“Facebook Style”: The use of non-standard features in virtual speech conditioned by the medium Facebook

Facebook is a medium of social interaction producing its own style. I study how users from Malaga create this style through phonic features of the local variety and how they reflect on the use of these features. I then analyse the use of non-standard features by users from Malaga and compare them to an oral corpus. Results demonstrate that social factors work differently in real and virtual speech. Facebook communication is seen as a style serving to create social meaning and to express linguistic identity.

Influence of temperature of incubation and type of growth medium on pigmentation in Serratia marcescens.

Maximal amounts of prodigiosin were synthesized in either minimal or complete medium after incubation of cultures at 27 C for 7 days. Biosynthesis of prodigiosin began earlier and the range of temperature for formation was greater in complete medium. No prodigiosin was formed in either medium when cultures were incubated at 38 C; however, after a shift to 27 C, pigmentation ensued, provided the period of incubation at 38 C was not longer than 36 hr for minimal medium or 48 hr for complete medium. Washed, nonpigmented cells grown in either medium at 38 C for 72 hr could synthesize prodigiosin when suspended in saline at 27 C when casein hydrolysate was added. These suspensions produced less prodigiosin at a slower rate than did cultures growing in casein hydrolysate at 27 C without prior incubation at 38 C. Optimal concentration of casein hydrolysate for pigment formation by suspensions was 0.4%; optimal temperature was 27 C. Anaerobic incubation, shift back to 38 C, killing cells by heating, or chloramphenicol (25 mug/ml) inhibited pigmentation. Suspensions of washed cells forming pigment reached pH 8.0 to 8.3 rapidly and maintained this pH throughout incubation for 7 days. Measurements of viable count and of protein, plus other data, indicated that cellular multiplication did not occur in suspensions of washed cells during pigment formation. By this procedure utilizing a shift down in temperature, biosynthesis of prodigiosin by washed cells could be separated from multiplication of bacteria.

Comparison of stab wound probing versus radiological stab wound channel depiction with contrast medium

BACKGROUND Instillation of contrast medium into stab wounds has shown promising results regarding visibility and assessment of general stab direction with computed tomography. However, the accuracy of this method--and, incidentally also probing of stab wounds--has to our knowledge not previously been examined. Also the effect of bluntness of different stabbing objects on the examination of stab wounds was not considered before this study. METHODS Using a pocket-knife, a steak-knife, and a Phillips screwdriver, nine stab wounds each were inflicted to three pork haunches. The depths of the stab wounds were determined by probing and multislice computed tomography (MSCT) after instillation of a contrast medium (CM) and then compared to those observed by dissection, our internal "gold standard". RESULTS In stab wounds inflicted by knives, MSCT-CM and probing provided results which differed by roughly 10-11% from the dissection results. In screwdriver stabs MSCT-CM showed a deviation of almost 30%, probing over 33%. DISCUSSION MSCT-CM is a possible alternative to layer-by-layer dissection in autopsy cases of knife stab wounds. Probing, although obsolete in post-mortem examinations, is sufficiently accurate in determining the length of a stab wound of a living person. In cases of stab wounds with blunt objects such as screwdrivers, neither MSCT-CM nor probing proved to be sufficiently accurate. CONCLUSION MSCT-CM is a possible alternative to layer-by-layer dissection in autopsy cases of knife stab wounds. Probing, although obsolete in post-mortem examinations, is sufficiently accurate in determining the length of a stab wound of a living person. In cases of stab wounds with blunt objects such as screwdrivers, neither MSCT-CM nor probing proved to be sufficiently accurate.

Doppler sonography of the medial arterial blood supply to the coxofemoral joints of 36 medium to large breed dogs and its relationship with radiographic signs of joint disease.

The medial arterial supply to 68 of the 72 coxofemoral joints of 36 medium to large breed dogs was examined ultrasonographically. The medial circumflex femoral artery and three branches were identified; the artery and its transverse branch were identified in all 68 joints, and the deep branch was identified in 61 joints, and the ascending branch was identified in 63. However, the acetabular and obturator branches were not identified. The pulsatility index, the mean velocity and the peak systolic velocity of the medial circumflex femoral artery were determined and associated with a radiographic score of degenerative coxofemoral joint disease and a lath distraction index (LDI). In joints with a LDI greater than 0.35, the pulsatility index was significantly lower (P=0.023) and its mean velocity was higher (P=0.005). However, no significant associations were observed in individual dogs when the measurements in both joints were taken into account.

Innovations in Small and Medium-Sized Family Firms

Small and medium-sized firms are a prevalent organizational form in Germany. Their importance for the German economy is indisputable. Most of them are global market leaders in their niches and are considered to be a force for innovation in the German economy. The ability to be innovative in niche markets has been identified as the antecedent of their strong, or even dominant, competitive positions in their industries. The driver of this innovation success may well be the family, which distinguishes family firms from non-family firms. Nils Kraiczy analyzes if a family influences innovation in a family firm and if this influence has only positive effects. The dissertation focuses on the impact of top management teams on innovations interacting with family firm-specific characteristics. The author shows the complexity of family influence by presenting different effects of each investigated family firm-specific characteristic on the relationship between top management team behavior and innovation.

Lattice NRQCD study of in-medium bottomonium states using Nf = 2+1, 48³ × 12 HotQCD configurations

The behavior of bottomonium state correlators at non-zero temperature, 140.4(β = 6.664) ≤ T ≤ 221(β = 7.280) (MeV), where the transition temperature is 154(9) (MeV), is studied, using lattice NRQCD on 48³ ×12 HotQCD HiSQ action configurations with light dynamical Nf = 2+1 (mu,s/ms = 0.05) staggered quarks. In order to understand finite temperature effects on quarkonium states, zero temperature behavior of bottomonium correlators is compared based on 32⁴ (β = 6.664,6.800 and 6.950) and 48³ ×64 (β = 7.280) lattices. We find that temperature effects on S-wave bottomoniumstates are small but P-wave bottomoniumstates show a noticeable temperature dependence above the transition temperature.

Proteomic analysis of porcine bone-conditioned medium.

PURPOSE Autografts are considered to support bone regeneration. Paracrine factors released from cortical bone might contribute to the overall process of graft consolidation. The aim of this study was to characterize the paracrine factors by means of proteomic analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bone-conditioned medium (BCM) was prepared from fresh bone chips of porcine mandibles and subjected to proteomic analysis. Proteins were categorized and clustered using the bioinformatic tools UNIPROT and PANTHER, respectively. RESULTS Proteomic analysis showed that BCM contains more than 150 proteins, of which 43 were categorized into "secreted" and "extracellular matrix." Growth factors that are not only detectable in BCM, but potentially also target cellular processes involved in bone regeneration, eg, pleiotrophin, galectin-1, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)-induced gene (TGFBI), lactotransferrin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein 5, latency-associated peptide forming a complex with TGF-β1, and TGF-β2, were discovered. CONCLUSION The present results demonstrate that cortical bone chips release a large spectrum of proteins with the possibility of modulating cellular aspects of bone regeneration. The data provide the basis for future studies to understand how these paracrine factors may contribute to the complex process of graft consolidation.

Activation of intervertebral disc cells by co-culture with notochordal cells, conditioned medium and hypoxia

Notochordal cells (NC) remain in the focus of research for regenerative therapy for the degenerated intervertebral disc (IVD) due to their progenitor status. Recent findings suggested their regenerative action on more mature disc cells, presumably by the secretion of specific factors, which has been described as notochordal cell conditioned medium (NCCM). The aim of this study was to determine NC culture conditions (2D/3D, fetal calf serum, oxygen level) that lead to significant IVD cell activation in an indirect co-culture system under normoxia and hypoxia (2% oxygen).

Facebook style: The use of non-standard features in virtual speech conditioned by the medium Facebook

Over the last few years Facebook has become a widespread and continuously expanding medium of communication. Being a new medium of social interaction, Facebook produces its own communication style. My focus of analysis is how Facebook users from the city of Malaga create this style by means of phonic features typical of the Andalusian variety and how the users reflect on the use of these phonic features. This project is based on a theoretical framework which combines variationist sociolinguistics with CMC to study the emergence of a style peculiar of the online social networks. In a corpus of Facebook users from three zones of Malaga, I have analysed the use of non-standard phonic features and then compared them with the same features in a reference corpus collected on three beaches of Malaga. From this comparison it can be deduced that the analysed social and linguistic factors work differently in real and virtual speech. Due to these different uses we can consider the peculiar electronic communication of Facebook as a style constrained by the electronic medium. It is a style which serves the users to create social meaning and to express their linguistic identities.