A Simple Capture/Compare Timer

This report provides a user manual for SCCT. SCCT is a Simple Capture/Compare Timer written in Verilog. It provides multiple capture/compare channels that use a common counter. Events occurring in the single channels thus can be related to a global time base. SCCT is developed as an IP core that can be attached to the Altera Avalon bus

Identification and quantification of cannabinol as a biomarker for local hemp retting in an ancient sedimentary record by HPTLC-ESI-MS

Cannabis products have been used in various fields of everyday life for many centuries, and applications in folk medicine and textile production have been well-known for many centuries. For traditional textile production, hemp fibers were extracted from the stems by water retting in stagnant or slow-moving waters. During this procedure, parts of the plant material‚ among them phytocannabinoids‚ are released into the water. Cannabinol (CBN) is an important degradation product of the predominant phytocannabinoids found in Cannabis species. Thus, it is an excellent indicator for present as well as ancient hemp water retting. In this study, we developed and validated a simple and fast method for the determination of CBN in sediment samples using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) combined with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), thereby testing different extraction and cleanup procedures‚ as well as various sorbents and solvents for planar chromatography. This method shows a satisfactory overall analytical performance with an average recovery rate of 73%. Our protocol enabled qualitative and quantitative analyses of CBN in samples of a bottom sediment core‚ having been obtained from a small lake in Northern India, where intense local retting of hemp was suggested in the past. The analyses showed a maximum CBN content in pollen zone 4 covering a depth range of 262–209 cm, dating from approximately 480 BCE to 1050 CE. These findings correlate with existing records of Cannabis-type pollen. Thus, the method we propose is a helpful tool to track ancient hemp retting activities

Expression of emotions in ads over time

Although advertising is generally meant to inform consumers of a given product or service, marketers often also resort to emotions to appeal to consumers and raise awareness for their offering. Substantial research efforts have been interested in emotional advertising and its impact on consumers’ attitude formation. Ideally, the ad evokes the desired emotional response from consumers, although real-world examples have initiated adverse feedback. While existing research focuses on the emotions elicited in consumers, we investigate how advertisers have expressed emotions in their print advertisements over the past century. Our sample consists of all issues of “The Economist” in the time period 1900 – 2014. We analyze both textual and visual cues provided in the ads, as well as the articles of the magazine to understand how the display of emotions has developed over time. Thereby, we consider how the emotion portrayed in ads and articles compares and whether it changes due to historical events. From a managerial perspective, our study predicts to what extent the emotions of ads and articles are synchronized with the general societal sentiment

Persuasion in advertisements over time

In its original essence, advertising might just be the provision of factual information on product attributes. Instead, an alternative view sees advertising as persuasion, altering consumer tastes, increasing perceived product differentiation and consumer loyalty, and enhancing willingness to pay. Research defines three different modes of persuasion that should be combined and balanced to create consumer appeal. First, ethos refers to credibility, convincing consumers that the advertising brand is trustworthy, reliable, and superior. Second, pathos considers consumer feelings and emotions, attempting to elicit them to create a connection with the viewers. Finally, logos incorporates logic and reason, using facts and data to appeal to consumer minds. Existing work has considered topics such as the use of emotions dependent on product category or the combative nature of advertising. Different streams focusing on the varying views of advertising have developed. However, little research has analyzed the combined use of credibility, emotions, and information in firms’ advertising. This study empirically explores how advertisers have varied in their use of information and persuasion in print ads over the past century. The data set consists of all issues of “The Economist” in the time period 1900 – 2014. We analyze both textual and visual cues provided in the ads to understand how the methods of appealing to consumers have changed over time. From a managerial perspective, our study predicts to what extent the relative use of credibility, emotion and information is related to general societal trends

Towards trustworthy self-optimization for distributed systems

Abstract. The increasing complexity of computer-based technical systems requires new ways to control them. The initiatives Organic Computing and Autonomic Computing address exactly this issue. They demand future computer systems to adapt dynamically and autonomously to their environment and postulate so-called self-* properties. These are typically based on decentralized autonomous cooperation of the system's entities. Trust can be used as a means to enhance cooperation schemes taking into account trust facets such as reliability. The contributions of this paper are algorithms to manage and query trust information. It is shown how such information can be used to improve self-* algorithms. To quantify our approach evaluations have been conducted

Winning parachain auctions: Which impact has marketing on acquiring funds from crowdlenders?

Winning Parachain Auctions: Which impact has marketing on acquiring funds from crowdlenders

New Function for an Old Enzyme: NEP Deficient Mice Develop Late-Onset Obesity

BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there is a pandemic of obesity with approximately 300 million people being obese. Typically, human obesity has a polygenetic causation. Neutral endopeptidase (NEP), also known as neprilysin, is considered to be one of the key enzymes in the metabolism of many active peptide hormones. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: An incidental observation in NEP-deficient mice was a late-onset excessive gain in body weight exclusively from a ubiquitous accumulation of fat tissue. In accord with polygenetic human obesity, mice were characterized by deregulation of lipid metabolism, higher blood glucose levels, with impaired glucose tolerance. The key role of NEP in determining body mass was confirmed by the use of the NEP inhibitor candoxatril in wild-type mice that increased body weight due to increased food intake. This is a peripheral and not a central NEP action on the switch for appetite control, since candoxatril cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. Furthermore, we demonstrated that inhibition of NEP in mice with cachexia delayed rapid body weight loss. Thus, lack in NEP activity, genetically or pharmacologically, leads to a gain in body fat. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In the present study, we have identified NEP to be a crucial player in the development of obesity. NEP-deficient mice start to become obese under a normocaloric diet in an age of 6-7 months and thus are an ideal model for the typical human late-onset obesity. Therefore, the described obesity model is an ideal tool for research on development, molecular mechanisms, diagnosis, and therapy of the pandemic obesity

673. Study of Prescribing patterns and Effectiveness of Ceftolozane/Tazobactam Real-world Analysis (SPECTRA): Results from a multi-national, multicenter observational study

Abstract Background Ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) has demonstrated efficacy to treat complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI), complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI) and hospital acquired bacterial and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia. However, physicians, providers, and other stakeholders including payers want broader real-world evidence to inform clinical decisions and optimize healthcare resource use. Methods SPECTRA is a multi-national, multicenter, retrospective, inpatient, observational study of patients treated with C/T in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and The United Kingdom. Adult inpatients treated with ≥48 hours of C/T were included. Demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment management patterns, and outcomes were analyzed. Results There were 687 patients from 38 participating hospitals in 7 countries. The average age was 57.6 years (±17.3 [SD]) and most were male 456 (66.4%). The majority had at least one comorbidity 563 (82.0%), with the most common being heart disease 208 (30.3%), immunocompromised state 207 (30.1%) and chronic pulmonary disease 195 (28.4%). The most common indications were pneumonia 204 (29.7%), sepsis 147 (21.4%), and cIAI 106 (15.4%); 162 (23.6%) had multiple sites of infection and 245 (35.7%) were polymicrobial infections. Median C/T treatment was 12.0 days (11.0 [IQR]). Half of the patients were admitted to the ICU 343 (49.9%), 43.4% of which was related to the infection. Clinical success was 66.1%. All-cause in-hospital mortality was 22.0% with 8.7% being infection related. 30-day all-cause readmission was 9.8% and 4.7% were infection related. Conclusion C/T was used to treat infections among critically ill patients and for multi-source, polymicrobial infections. Despite the complexity of the patients in this real-world analysis, most C/T patients had beneficial outcomes that are similar to results of controlled clinical trials. Disclosures Alex Soriano, MD, MSD, Pfizer, Shionogi, Angelini, Menarini, Gilead: Honoraria Laura A. Puzniak, MPH, PhD, Merck & Co., Inc.: former employee and stockholder David Paterson, MBBS, Accelerate: Honoraria|bioMerieux: Honoraria|Entasis: Advisor/Consultant|Janssen-Cilag: Grant/Research Support|MSD: Advisor/Consultant|MSD: Grant/Research Support|MSD: Honoraria|Pfizer: Grant/Research Support|Pfizer: Honoraria|PPD: Grant/Research Support|Shionogi: Grant/Research Support|VenatoRx: Advisor/Consultant Stefan Kluge, MD, Astrazeneca: Lecture fees|Biotest: Lecture fees|Cytosorbents: Grant/Research Support|Cytosorbents: Lecture fees|Daiichi Sankyo: Grant/Research Support|Daiichi Sankyo: Lecture fees|Fresenius Medical Care: Advisor/Consultant|Fresenius Medical Care: Lecture fees|Gilead: Advisor/Consultant|Gilead: Lecture fees|Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma: Lecture fees|MSD: Advisor/Consultant|MSD: Lecture fees|Pfizer: Advisor/Consultant|Pfizer: Lecture fees|Phillips: Lecture fees|Zoll: Lecture fees Alexandre H. Watanabe, PharmD, Merck & Co., Inc.: Employee Engels N. Obi, PhD, Merck & Co., Inc.: Employee|Merck & Co., Inc.: Stocks/Bonds Sunny Kaul, BSc, MBChB, PHD, FRCP, FFICM, Chiesi: Speaker fees|Gilead: Speaker fees|GlaxoSmithKline: Speaker fees|MSD: Grant/Research Support|MSD: Speaker fees|Shionogi: Speaker fees|Vifor Pharma: Grant/Research Support

Standardized Diagnostics Including PET-CT Imaging, Bilateral Tonsillectomy and Neck Dissection Followed by Risk-Adapted Post-Operative Treatment Favoring Radio-Chemotherapy Improve Survival of Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Patients

Background: About five to 10% of cancers in the head and neck region are neck squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary (NSCCUP). Their diagnosis and treatment are challenging given the risk of missing occult tumors and potential relapse. Recently, we described human papillomavirus (HPV)-related NSCCUP-patients (NSCCUP-P) as a subgroup with superior survival. However, standardized diagnostic workup, novel diagnostic procedures, decision-making in the multidisciplinary tumor board (MDTB) and multimodal therapy including surgery and post-operative radio-chemotherapy (PORCT) may also improve survival. Methods: For assessing the impact of standardized diagnostic processes simultaneously established with the MDTB on outcome, we split our sample of 115 NSCCUP-P into two cohorts treated with curative intent from 1988 to 2006 (cohort 1; n = 53) and 2007 to 2018 (cohort 2; n = 62). We compared diagnostic processes and utilized treatment modalities applying Chi-square tests, and outcome by Kaplan–Meier plots and Cox regression. Results: In cohort 2, the standardized processes (regular use of [18F]-FDG-PET-CT imaging followed by examination under anesthesia, EUA, bilateral tonsillectomy and neck dissection, ND, at least of the affected site) improved detection of primaries (P = 0.026) mostly located in the oropharynx (P = 0.001). From 66.0 to 87.1% increased ND frequency (P = 0.007) increased the detection of extracapsular extension of neck nodes (ECE+) forcing risk factor-adapted treatment by increased utilization of cisplatin-based PORCT that improved 5-years progression-free and overall survival from 60.4 and 45.3 to 67.7% (P = 0.411) and 66.1% (P = 0.025). Conclusions: Standardized diagnostic workup followed by ND and risk-factor adapted therapy improves survival of NSCCUP-P