How to create ball lightning

Procedures are given on how to produce ball lightning. Necessary equipment includes a transformer of 150,000 watts capable of providing approximately 10,000 amperes at 15 volts, 60 cycles; thick one inch cables of stranded wire leading into a 3 by 4 by 1 foot plastic tank; a quarter inch thick 4 by 6 inch aluminum plate to be used as one of the discharge electrodes; and another electrode of heavy copper wire with the insulation stripped back 6 inches

Intercultural challenges and confessions

The article starts with a discussion of such crucial concepts as: multiculturalism, transculturalism and interculturalism. It is a point of departure to present different types of assessment and comparison of socio-cultural entities. It allows to praise the role of education and discuss the role of multicultural education in the last part of the article

The influence of glutathione S-transferases M1 and M3 on the development of bladder cancer

Problem: Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The effect of the glutathione S- transferases M1 (GSTM1) and M3 (GSTM3) on the influence of this risk factor was investigated. Methods: A total of 293 bladder cancer patients from Dortmund and Wittenberg as well as 176 surgical patients without any malignancy from Dortmund were genotyped for GSTM1 und GSTM3 according to standard PCR/RFLP methods. Smoking habits were also qualified by a standardized interview. Results: The percentage of GSTM1 negative cases was 63 % in the entire bladder cancer patient group compared to 50 % in the control group. GSTM3*A/*A genotype was 76 % in the entire group of bladder cancer cases and 74 % in controls. Smokers and ex-smokers were overrepresented in the bladder cancer patient group. A significant association between smoking status and GSTM1 or GSTM3 genotype could not be revealed. Conclusion: The elevated percentage of GSTM1 negative bladder cancer cases shows the important effect of this polymorphic enzyme on the development of bladder cancer. In contrast to some other studies, an influence of GSTM1 on the risk due to cigarette smoking could not be observed. --Bladder cancer,glutathione S-transferase M1,glutathione S-transferase M3,smoking

KONSTRUOWANIE TOŻSAMOŚCI – CZYNNIKI SPOŁECZNO-KULTUROWE

Identities in the contemporary world are not ready-made but are to a large extent constructed by individuals and groups of individuals in the process of social and cultural life. Practically all aspects of that life – perceived as own physical, mental, and social features – followed by autoreflection on them, as well as contacts with other people, social memory, power, or mass culture, may influence the process in which identity is being created. The paper focuses on separation and characterisation of factors that play a role in identity construction.We współczesnym świecie tożsamości ludzi nie są gotowe, lecz są w dużym stopniu konstruowane przez jednostki i grupy w procesie życia społeczno-kulturowego. Praktycznie wszystkie przejawy tego życia – postrzeganie własnych cech fizycznych, psychicznych i społecznych wraz z autorefleksją nad nimi, kontakty z innymi ludźmi, pamięć społeczna, władza, kultura masowa – mogą oddziaływać w procesie konstruowania tożsamości. Artykuł poświęcony jest wyodrębnieniu i scharakteryzowaniu tych czynników biorących udział w konstruowaniu tożsamości

Estimation of N-acetyltransferase 2 haplotypes

N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) genotyping may result in a considerable percentage in several ambiguous allele combinations. PHASE 2.1 is a statistical program which is designed to estimate the probability of different allele combinations. We have investigated haplotypes of 2088 subjects genotyped for NAT2 according to standard PCR/RFLP methods. In 856 out of 2088 cases the genotype was clearly defined by PCR/RFLP only. In many of the remaining cases the program clearly defined the most probable allele combination: In the case of *5A/*6C, *5B/*6A the probability for *5B/*6A is 99% whereas the alternative allele combination *5A/*6C can be neglected. Other combinations cannot be allocated with a comparable high probability. For example the allele combination *5A/*5C, *5B/*5D provides for *5A/*5C a probability of 69% whereas the estimation for *5B/*5D allele is only 31%. In the two most often observed constellations in our data [(*12A/*5B, *12C/*5C); (*12A/*6A, *12B/*6B, *4/*6C)] the probability of allele combination was ascertained as follows: *12A/*5B, 98%; *12C/*5C, 1.4% and *12A/*6A, 82%; *4/*6C, 17%; *12B/*6B, 0%. The estimation of the NAT2 haplotype is important because the assignment of the NAT2 alleles *12A, *12B or *13 as a rapid or slow genotype has been discussed controversially. Otherwise the classification of alleles in subjects which are not showing a clearly allocation can result in a rapid or slow acetylation state. This assignment has an important role in survey of bladder cancer cases in the scope of occupational exposure with aromatic amines. --PHASE 2.1,NAT2 genotyping,single nucleotide polymorphism

Population toxicokinetics of ethylene - Calibration and preceding investigations

A basic step in the risk assessment of potential carcinogens is the determination of toxicokinetic parameters. The present approach is part of a strategy to determine the processes of uptake, elimination, and metabolism of the gas ethylene, an important industrial chemical, which is classified in category 3 of carcinogenic substances in the German list of MAK- and BAT-values. This paper deals with the calibration, which is indispensable to determine the decline of atmospheric concentrations of ethylene within a broad range of initial concentrations applied in an inhalation experiment

Population toxicokinetics of ethylene: Calibration and preceding investigations

A basic step in the risk assessment of potential carcinogens is the determination of toxicokinetic parameters. The present approach is part of a strategy to determine the processes of uptake, elimination, and metabolism of the gas ethylene, an important industrial chemical, which is classified in category 3 of carcinogenic substances in the German list of MAK- and BAT-values. This paper deals with the calibration, which is indispensable to determine the decline of atmospheric concentrations of ethylene within a broad range of initial concentrations applied in an inhalation experiment

Assetization: A technoscientific or financial phenomenon?

Finance and financialization have dominated scholarship on capitalism and society for the past decade. Although scholars noted early on that the expansion of finance relies on the creation (and trade) of new financial assets, assets and assetization have been a blind spot as scholarship continued to focus on financial markets (Langley, 2020). This, however, is currently about to change as a number of landmark publications have been published in the past months that point toward growing momentum in the field of asset and assetization research. In this short essay, I review Kean Birch and Fabian Muniesa’s edited collection, Assetization: Turning Things into Assets in Technoscientific Capitalism, which is of central importance to said momentum, and put it into dialogue with some of the other recent publications on this topic