Objective. To report the feasibility of removing a 10 cm ovarian fibroma via a laparoendoscopic single-site trocar through trans-umbilical access. Design. Case report. Setting. Teaching and research hospital. Patient. A 64-year-old patient affected by a large 10 cm ovarian tumour. Intervention(s). Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy a large 10 cm ovarian tumour, using a laparoendoscopic single-site approach with a Covidien SILS multitrocar access device and standard laparoscopic instruments. Main Outcome Measure(s). Conversion to standard laparoscopic technique or laparotomy, estimated blood loss, operative time , extent of scarring, occurrence of intra- and perioperative surgical complications, technical adequacy, and clinical outcome. Result(s). No conversion to standard laparoscopic technique or laparotomy, and no intraoperative or postoperative complications were observed. Total operative time was 99 minutes. The patient was discharged home on postoperative day one. Conclusion(s). Laparoendoscopic single-site bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy of a large ovarian tumour is feasible with standard laparoscopic instruments. It is safe and effective, with good results in terms of excellent cosmesis and minimal postoperative pain

Identifying And Classifying Unknown Words In Malay Texts.

In this paper, we propose a method based on a chain of filters to handle the problem of identifying and classifying unknown words in Malay texts. A word is identified as unknown when it is not listed in the lexicon

Diffusion Variational Autoencoder for Tackling Stochasticity in Multi-Step Regression Stock Price Prediction

Multi-step stock price prediction over a long-term horizon is crucial for forecasting its volatility, allowing financial institutions to price and hedge derivatives, and banks to quantify the risk in their trading books. Additionally, most financial regulators also require a liquidity horizon of several days for institutional investors to exit their risky assets, in order to not materially affect market prices. However, the task of multi-step stock price prediction is challenging, given the highly stochastic nature of stock data. Current solutions to tackle this problem are mostly designed for single-step, classification-based predictions, and are limited to low representation expressiveness. The problem also gets progressively harder with the introduction of the target price sequence, which also contains stochastic noise and reduces generalizability at test-time. To tackle these issues, we combine a deep hierarchical variational-autoencoder (VAE) and diffusion probabilistic techniques to do seq2seq stock prediction through a stochastic generative process. The hierarchical VAE allows us to learn the complex and low-level latent variables for stock prediction, while the diffusion probabilistic model trains the predictor to handle stock price stochasticity by progressively adding random noise to the stock data. Our Diffusion-VAE (D-Va) model is shown to outperform state-of-the-art solutions in terms of its prediction accuracy and variance. More importantly, the multi-step outputs can also allow us to form a stock portfolio over the prediction length. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our model outputs in the portfolio investment task through the Sharpe ratio metric and highlight the importance of dealing with different types of prediction uncertainties.Comment: CIKM 202

Peripheral cytokine levels as a prognostic indicator in gastric cancer : a review of existing literature

Although strong connections exist between the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer and chronic inflammation, gastric cancer is unique in that the chronic gastritis which frequently precedes carcinogenesis is strongly associated with H. pylori infection. The interplay between H. pylori virulence factors and host immune cells is complex but culminates in the activation of inflammatory pathways and transcription factors such as NF-κB, STAT3, and AP-1, all of which upregulate cytokine production. Due to the key role of cytokines in modulating the immune response against tumour cells as well as possibly stimulating tumour growth and proliferation, different patterns of cytokine secretion may be associated with varying patient outcomes. In relation to gastric cancer, interleukin-6, 8, 10, 17A, TNF, and IFN-γ may have pro-tumour properties, although interleukin-10, TNF, and IFN-γ may have anti-tumour effects. However, due to the lack of studies investigating patient outcomes, only a link between higher interleukin-6 levels and poorer prognosis has been demonstrated. Further investigations which link peripheral cytokine levels to patient prognosis may elucidate important pathological mechanisms in gastric cancer which adversely impact patient survival and allow treatments targeting these processes to be developed

Dosimetric predictors of radiation-induced acute nausea and vomiting in intensity modulated radiation therapy alone for undifferentiated carcinoma of the nasopharynx

Poster: no. 193 oralThis journal suppl. entitled: 10th Biennial ESTRO Conference on Physics and Radiation Technology for Clinical RadiotherapyPURPOSE: To investigate dosimetric and clinical parameters that will predict radiation-induced acute nausea and vomiting in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) alone for undifferentiated carcinoma of the nasopharynx (NPC) MATERIALS: Thirty three consecutive patients with newly diagnosed NPC were treated with IMRT alone in this combined retrospective and prospective cohort. No chemotherapeutic agents were given as they either have stage I to IIB (AJCC 2002 classification) diseases or they were medically unfit for chemotherapy. Patients receiving any form of chemotherapy were excluded as cisplatin, the standard chemotherapeutic agent used in radical treatment of NPC is highly emetogenic which may make analysis ...postprin

Heavy metal toxicity and the aetiology of glaucoma

Despite recent advances, our understanding of the aetiological mechanisms underlying glaucoma remains incomplete. Heavy metals toxicity has been linked to the development of neurodegenerative diseases and various ocular pathologies. Given the similarities in pathophysiology between glaucoma and some neurodegenerative disorders, it is plausible that heavy metal toxicity may play a role in the development of glaucoma. Heavy metal exposure may be occupational, or through water or dietary contamination. In this report, we review mechanisms for systemic and neurotoxicity for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, mercury, and manganese, and weigh the evidence for an association between glaucoma and the accumulation of heavy metals either in ocular tissues or in the central nervous system

FEZ1 forms complexes with CRMP1 and DCC to regulate axon and dendrite development

Elaboration of neuronal processes is an early step in neuronal development. Guidance cues must work closely with intracellular trafficking pathways to direct expanding axons and dendrites to their target neurons during the formation of neuronal networks. However, how such coordination is achieved remains incompletely understood. Here, we characterize an interaction between FEZ1, an adapter involved in synaptic protein transport, and CRMP1, a protein that functions in growth cone guidance, at neuronal growth cones. We show that similar to CRMP1 loss-of-function mutants, FEZ1 deficiency in rat hippocampal neurons causes growth cone collapse and impairs axonal development. Strikingly, FEZ1-deficient neurons also exhibited a reduction in dendritic complexity stronger than that observed in CRMP1-deficient neurons, suggesting that the former could partake in additional developmental signaling pathways. Supporting this, FEZ1 colocalizes with VAMP2 in developing hippocampal neurons and forms a separate complex with Deleted in Colorectal Cancer and Syntaxin-1, components of the Netrin-1 signaling pathway that are also involved in regulating axon and dendrite development. Significantly, developing axons and dendrites of FEZ1-deficient neurons fail to respond to Netrin-1 or Netrin-1 and Sema3A treatment, respectively. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of FEZ1 as a common effector to integrate guidance signaling pathways with intracellular trafficking to mediate axo-dendrite development during neuronal network formation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Guidance cue-dependent elaboration of axons and dendrites towards their target neurons is a critical step in the formation of neuronal circuits during brain development. The elongating neurites require a constant supply of biomolecules, but it remains unclear how guidance cues cooperate with intracellular transport. Here, we show that the kinesin-1 adapter FEZ1 forms complexes with CRMP1 or DCC, which are downstream effectors of the Sema3A and Netrin-1 signaling pathway, respectively. FEZ1-deficient neurons not only exhibit abnormal axons and dendrites, they were also unresponsive to Sema3A- or Netrin-1-dependent regulation of axo-dendritic development. Our results highlight FEZ1 as a key convergence point where guidance cues and intracellular transport integrate to coordinate neuronal process development during neuronal network formation