Constituent Parts: Recent Portraiture in Canadian Military Art

Not common within the art historical record of the Canadian Military, the work of a number of visual artists participating in the Canadian Forces Artists Program demonstrates a keen and growing interest in portraiture. In this article, the work of Gertrude Kearns, Mary Kavanagh, and Erin Riley will be highlighted to illustrate the recent trend. Their work is contrasted with one another as well as with portraiture created by Canada’s war artists in the First and Second World Wars to bring to light the tensions of representation inherent in military portraiture. It will be shown that shifting perceptions found in the wider employment of portraiture and freedom given to participants in the Canadian Forces most recent official art program have encouraged depictions of members at all levels of the Canadian Forces

Luminance cues constrain chromatic blur discrimination in natural scene stimuli

Introducing blur into the color components of a natural scene has very little effect on its percept, whereas blur introduced into the luminance component is very noticeable. Here we quantify the dominance of luminance information in blur detection and examine a number of potential causes. We show that the interaction between chromatic and luminance information is not explained by reduced acuity or spatial resolution limitations for chromatic cues, the effective contrast of the luminance cue, or chromatic and achromatic statistical regularities in the images. Regardless of the quality of chromatic information, the visual system gives primacy to luminance signals when determining edge location. In natural viewing, luminance information appears to be specialized for detecting object boundaries while chromatic information may be used to determine surface properties

Gamma Radiation Sterilization of Ponderosa Pine and Birch Sapwood

The sterilizing effects of gamma radiation on microbiologically contaminated ponderosa pine and birch sapwood (beams and cubes) conditioned to moisture contents ranging from 0.5% to 150% were examined.The lethal radiation dosage required depended on the moisture content of the wood and also, perhaps, on the initial concentration of microorganisms within the wood. Fungi were more sensitive to radiation than bacteria, but a radiation dose between 1 and 5 M rads was sufficient to kill all microorganisms in 3/4-inch cubes of both woods. Smaller radiation dosages were required to sterilize wood at either very low or very high moisture contents than at intermediate moisture contents. Both woods had similar lethal dosage requirements for sterilization.Seven fungal species isolated after a radiation dosage of 5 X 105 rads were found to be Fungi Imperfecti. Following gamma irradiation of wood samples, there was no evidence of an aftereffect modifying the growth of microorganisms in the wood

Cue combination of conflicting color and luminance edges

Abrupt changes in the color or luminance of a visual image potentially indicate object boundaries. Here, we consider how these cues to the visual “edge” location are combined when they conflict. We measured the extent to which localization of a compound edge can be predicted from a simple maximum likelihood estimation model using the reliability of chromatic (L−M) and luminance signals alone. Maximum likelihood estimation accurately predicted thepatternof results across a range of contrasts. Predictions consistently overestimated the relative influence of the luminance cue; although L−M is often considered a poor cue for localization, it was used more than expected. This need not indicate that the visual system is suboptimal but that its priors about which cue is moreusefulare not flat. This may be because, although strong changes in chromaticity typically represent object boundaries, changes in luminance can be caused by either a boundary or a shadow

Melatonin Alters Age-Related Changes in Transcription Factors and Kinase Activation

Male mice were fed 40 ppm melatonin for 2 months prior to sacrifice at age 26 months, and compared with both 26 and 4 month-old untreated controls. The nuclear translocation of NF-κB increased with age in both brain and spleen and this was reversed by melatonin only in brain. Another transcription factor, AP-1 was increased with age in the spleen and not in brain and this could be blocked by melatonin treatment. The fraction of the active relative to the inactive form of several enabling kinases was compared. The proportion of activated ERK was elevated with age in brain and spleen but this change was unresponsive to melatonin. A similar age-related increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was also refractory to melatonin treatment. The cerebral melatonin M1 receptor decreased with age in brain but increased in spleen. The potentially beneficial nature of melatonin for the preservation of brain function with aging was suggested by the finding that an age-related decline in cortical synaptophysin levels was prevented by dietary melatonin

Συνελίξεις κατανομών με βαριά ουρά

223 σ.Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Εφαρμοσμένες Μαθηματικές Επιστήμες”Στην παρούσα εργασία αντικείμενο αποτελούν οι συνελίξεις των κατανομών με βαριά ουρά, και πιο συγκεκριμένα οι υποεκθετικές κατανομές. Οι υποεκθετικές κατανομές είναι μια υποκατηγορία των κατανομών με βαριά ουρά και έχουν εφαρμογές σε πολλά επιστημονικά αντικείμενα. Στηρίζονται στην ιδέα πως ένα άθροισμα τυχαίων μεταβλητών μπορεί να υπερβεί κάποιο μεγάλο φράγμα μόνο όταν μια από αυτές τις μεταβλητές υπερβεί αυτό το φράγμα.Σε αυτή την εργασία θα ασχοληθούμε με την εφαρμογή των υποεκθετικών κατανομών στον αναλογισμό και πιο συγκεκριμένα στη θεωρία χρεοκοπίας. Στην προσπάθεια μας να ορίσουμε μαθηματικά την θεωρία χρεοκοπίας χρησιμοποιούμε τους τυχαίους περιπάτους . Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να δείξουμε πως συμπεριφέρεται η πιθανότητα χρεοκοπίας κάτω από την υπόθεση των υποεκθετικών κατανομών και πώς συμπεριφέρεται όταν δεν ισχύει η υπόθεση των υποεκθετικών κατανομών.In this work, item are convolutions of heavy tailed distributions , and more specifically subexponencial distributions . Subexponencial distributions are a subclass of distributions with heavy tail and have applications in many scientific fields . Based on the idea that a sum of random variables can exceed a big bound only when one of these variables exceeds this bound.In this paper we discuss the application of subexponential distributions in actuarial science and in particular in ruin theory . In our effort to define ruin theory we use random walks. The purpose of this paper is the behavior of ruin probability under the assumption of subexponential distributions and how it behaves when it does not apply the case of subexponential distributions.Σωτήριος Ι. Λοσίδη

Combinations of idelalisib with rituximab and/or bendamustine in patients with recurrent indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Key Points Combining phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase δ inhibition with rituximab, bendamustine, or both is feasible and active in relapsed iNHL. The safety of novel combinations should be proven in phase 3 trials before adoption in clinical practice.</jats:p

Structures of mixed manganese ruthenium oxides (Mn1−xRux)O2(Mn_{1−x}Ru_x)O_2 crystallised under acidic hydrothermal conditions

A synthesis method for the preparation of mixed manganese–ruthenium oxides is presented along with a detailed characterisation of the solids produced. The use of 1 M aqueous sulfuric acid mediates the redox reaction between KRuO$_4$, KMnO$_4$ and Mn$^{2+}$ to form ternary oxides. At reaction temperature of 100°C the products are mixtures of α-MnO$_2$ (hollandite-type) and β-MnO$_2$ (rutile-type), with some evidence of Ru incorporation in each from their expanded unit cell volumes. At reaction temperature of 200°C solid-solutions β-Mn$_{1−x}$Ru$_x$O$_2$ are formed and materials with x ≤ 0.6 have been studied. The amount of Ru included in the oxide is greater than expected from the ratio of metals used in the synthesis, as determined by elemental analysis, implying that some Mn remains unreacted in solution. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that while the unit cell volume expands in a linear manner, following Vegard's law, the tetragonal lattice parameters, and the a/c ratio, do not follow the extrapolated trends: this anisotropic behaviour is consistent with the different local coordination of the metals in the end members. Powder XRD patterns show increased peak broadening with increasing ruthenium content, which is corroborated by electron microscopy that shows nanocrystalline material. X-ray absorption near-edge spectra show that the average oxidation state of Mn in the solid solutions is reduced below +4 while that of Ru is increased above +4, suggesting some redistribution of charge. Analysis of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure provides complementary local structural information, confirming the formation of a solid solution, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the surface oxidation states of both Ru and Mn are on average lower than +4, suggesting a disordered surface layer may be present in the materials

Blood pressure, aortic stiffness, hemodynamics and cognition in twin pairs discordant for type 2 diabetes

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia with poorly understood underlying mechanisms. Objective: We examined the role of blood pressure (BP), aortic stiffness, and hemodynamics in this association. Methods: Cross-sectional sample of late middle-aged twins discordant for T2D from the Australian Twin Registry. Measurements included neuropsychological battery and brain MRI including arterial spin labelling (ASL) to measure cerebral perfusion. Mobil-o-Graph devices were used to non-invasively obtain 24-hour BP, aortic stiffness, and hemodynamic measures. Using mixed modelling, we studied associations of T2D with cognition, MRI measures, BP, aortic stiffness, and hemodynamics. Results: There were 23 twin pairs with mean age 63.7 (SD = 6.1) years. T2D (β=-0.45, p < 0.001) and age (β=-0.05, p = 0.022) were independently associated with poorer attention but not with memory or perceptual speed. T2D was associated with reduced nocturnal central systolic BP dipping (β=-3.79, p = 0.027), but not with BP, aortic stiffness, cerebral perfusion, or other hemodynamic measures. There was a statistically significant interaction between T2D and central systolic BP dipping in predicting attention scores (both p < 0.05 for the interaction term) whereby there was a positive association between BP dipping and attention scores in those with T2D, but not in those without T2D. Conclusion: We found an association between T2D and reduced nocturnal central systolic dipping, but not with any other measures of BP, stiffness or hemodynamic measures. Further study of the role of nocturnal central BP dipping in the association between T2D and cognitive impairment may help identify potential mechanisms