Experimenting in the Material World and on Paper in sixteenth-century France

Hands-on experimentation did not begin in the natural scientific laboratory of the nineteenth century; it is instead a characteristic part of craft processes wherever and whenever they have been carried out – whether the bronze hearths of the pre-historic Near East, the furniture ateliers of the Ancien Régime, or in the kilns of the Saintonge, where Bernard Palissy labored so hard to imitate porcelain. A contemporary manuscript, BnF Ms. Fr. 640, gives remarkable insight into this constant experimentation of the artisan in the workshop. It also highlights the experimentation on paper that Palissy and other craftspeople engaged in during the sixteenth century.La démarche expérimentale ne commence pas dans les laboratoires scientifiques du xixe siècle, mais fait partie intégrante du processus de création quel que soit le lieu ou l’époque où il est mené, qu’il s’agisse des foyers de bronziers du Proche-Orient préhistorique, des ateliers d’ébénistes de l’Ancien Régime ou des fours de la Saintonge, où Bernard Palissy poursuivit ses efforts pour imiter la porcelaine. Un manuscrit de cette époque (BnF Ms. Fr. 640) apporte un remarquable éclairage sur cette expérimentation constante de l’artisan au sein de son atelier. Il souligne également l’importance de l’expérimentation sur papier dont témoignent les écrits de Palissy et d’autres artisans du xvie siècle

A Digital Neuromorphic Architecture Efficiently Facilitating Complex Synaptic Response Functions Applied to Liquid State Machines

Information in neural networks is represented as weighted connections, or synapses, between neurons. This poses a problem as the primary computational bottleneck for neural networks is the vector-matrix multiply when inputs are multiplied by the neural network weights. Conventional processing architectures are not well suited for simulating neural networks, often requiring large amounts of energy and time. Additionally, synapses in biological neural networks are not binary connections, but exhibit a nonlinear response function as neurotransmitters are emitted and diffuse between neurons. Inspired by neuroscience principles, we present a digital neuromorphic architecture, the Spiking Temporal Processing Unit (STPU), capable of modeling arbitrary complex synaptic response functions without requiring additional hardware components. We consider the paradigm of spiking neurons with temporally coded information as opposed to non-spiking rate coded neurons used in most neural networks. In this paradigm we examine liquid state machines applied to speech recognition and show how a liquid state machine with temporal dynamics maps onto the STPU-demonstrating the flexibility and efficiency of the STPU for instantiating neural algorithms.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Figures, Preprint of 2017 IJCN

Takayasu arteritis presenting as cerebral aneurysms in an 18 month old: A case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Central nervous system involvement occurs in as many as twenty percent of Takayasu arteritis cases. When central nervous system disease is present, it typically manifests as cerebral ischemia or stroke. There are rare reports of intracranial aneurysms in adults with Takayasu arteritis, but none in children.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We describe a case of Takayasu arteritis in an 18 month old girl who presented with a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Full body magnetic resonance angiography revealed bilateral iliac, pelvic and intragluteal aneurysms, irregular terminal aorta, and stenotic renal arteries. Iliac vessel biopsy showed a lymphocytic infiltrate and giant cells localized to the internal elastica.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case highlights cerebral aneurysm as a highly unusual initial manifestation of Takayasu arteritis and demonstrates the challenges of diagnosis, treatment, and assessment of response to therapy in TA in children.</p

Integration of the CMS regional calorimeter Trigger hardware into the CMS level-1 Trigger

The electronics for the Regional Calorimeter Trigger (RCT) of the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment (CMS) have been produced and tested. The RCT hardware consists of 18 double-sided crates containing custom boards, ASICs, and backplanes. The RCT receives 8-bit energies and a data quality bit from the HCAL and ECAL Trigger Primitive Generators (TPGs) and sends it to the CMS Global Calorimeter Trigger (GCT) after processing. Before installation, integration tests were performed. Data was successfully received from the TPG electronics and read out with a RCT Jet Capture Card. These tests, other tests involving more trigger subsystems, their results, and the RCT installation will be described

Ultraviolet Signposts of Resonant Dynamics in the Starburst-Ringed Sab Galaxy, M94 (NGC 4736)

M94 (NGC 4736) is investigated using images from the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (FUV-band), Hubble Space Telescope (NUV-band), Kitt Peak 0.9-m telescope (H-alpha, R, and I bands), and Palomar 5-m telescope (B-band), along with spectra from the International Ultraviolet Explorer and Lick 1-m telescopes. The wide-field UIT image shows FUV emission from (a) an elongated nucleus, (b) a diffuse inner disk, where H-alpha is observed in absorption, (c) a bright inner ring of H II regions at the perimeter of the inner disk (R = 48 arcsec. = 1.1 kpc), and (d) two 500-pc size knots of hot stars exterior to the ring on diametrically opposite sides of the nucleus (R= 130 arcsec. = 2.9 kpc). The HST/FOC image resolves the NUV emission from the nuclear region into a bright core and a faint 20 arcsec. long ``mini-bar'' at a position angle of 30 deg. Optical and IUE spectroscopy of the nucleus and diffuse inner disk indicates an approximately 10^7 or 10^8 yr-old stellar population from low-level starbirth activity blended with some LINER activity. Analysis of the H-alpha, FUV, NUV, B, R, and I-band emission along with other observed tracers of stars and gas in M94 indicates that most of the star formation is being orchestrated via ring-bar dynamics involving the nuclear mini-bar, inner ring, oval disk, and outer ring. The inner starburst ring and bi-symmetric knots at intermediate radius, in particular, argue for bar-mediated resonances as the primary drivers of evolution in M94 at the present epoch. Similar processes may be governing the evolution of the ``core-dominated'' galaxies that have been observed at high redshift. The gravitationally-lensed ``Pretzel Galaxy'' (0024+1654) at a redshift of approximately 1.5 provides an important precedent in this regard.Comment: revised figure 1 (corrected coordinate labels on declination axis); 19 pages of text + 19 figures (jpg files); accepted for publication in A

High‐Throughput Screen of Natural Product Extracts in A Yeast Model of Polyglutamine Proteotoxicity

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106714/1/cbdd12259.pd

The Grizzly, January 29, 1982

Two Alumni Join Administration • So Much, POD, in College Bowl Finals • Hermann Eilts on The Middle East • College Receives $500,000 • Teachers Audition For EC/BA Positions • Honor Societies Meet to Discuss Future Plans • Union Undergoes Attractive Renovations • Evening School Expands • Spiritwood Returns for Coffeehouse • German Students Sample American College Life • Mozart Concert to Conclude Winterfest! • Myrin Exhibits Storybook Etchings • Collegeville Claustrophobia? • Schaff Plagued With Repeated Break-ins • Forums, Forums, Forums • Mens Basketball Has Good Vacation • Gymnasts\u27 Work Pays Off • Badminton Opens Season With Temple • Grapplers Impressive in Latest Victories • Hoopsters Lose to Widener • Karas Resigns; New Coach Expected Soon • Widener Drownshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1070/thumbnail.jp

In Defense of Consciousness: The Role of Conscious and Unconscious Inputs in Consumer Choice

Three experiments demonstrate that the same primed construct (e.g., a formal event) has different effects on the subsequent choices of different groups of people (e.g., men and women). Further, these differences in prime effects are attributable to the different associations these groups have with the primed construct. These effects are demonstrated with three different primes and choice domains, and differences in effects are shown with both demographic (e.g., gender) and personality (e.g., extraversion) characteristics. These results highlight the importance of understanding unique, personal associations to primes and demonstrate that segmentation is also important for predicting more automatically driven choices. [url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/12797/volumes/v34/NA-34 [copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. 155 Advances in Consumer Research Volume 34, © 2007 SPECIAL SESSION SUMMARY From First to Second Generation: Moderated Nonconscious Behavior Effects Christian Wheeler, Stanford University, USA SESSION SUMMARY Consumer behavior researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the variety of nonconscious influences on behavior (e.g., The first presentation, by Wheeler and Berger, shows that the same prime can have different, and sometimes opposite effects on choice, depending on the unique personal associations recipients have with the prime. Across three experiments and using both demographic and individual difference segmentation variables, they show that the effects of primes on choices of different groups of people can be predicted by understanding their personal prime associations. The experiments further demonstrate that the differential priming effects are be mediated by the unique personal associations the recipients have with the prime. The second presentation, by Dalton and Chartrand, examines how exposure to relationship partners affects goal pursuit. Whereas previous research has demonstrated that exposure to relationship partners leads to pursuit of the goals they have for the prime recipient, the current studies show that these effects can be reversed. The first study shows that accessibility of overly controlling relationship partners actually leads to pursuit of goals incompatible with those the relationship partner has for recipients, presumably in an attempt to restore personal freedom. The second study lends additional evidence for this account by showing that low reactance individuals pursue the goals of salient relationship partners, but high reactance individuals do not. Hence, reactance can automatically moderate nonconscious goal pursuit and can manifest both as a function of prime targets and individual differences. The final presentation, by Smeesters, Wheeler, and Kay, examines direction of focus as a moderator of whether primes will affect behavior via perceptions of others or more directly. They hypothesized that when features promote focus on other individuals in the situation, perceptions of those individuals will be biased by activated constructs, and changes in behavior will be mediated by such perceptions. When features promote self-focus, on the other hand, behavioral changes will not be mediated by perceptions of other people. Across a series of studies, and using both manipulations and measurements of self-focus vs. other-focus, they supported these hypotheses. Their studies show that primes can generate the same effects on economic decisions, but via different mechanisms, depending on the level of other focus. References EXTENDED ABSTRACTS &quot;Same Prime, Different Effects: Segmentation in Nonconscious Behavior Influence&quot; S. Christian Wheeler, Stanford University Jonah Berger, Stanford University Segmentation has long been recognized as a critical procedure in influencing consumer behavior. The varying needs, wants, experiences, and psychological characteristics of different consumer groups require individualized marketing attempts tailored to these subsets of people. Although the need for segmentation has been widely acknowledged for traditional marketing campaigns, the importance of segmentation for more non-conscious influence attempts has not been recognized. Indeed, one part of the power of such influence techniques is the assumed potential for them to influence different people in similar ways. Because such influence techniques rely on basic associative processes, it has been implicitly assumed that stimuli should exert consistent effects across different types of people. In the present experiments, we demonstrate that the same primes can exert different, and sometimes opposite effects on recipients, depending on the unique personal associations they have to the primed stimulus. Much as unique experiences and associations can affect responses to more deliberate influence attempts, we show that they can also affect less overt influences. Across three studies, and using both demographic and individual difference segmentation variables, we show that different subgroups of consumers exhibit predictable differences in their responses to primes. Specifically, we show that primes can significantly affect consumer choice, but that the effects differ across subgroups of individuals who tend to have different prime associations. The first experiment used the domain of clothing shopping. Pretests indicated that men and women have different shopping associations. Whereas men tend to be more &quot;purpose-driven&quot; or pragmatic and efficient, women tend to be more &quot;possibilitydriven&quot; and browse just to see what is out there. We predicted that these different tendencies, once activated, would influence participants&apos; subsequent choices in an unrelated task. Thus in the main experiment, men and women were randomly assigned to write about either clothes shopping or a control topic (i.e. geography). / From First to Second Generation: Moderated Nonconscious Behavior Effects Then in an ostensibly unrelated study they were asked to make a series of hypothetical choices, some of which between more &quot;purpose-driven&quot; and &quot;possibility-driven&quot; options (e.g., driving a direct route cross-country vs. taking the scenic route). Results indicated that the effect of the prime on subsequent choices differed based on participants&apos; gender; writing about shopping (versus geography) led women to make more possibility-driven choices in the subsequent context whereas it led men to make more purpose-driven choices. The second experiment used the domain of formal events. Pretests indicated that when attending a formal event, men have a goal to dress rather similar to others, whereas women have a goal to dress rather differently from others. Thus in the main experiment, men and women were instructed to write about attending a formal event (or geography) before choosing between different products. Results again indicated different effects of the prime based on gender; women who wrote about the formal event (versus geography) subsequently chose more unique items whereas men who wrote about the formal event tended to choose more common items. In the final experiment, introverts and extroverts were instructed to write about attending a party (or geography) before selecting different items they would like to receive in a drawing. Previous research has demonstrated that introverts and extroverts have different optimal levels of arousal. Introverts are aroused more easily than extroverts. As a result, they prefer lower-arousal situations and tend to be more easily over-aroused than extroverts. Consequently we predicted that thinking about a party would affect the subsequent choice of introverts and extraverts differently; introverts should be subsequently more likely to choose more lowarousal prizes, consistent with their desire to lower arousal at parties, whereas extroverts should be less affected by the prime. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Further, additional analyses showed that these different effects were mediated by the different associations (i.e. level of stimulation) that introverts and extroverts have with parties

Absence of system xc⁻ on immune cells invading the central nervous system alleviates experimental autoimmune encephalitis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS), leading to neurodegeneration and chronic disability. Accumulating evidence points to a key role for neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and excitotoxicity in this degenerative process. System x(c)- or the cystine/glutamate antiporter could tie these pathological mechanisms together: its activity is enhanced by reactive oxygen species and inflammatory stimuli, and its enhancement might lead to the release of toxic amounts of glutamate, thereby triggering excitotoxicity and neurodegeneration. Methods: Semi-quantitative Western blotting served to study protein expression of xCT, the specific subunit of system x(c)-, as well as of regulators of xCT transcription, in the normal appearing white matter (NAWM) of MS patients and in the CNS and spleen of mice exposed to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an accepted mouse model of MS. We next compared the clinical course of the EAE disease, the extent of demyelination, the infiltration of immune cells and microglial activation in xCT-knockout (xCT(-/-)) mice and irradiated mice reconstituted in xCT(-/-) bone marrow (BM), to their proper wild type (xCT(+/+)) controls. Results: xCT protein expression levels were upregulated in the NAWM of MS patients and in the brain, spinal cord, and spleen of EAE mice. The pathways involved in this upregulation in NAWM of MS patients remain unresolved. Compared to xCT(+/+) mice, xCT(-/-) mice were equally susceptible to EAE, whereas mice transplanted with xCT(-/-) BM, and as such only exhibiting loss of xCT in their immune cells, were less susceptible to EAE. In none of the above-described conditions, demyelination, microglial activation, or infiltration of immune cells were affected. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate enhancement of xCT protein expression in MS pathology and suggest that system x(c)- on immune cells invading the CNS participates to EAE. Since a total loss of system x(c)- had no net beneficial effects, these results have important implications for targeting system x(c)- for treatment of MS