среда, 31 октября 2012 г.

Games

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Bridge column, October 31: Remember to count from the bidding

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:25 AM PDT

Diane Duane, a science-fiction and fantasy writer, said, "What I try to do for my readers is to pass on some of the things that I found out about being 13 after doing it for 40 years." What I try to do for my readers is to pass on some of the things I found out from about the age of 15, after doing them now for more years than I can count! However, ... (more)

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IJERPH, Vol. 9, Pages 3954-3964: Perinatal Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Enhances Susceptibility to Viral and Secondary Bacterial Infections

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Studies suggest childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) leads to increased incidence of infections of the lower respiratory tract. The objective of this study was to determine whether perinatal exposure to ETS increases the incidence, morbidity and severity of respiratory influenza infection and whether a secondary bacterial challenge at the peak of a pre-existing viral infection creates an enhanced host-pathogen susceptibility to an opportunistic infection. Timed-pregnant female Balb/c mice were exposed to either ETS for 6 h/day, 7 d/week beginning on gestation day 14 and continuing with the neonates to 6 weeks of age. Control animals were exposed to filtered air (FA). At the end of exposure, mice were intranasally inoculated with a murine-adapted influenza A. One week later, an intranasal inoculation of S. aureus bacteria was administered. The respective treatment groups were: bacteria only, virus only or virus+bacteria for both FA and ETS-exposed animals for a total of six treatment groups. Animal behavior and body weights were documented daily following infection. Mice were necropsied 1-day post-bacterial infection. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cell analysis demonstrated perinatal exposure to ETS, compared to FA, leads to delayed but enhanced clinical symptoms and enhanced total cell influx into the lungs associated with viral infection followed by bacterial challenge. Viral infection significantly increases the number of neutrophils entering the lungs following bacterial challenge with either FA or ETS exposure, while the influx of lymphocytes and monocytes is significantly enhanced only by perinatal ETS exposure. There is a significant increase in peribronchiolar inflammation following viral infection in pups exposed to ETS compared with pups exposed to FA, but no change is noted in the degree of lung injury between FA and ETS-exposed animals following bacterial challenge. The data suggests perinatal exposure to ETS alters the response of neonates to the timing and severity of infection as well as ETS alters the pattern of inflammation and cellular influx into the lungs due to viral and bacterial infection.

Diversity, Vol. 4, Pages 375-395: The Effect of Tillage System and Crop Rotation on Soil Microbial Diversity and Composition in a Subtropical Acrisol

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Agricultural management alters physical and chemical soil properties, which directly affects microbial life strategies and community composition. The microbial community drives important nutrient cycling processes that can influence soil quality, cropping productivity and environmental sustainability. In this research, a long-term agricultural experiment in a subtropical Acrisol was studied in south Brazil. The plots at this site represent two tillage systems, two nitrogen fertilization regimes and three crop rotation systems. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, the archaeal and bacterial composition was determined from phylum to species level in the different plot treatments. The relative abundance of these taxes was correlated with measured soil properties. The P, Mg, total organic carbon, total N and mineral N were significantly higher in the no-tillage system. The microbial diversity was higher in the no-tillage system at order, family, genus and species level. In addition, overall microbial composition changed significantly between conventional tillage and no-tillage systems. Anaerobic bacteria, such as clostridia, dominate in no-tilled soil as well as anaerobic methanogenic archaea, which were detected only in the no-tillage system. Microbial diversity was higher in plots in which only cereals (oat and maize) were grown. Soil management influenced soil biodiversity on Acrisol by change of composition and abundance of individual species.

Crystals, Vol. 2, Pages 1492-1501: Crystal Structures of 1-Hydroxyimidazole and Its Salts

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The crystal structures of 1-hydroxyimidazole and four protic salts (chloride, bromide, sulfate, nitrate) thereof were determined. The molecular geometries (bond lengths and angles) of the free base and the salts were compared. Hydrogen bonding patterns were studied, and OH…N, OH…Cl, OH…Br, OH…O, NH…Cl, NH…Br, and NH…O interactions were identified. Hirshfeld surface analysis gave quantitative insight into these interactions.

Brain Sciences, Vol. 2, Pages 573-588: Cocaine-Induced Reinstatement of a Conditioned Place Preference in Developing Rats: Involvement of the D2 Receptor

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Reinstatement of conditioned place preferences have been used to investigate physiological mechanisms mediating drug-seeking behavior in adolescent and adult rodents; however, it is still unclear how psychostimulant exposure during adolescence affects neuron communication and whether these changes would elicit enhanced drug-seeking behavior later in adulthood. The present study determined whether the effects of intra-ventral tegmental area (VTA) or intra-nucleus accumbens septi (NAcc) dopamine (DA) D2 receptor antagonist infusions would block (or potentiate) cocaine-induced reinstatement of conditioned place preferences. Adolescent rats (postnatal day (PND 28–39)) were trained to express a cocaine place preference. The involvement of D2 receptors on cocaine-induced reinstatement was determined by intra-VTA or intra-NAcc infusion of the DA D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride (100 μM) during a cocaine-primed reinstatement test (10 mg/kg cocaine, i.p.). Infusion of sulpiride into the VTA but not the NAcc blocked reinstatement of conditioned place preference. These data suggest intrinsic compensatory mechanisms in the mesolimbic DA pathway mediate responsivity to cocaine-induced reinstatement of a conditioned place preference during development.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14630-14646: RSBP: A Reliable Slotted Broadcast Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

In wireless sensor networks for monitoring and control applications, a sink node needs to disseminate messages to all nodes to acquire monitoring data or to control the operation of sensor nodes. The basic flooding protocol suffers from low transmission reliability in broadcasting messages due to the hidden terminal problem. Besides, it can cause the broadcast storm problem by having many nodes rebroadcast the received message simultaneously. In order to resolve these problems while minimizing energy consumption in delivery of broadcast messages, we propose a reliable slotted broadcast protocol (RSBP) that allocates broadcast time slots to nodes based on their slot demands and then allows every node to transmit its broadcast message within the allocated slots. Then, every node can broadcast messages safely in a contention-free manner. Moreover, RSBP can be deployed easily since it does not have any specific requirements such as GPS, multi-channels and directional antennas that may not be always available in real scenarios. We show by experimental study that RSBP significantly outperforms other broadcast protocols in terms of safety-critical packet delivery and energy consumption.

Sensors, Vol. 12, Pages 14612-14629: iParking: An Intelligent Indoor Location-Based Smartphone Parking Service

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Indoor positioning technologies have been widely studied with a number of solutions being proposed, yet substantial applications and services are still fairly primitive. Taking advantage of the emerging concept of the connected car, the popularity of smartphones and mobile Internet, and precise indoor locations, this study presents the development of a novel intelligent parking service called iParking. With the iParking service, multiple parties such as users, parking facilities and service providers are connected through Internet in a distributed architecture. The client software is a light-weight application running on a smartphone, and it works essentially based on a precise indoor positioning solution, which fuses Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) signals and the measurements of the built-in sensors of the smartphones. The positioning accuracy, availability and reliability of the proposed positioning solution are adequate for facilitating the novel parking service. An iParking prototype has been developed and demonstrated in a real parking environment at a shopping mall. The demonstration showed how the iParking service could improve the parking experience and increase the efficiency of parking facilities. The iParking is a novel service in terms of cost- and energy-efficient solution.

888poker Launches the $2,000,000 Super XL Series of Tournaments

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 02:20 AM PDT

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Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12812-12820: Antimycobacterial Assessment of Salicylanilide Benzoates including Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Strains

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The increasing emergence especially of drug-resistant tuberculosis has led to a strong demand for new anti-tuberculosis drugs. Eighteen salicylanilide benzoates were evaluated for their inhibition potential against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium and two strains of Mycobacterium kansasii; minimum inhibitory concentration values ranged from 0.5 to 16 μmol/L. The most active esters underwent additional biological assays. Four benzoates inhibited effectively the growth of five multidrug-resistant strains and one extensively drug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis at low concentrations (0.25–2 μmol/L) regardless of the resistance patterns. The highest rate of multidrug-resistant mycobacteria inhibition expressed 4-chloro-2-[4-(trifluoromethyl)-phenylcarbamoyl]phenyl benzoate (0.25–1 μmol/L). Unfortunately, the most potent esters were still considerably cytotoxic, although mostly less than their parent salicylanilides.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12804-12811: Bis-sulfonic Acid Ionic Liquids for the Conversion of Fructose to 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furfural

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Homogenous bis-sulfonic acid ionic liquids (1 mol equiv.) in DMSO (10 mol equiv.) at 100 °C efficiently mediated the conversion of D-fructose into 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural in 75% isolated yield, which was roughly a 10% increment compared to the case of the mono-sulfonic acid ionic liquids.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12792-12803: DNA as a Chiral Scaffold for Asymmetric Synthesis

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

DNA as a Chiral Scaffold for Asymmetric Synthesis

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12771-12791: Medicinal Plants: A Source of Anti-Parasitic Secondary Metabolites

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

This review summarizes human infections caused by endoparasites, including protozoa, nematodes, trematodes, and cestodes, which affect more than 30% of the human population, and medicinal plants of potential use in their treatment. Because vaccinations do not work in most instances and the parasites have sometimes become resistant to the available synthetic therapeutics, it is important to search for alternative sources of anti-parasitic drugs. Plants produce a high diversity of secondary metabolites with interesting biological activities, such as cytotoxic, anti-parasitic and anti-microbial properties. These drugs often interfere with central targets in parasites, such as DNA (intercalation, alkylation), membrane integrity, microtubules and neuronal signal transduction. Plant extracts and isolated secondary metabolites which can inhibit protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Trichomonas and intestinal worms are discussed. The identified plants and compounds offer a chance to develop new drugs against parasitic diseases. Most of them need to be tested in more detail, especially in animal models and if successful, in clinical trials.

Molecules, Vol. 17, Pages 12758-12770: Formation and Inhibition of Nε-(Carboxymethyl)lysine in Saccharide-Lysine Model Systems during Microwave Heating

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

 Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine (CML) is the most abundant advanced glycation end product (AGE), and frequently selected as an AGEs marker in laboratory studies. In this paper, the formation and inhibition of Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine in saccharide-lysine model systems during microwave heating have been studied. The microwave heating treatment significantly promoted the formation of CML during Maillard reactions, which was related to the reaction temperature, time and type of saccharide. The order of CML formation for different saccharides was lactose > glucose > sucrose. Then, the inhibition effect on CML by five inhibitors was further examined. According to the results, ascorbic acid and tocopherol did not affect inhibition of CML, in contrast, thiamin, rutin and quercetin inhibited CML formation, and the inhibitory effects were concentration dependent.

Education Sciences, Vol. 2, Pages 193-207: How Finnish Adolescents Understand History: Disciplinary Thinking in History and Its Assessment Among 16-Year-Old Finns

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The success of discipline-based teaching requires an interplay between substantive and procedural knowledge. In Finland, disciplinary thinking was included in the National Core Curriculum and in the final assessment criteria a decade ago, which meant a change in history teaching. The outcome of this change is examined in the article with the help of a national-level history test that was conducted in 2011 among 16-year-old Finns. In the test, the adolescents fared moderately well in tasks involving substantive knowledge but more poorly in tasks which measured the mastering of procedural knowledge. In particular, the interplay between these proved to be difficult for the students. The students’ knowledge was found to correspond with the earlier curriculum rather than the objectives of the present one, revealing that not all of the teachers were teaching in accordance with the present demands.

Toxins, Vol. 4, Pages 1058-1081: Comparative Antitumor Effect of Preventive versus Therapeutic Vaccines Employing B16 Melanoma Cells Genetically Modified to Express GM-CSF and B7.2 in a Murine Model

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:00 AM PDT

Cancer vaccines have always been a subject of gene therapy research. One of the most successful approaches has been working with genetically modified tumor cells. In this study, we describe our approach to achieving an immune response against a murine melanoma model, employing B16 tumor cells expressing GM-CSF and B7.2. Wild B16 cells were injected in C57BL6 mice to cause the tumor. Irradiated B16 cells transfected with GM-CSF, B7.2, or both, were processed as a preventive and therapeutic vaccination. Tumor volumes were measured and survival curves were obtained. Blood samples were taken from mice, and IgGs of each treatment group were also measured. The regulatory T cells (Treg) of selected groups were quantified using counts of images taken by confocal microscopy. Results: one hundred percent survival was achieved by preventive vaccination with the group of cells transfected with p2F_GM-CSF. Therapeutic vaccination achieved initial inhibition of tumor growth but did not secure overall survival of the animals. Classical Treg cells did not vary among the different groups in this therapeutic vaccination model.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate - Official Trailer

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:01 AM PDT

Here's the official trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate for Nintendo 3DS.

 

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate - Official Trailer" was posted by MikeTao on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:01:00 -0700

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Screens

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 12:01 AM PDT

7 new shots posted.

     

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Screens" was posted on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:01:00 -0700

Halo 4 devs speak out against sexism

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:03 PM PDT

343 Industries head Bonnie Ross and Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill say sexist behavior on Xbox Live is unacceptable; also say developers have a responsibility to wipe out sexism in the industry.

 

Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross have denounced sexist behavior on Xbox Live, revealing that Microsoft does its best to monitor and ban players who abuse others over the network.

Speaking to GameSpot, Ross and Wolfkill said there is zero tolerance for Xbox Live players who are found to be making sexist or discriminatory comments against others, with a lifetime ban from the network as penalty.

"I've seen many of the sites that have documented some of the more gender-specific slanderous comments," Ross said.

"This is behaviour that is offensive and completely unacceptable. I'd like to think most of our Xbox Live players don't support this kind of behaviour."

"It can be dangerous to give adolescents a broadcast mechanism," Wolfkill added. "There are always going to be jerks out there, and if you give them a way to express that side of their personality without being seen, you're going to see this type of behaviour manifest itself."

Ross and Wolfkill said that developers have a responsibility to stamp out this behaviour by putting more thought into how their games will be perceived.

"As developers, we have a personal responsibility to think about how our games come across," Ross said. "With Halo 4, we were very deliberate in thinking about who should be female and who should be male in the game, and if we came off stereotypical, we went back to question what we were doing and why."

Wolfkill agreed, saying that while games can often reflect the culture of the studio that's building them, the success or failure of games can also reflect consumer responsibility. Part of this responsibility includes changing perspectives about the games industry as an exclusively male-dominated area.

"Most people look at a franchise like Halo, and automatically assume it's run by a guy," Ross said. "People are surprised to learn that it's a woman who's running the Halo 4 show. When Microsoft created 343 Industries to take over Halo, I was given first choice to run the studio because I had proven myself. My gender played no part in it."

Halo 4 is due exclusively for Xbox 360 on November 6 worldwide. The game is a direct sequel to 2007's Halo 3, and is the first numbered entry in the series developed outside of Bungie Studios. It is the first instalment in the Reclaimer Trilogy, which will span Halo 5 and Halo 6.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Halo 4 devs speak out against sexism" was posted by Laura Parker on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:03:57 -0700

FIFA and Battlefield are EA's most profitable franchises

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 11:02 PM PDT

Online features and content downloads have made FIFA and Battlefield the two biggest revenue "events" in EA's history; EA's digital revenue up 40 percent year-on-year.

 

EA has revealed that its digital revenue has grown by 40 percent in its second fiscal quarter since the same period last year, thanks in large part to the content downloads offered for FIFA 13, Madden NFL 13, and Battlefield 3.

This week, the publisher posted its preliminary financial results for the second fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2012, in which EA president Frank Gibeau highlighted the company's strong digital growth and pointed to FIFA and Battlefield as EA's most profitable franchises.

"On the strength of our digital extensions, FIFA and Battlefield are the two biggest revenue events in our company's history," Gibeau said. "Both are well on their way to becoming billion dollar annual franchises."

The publisher also praised the performance of its sports titles, with EA CFO Blake Jorgensen revealing that the company is forecasting an annual growth of at least 25 percent with net revenues expected to reach approximately $4 billion by March 31, 2013.

According to the report, FIFA 13 and Madden NFL 13 debuted as the two top-selling titles in September in the West. In its first four weeks, FIFA 13 sold 7.4 million units, excluding mobile downloads, a number that EA said makes the title "the biggest sports launch of all time." FIFA's digital revenue also generated over $115 million in the first half of fiscal 2013, including FIFA Online 2 and FIFA World Class Soccer.

EA's Battlefield 3 Premium service has sold over 2 million subscriptions to date, according to the publisher, and in the mobile space, The Simpsons: Tapped Out has reportedly become the top-grossing iOS game for the past four weeks, logging 2.8 million daily active users.

Other parts of the report revealed that EA's games and services for mobile have generated a 60 percent year-over-year increase in digital net revenue, while EA's Origin platform has registered over 30 million users, including 13 million mobile users. EA also revealed that Origin has signed agreements with 71 independent developers.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"FIFA and Battlefield are EA's most profitable franchises" was posted by Laura Parker on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:02:29 -0700

Star Wars: 1313 "business as usual" for LucasArts

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 09:28 PM PDT

Studio says Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm has not affected the development of the third-person action adventure franchise set in the Star Wars universe.

 

Today's announcement that Disney has purchased Star Wars studio Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion will reportedly not affect the upcoming video game title Star Wars: 1313, which is currently in development at LucasArts.

According to a statement from LucasArts (as first reported by IGN), it's "business as usual" for all internal projects at the studio.

The acquisition deal--which will see Disney release a new Star Wars film every two to three years after bringing out Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015--was discussed by Disney chief executive Robert Iger during a conference call earlier this week.

In the call, Iger spoke about Disney's plans to utilise the Star Wars license for games, revealing the that company will focus on social and mobile games internally, and rely on licensing deals to allow third-party developers to create Star Wars titles for consoles.

Star Wars: 1313 was first announced in May this year. The internally developed third-person action adventure game will see players take on the role of a bounty hunter navigating a subterranean metropolis, Level 1313, beneath the surface of the planet Coruscant.

At the time of its announcement, LucasArts had revealed that the game was being developed with the help of artists across the Lucasfilm organisation, including LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation Ltd, and Skywalker Sound. The game will be based on the Unreal engine and feature full-body performance capture.

According to LucasArts, the game will emphasise fast-paced combat, and the game's hero will use human skills and gadgets, rather than supernatural Force powers. In addition, the game will feature a combination of cover-based combat, platforming, and "playable cinematic gameplay."

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

"Star Wars: 1313 "business as usual" for LucasArts" was posted by Laura Parker on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:28:26 -0700
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