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A master copy is an artifact whose quality or value carries over to the copies it engenders. In the United Arab Emirates, home to a marketplace trade in Pashto‐language film and music, master copy also refers to the context of the artifact's accessibility; it describes a print made from a medium—such as a celluloid film, an audiocassette, or a vinyl record—considered to hold the earliest or highest‐quality recording. Situated at a narrowing analog‐to‐digital bottleneck, a master copy is not an original but an interface between the social circumstances afforded by storage and communication media. Thus, as distinct from the formats that manifest content or preserve data, bottlenecks and interfaces ought to be studied on their own terms, as is shown in ethnographic research on master copies that travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and beyond, throughout the Pashtun diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the chemical conversion and heat treatment of Ti6Al4V microspheres (Ti6_MS), and the resulting effects on their electrocatalytic properties. The wet‐chemical conversion (5.0 m NaOH, 60 °C, 24 h; Sample label: Ti6_TC) converts the top surface of the Ti6_MS powder into an ≈820 nm thick sodium titanate surface. Heat‐treatment (Ti6_TC_HT) at 450 °C increases the stability of the surface, through partial titanate crystallization, while mitigating excess rutile formation. All samples are analyzed chemically (XPS, EDX, Raman, EELS), structurally (XRD and TEM), and morphologically (SEM, TEM), demonstrating the characteristic formation of sodium titanate dendritic structures, with minimal chemical, structural, and morphological differences due to the 450 °C heat‐treatment. The effect of the preparation methodology on oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalytic performance is also tested. The introduction of the sodium titanate layer changes the mechanism of the ORR, from a mixed 4 electron/2 electron pathway to a predominantly 2‐electron pathway. By maintaining the microspherical nature of the material while also tuning the surface of the material toward different reaction mechanisms, a design strategy for new electrocatalyst materials is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of ultrasound and microbubbles allows treatment of indications that would be impossible or too risk adverse with conventional surgery. During treatment, subharmonic and ultraharmonic components that can only be generated from microbubbles are of great interest for intraoperative monitoring. However, the microbubble emissions are several orders of magnitude lower in power compared to that of the fundamental frequency component from the ultrasound applicator, resulting in a low signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) for monitoring. A 3D acoustic metamaterial (AMM) immersed in water is proposed for suppressing unwanted ultrasound waves, which allows the improved sensitivity for detecting weak microbubble emissions. Numerically, the importance of shear waves on the AMM transfer properties is highlighted, though only longitudinal ultrasound waves are transmitted through water. Experimentally, the design is implemented in titanium using additive manufacturing, with an attenuation level of 40 dB at the fundamental frequency. Consequently, the application of the AMM efficiently improves the SNR for subharmonic and ultraharmonic microbubble emissions by 11.8 and 11.9 dB, respectively. The subharmonic components originally overwhelmed by noise are recovered. This is the first time that AMMs have been applied to passive acoustic monitoring and this work stands to improve treatment outcomes from cavitation‐mediated focused ultrasound therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Images in movement and images of movement take a central place in iterations of Islamic material and visual piety. Yet the still image remains the default object of inquiry in most studies of devotional visuality. Taking movement rather than stasis as the prerequisite for engagement, many popular decorative items and technologies that share the status of "moving images" evoke the affective experience of pilgrimage. In what follows, close analysis of a repertoire of one such image technology, the lenticular print, formed through its circulation in Pakistan, provides insights into the kind of engagement expected from images whose efficacy is governed by their mobility. By testing the application of some significant theories on the phenomenology of film experience, combined with ways of understanding the forms of presence elicited by virtual pilgrimage, this essay attempts to better grasp the kinds of engagement invited by devotional objects characterized by their evocation of movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many city dwellers in Pakistan the distant memory of outdoor cinemas in their ancestral villages rekindles the thrill of first contact with film exhibition. This paper considers attempts made in colonial British India and postcolonial Pakistan to understand, wield, and benefit from the staging of such memorable and affective filmic events. In its cultivation of "cinema-minded" subjects, the British Empire commissioned studies of audiences and their reactions to film exhibition in hopes of managing the unruly morality and materiality of the cinematic apparatus. After Partition and the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, similar studies continued, evincing a residual strategy of elicited contact. The elicitation of film contact aimed at the exertion and commandment of the event of film exhibition for the purposes of knowing their constituent subjects at a moment of malleability. Yet the Empire's struggle with the perceived problems of "Muslim tastes" and audience members' ambivalence over rural screenings in post-Partition Pakistan calls for a reconsideration of the efficacy of these tactics. I argue that what complicated these encounters are affective responses that questioned the address, permissibility, and efficacy of film exhibition. In these tactics of elucidation, disenchantment, and denial, ruptures are refused and the new is dismissed as inoperable, incompatible, or impermissible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores site-responsiveness in the context of a collaborative work, Tide Times, by Laura Bissell (writer) and Timothy Cooper (electroacoustic composer) created for the island of Cramond. In this co-written submission we examine the ways in which the work responded to our experience of exploring the tidal island on the East Coast of Scotland during five visits between April and August 2018. Contextualising Tide Times through Ingold's ideas of atmosphere and place (Ingold, 2015), theories of soundwalking (Westerkamp, 2007) and acoustic ecology (Clarke, 2005) we discuss our attempt to heighten the participants' experience of the island and encourage a playful exploration of place. This article will discuss the ways in which the electroacoustic compositions and texts responded to site, environmental sound, the natural flora and fauna of the island and its visitors. Tim's electroacoustic compositions were combined with a palimpsest of texts including reflective accounts of visits to Cramond (written by Laura and Tim), site-responsive poems (written by Laura), fragments of found text, poems and excerpts from oceanographer Rachel Carson's The Edge of the Sea (Carson, 2014)(curated by Laura). These audio tracks attempt to explore an experience of this place, its tidal qualities, and the multiple identities of Cramond Island over time. Inspired by the geocache we found on our first visit to the island (a global treasure hunt using GPS), we created nine treasure chests to be found using a map to accompany the audio exploration which included invitations for visitors to the island to engage in making their own creative responses to this site. Whilst the pre-recorded tracks and the invitations remain constant, the way that the participants respond to these will continue to reshape the precise nature of the work: in this way the participants become active collaborators in the creation of Tide Times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxieties over the particular ontology and materiality of the film image—rather than moral concerns over the co-mingling of bodies in the built and social space of the cinema—have been addressed by two formative figures in the philosophy of Pakistan as a political and religious idea: Muhammad Iqbal and Syed Abul A'la Maududi. Their arguments provide two divergent examples of the ways in which the permissibility of film in Pakistan has been expressed. This essay is driven by such instances in which the epistemology—and in some cases permissibility—of technological objects is negotiated via their very ontology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ventricular septal defects are one of the most common congenital cardiac malformations in animals, and most often affect the membranous portion of the septum. These defects may rarely close spontaneously. An adult male black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) had a smooth shiny botryoid red mass arising from the area of the septal cusp of the right atrioventricular (tricuspid) valve and membranous interventricular septum, and bulging into the right ventricular lumen. Histology and special staining demonstrated a membranous ventricular septal defect closed by the adherence of the septal cusp of the tricuspid valve to the muscular septum (so-called membranous ventricular septal aneurysm or aneurysm of the [peri]membranous ventricular septum). This is a rare finding in animals, and the histologic appearance has not been documented previously, to our knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examined a female Canada lynx with an acute onset of rapidly progressive bilateral pelvic limb paralysis. Topics covered include the chemical immobilization of the lynx, the irregular gas densities found within the skeletal muscle of the right thigh and epaxial musculature and the multiple skin puncture wounds observed in the affected tissues. Also mentioned is the finding of histopathologic examination that confirmed the diagnosis of myositis and cellulitis.

Abstract: Photo-acclimatisation by the algal endosymbionts of scleractinian corals to changes in environmental conditions may influence their density and/or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments, and hence coral brightness, on short time-scales. To examine coral pigmentation as a bioindicator of water quality, the brightness of massive corals was quantified using colour charts, concentrations of the pigment chlorophyll a and reflectance spectrometry in the field and with manipulative experiments. Along a water quality gradient, massive Porites became progressively lighter as nutrients decreased and irradiance increased. A laboratory experiment showed that Porites nubbins darkened within 25days following exposure to reduced water quality. The results of a transplantation experiment of Porites nubbins in a manipulation incorporating multiple depths and zones of water quality confirmed colony brightness as a simple tool to monitor changes in marine water quality, provided effects due to other influences on pigmentation, e.g. seawater temperatures, are taken into consideration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Responses of bioindicator candidates for water quality were quantified in two studies on inshore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). In Study 1, 33 of the 38 investigated candidate indicators (including coral physiology, benthos composition, coral recruitment, macrobioeroder densities and FORAM index) showed significant relationships with a composite index of 13 water quality variables. These relationships were confirmed in Study 2 along four other water quality gradients (turbidity and chlorophyll). Changes in water quality led to multi-faceted shifts from phototrophic to heterotrophic benthic communities, and from diverse coral dominated communities to low-diversity communities dominated by macroalgae. Turbidity was the best predictor of biota; hence turbidity measurements remain essential to directly monitor water quality on the GBR, potentially complemented by our final calibrated 12 bioindicators. In combination, this bioindicator system may be used to assess changes in water quality, especially where direct water quality data are unavailable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two approaches for measuring the effects of human activities on aquatic biota are gradient studies and comparison of impacted areas to external references. Wild oysters were sampled at 12 sites adjacent to, upstream and downstream of a steelworks in the Hunter River estuary and in two reference estuaries. Regression analyses for the Hunter indicated reduced concentrations with distance from the point source for some metals and PAHs. Data compared from the reference estuaries to the two sites nearest and the two furthest from the point source in the Hunter indicated elevated concentrations of contaminants both near the point source and on an estuary-wide basis. The gradient approach was useful in identifying the industrial effluent as a point source for bioavailable chemicals. Combining this with the use of reference estuaries provided a broad geographic context in which to interpret results from the Hunter and identified estuary-wide effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: To determine feasibility of providing a concentrated emulsified long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) supplement to very low birth weight infants, and to evaluate blood LCPUFA concentrations at 2 and 8 weeks of study supplementation.Study Design: This prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomized infants to receive (1) LCPUFA-120 (a supplement of 40 mg/kg/day docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] and 80 mg/kg/day arachidonic acid [ARA]; DHA:ARA at 1:2 ratio), (2) LCPUFA-360 (a supplement of 120 mg/kg/day DHA and 240 mg/kg/day ARA), or (3) sunflower oil (placebo control). Infants received supplement daily for 8 weeks or until discharge, whichever came first. Whole blood LCPUFA levels (wt%; g/100 g) were measured at baseline, 2 weeks, and 8 weeks.Results: Infants were 28 weeks of gestation (IQR, 27-30 weeks of gestation) and weighed 1040 g (IQR, 910-1245 g). At 2 weeks, the change in blood DHA (wt%) from baseline differed significantly among groups (sunflower oil, n = 6; -0.63 [IQR, -0.96 to -0.55]; LCPUFA-120: n = 12; -0.14 [IQR, -0.72 to -0.26]; LCPUFA-360, n = 12; 0.46 [IQR, 0.17-0.81]; P = .002 across groups). Change in blood ARA (wt%) also differed by group (sunflower oil: -2.2 [IQR, -3.9 to -1.7]; LCPUFA-120: 0.1 [IQR, -2.1 to 1.1] vs LCPUFA-360: 2.9 IQR, 1.5 to 4.5]; P = .0002). Change from baseline to 8 weeks significantly differed between groups for DHA (P = .02) and ARA (P = .003).Conclusions: Enteral LCPUFA supplementation supported higher blood DHA by 2 weeks. LCPUFA supplementation at 360 mg of combined DHA and ARA is likely necessary to reduce declines as well as allow increases in whole blood concentrations in the first 8 weeks of life.Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03192839. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Objective To present a case of bilateral vocal fold immobility (BVCI) in a patient with acromegaly and review the current literature describing this presentation. Design Case report and literature review. Setting Academic tertiary care center. Methods English language literature search of online journal databases. Results A 56-year-old man presented with 3 months of progressive stridor and shortness of breath. Transnasal flexible endoscopy revealed BVCI. A tracheostomy was performed to secure his airway. Further history was suggestive of acromegaly and imaging demonstrated a pituitary macroadenoma. The diagnosis of acromegaly was made. The patient was treated with octreotide followed by an endoscopic trans sphenoidal resection of the pituitary adenoma. Sixteen months after his initial presentation, a right laser arytenoidectomy was performed and the patient was subsequently decannulated. In the literature to date, 11 cases of BVCI in acromegaly have been reported. These patients often present with stridor and require a tracheostomy. With treatment of their acromegaly, these patients may regain vocal fold mobility and may be decannulated. Conclusion Acromegaly with BVCI is a rare presentation. Acute management of the airway of patients with acromegaly presenting with BVCI typically requires a tracheostomy. A period of 15 months should be allowed for restoration of vocal fold mobility before airway opening procedures are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]