Steven L. Kent

Steven L. Kent, son of woodworker Ron Kent, is an American writer, known for both video game journalism and military science fiction novels. In 1993, Steven started work as a freelance journalist, writing monthly video game reviews for the Seattle Times. He eventually became a contributor to such video game publications as Electronic Games, Next Generation, and Computer Entertainment News, as well as such mainstream publications as Parade, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, the Japan Times, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. He also wrote entries on video games for Encarta and the Encyclopedia Americana.

In 2005, Steve announced that he would concentrate on writing novels. In 2006, he published The Clone Republic and Rogue Clone. In 2007, he published The Clone Alliance.

Kent received a B.A. in 1986 and an M.A. in 1990, both from Brigham Young University.

Bibliography

Science fiction

Clone (cell biology)

A clone is a group of identical cells that share a common ancestry, meaning they are derived from the same cell.

Clonality implies the state of a cell or a substance being derived from one source or the other. Thus there are terms like polyclonal—derived from many clones; oligoclonal—derived from a few clones; and monoclonal—derived from one clone. These terms are most commonly used in context of antibodies or immunocytes.

Contexts

This concept of clone assumes importance as all the cells that form a clone share common ancestry, which has a very significant consequence: shared genotype.

Clone (B-cell biology)

The process of immunological B-cell maturation involves transformation from an undifferentiated B cell to one that secretes antibodies with particular specificity. This differentiation and activation of the B cell occurs most rapidly after exposure to antigen by antigen-presenting cells in the reticuloendothelial system, and under modulation by T cells, and is closely intertwined with affinity maturation. B cells that respond most avidly to antigen are preferentially allowed to proliferate and mature, a process known as clonal selection.

In lymphocytic neoplastic diseases such as multiple myeloma and lymphoma, but also other illnesses, there can be a massive expansion of a single B-cell clone, detectable by measuring the excessively-produced antibodies, measured in a serum protein electrophoresis test or peripheral blood flow cytometry. Such an expansion is said to be "monoclonal", and monoclonal antibodies produced by such a group of B cells can cause illnesses such as amyloidosis and lupus, or can be indicative of an underlying malignancy. The concept of clonality is closely associated with malignancy, for example in diagnosing lymphomatoid skin lesions. The expansion of a particular clone of immune B cells is usually interpreted by clinicians as evidence of unrestricted cell growth, the hallmark of cancer.

New START

New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) (Russian: СНВ-III, SNV-III) is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. It is expected to last at least until 2021.

New START replaced the Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012. In terms of name, it is a follow-up to the START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, the proposed START II treaty, which never entered into force, and the START III treaty, for which negotiations were never concluded.

Under terms of the treaty, the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. A new inspection and verification regime will be established, replacing the SORT mechanism. It does not limit the number of operationally inactive stockpiled nuclear warheads that remain in the high thousands in both the Russian and American inventories.

Xenosaga Episode III

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (ゼノサーガ エピソードIII ツァラトゥストラはかく語りき, Zenosāga Episōdo Surī Tsaratusutora wa Kaku Katariki) is a role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2, and the third game in the primary Xenosaga trilogy. Also sprach Zarathustra, literally "Thus spoke Zarathustra", is also the title of Friedrich Nietzsche's most famous work, which introduced the concept of the Übermensch. The game was developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2 on July 6, 2006, in Japan and on August 29, 2006, in North America.

Development

III (Gui Boratto album)

III is a 2011 release by Brazilian DJ and producer Gui Boratto on German label Kompakt Records.

Track listing

References

Factoring (finance)

Factoring is a financial transaction and a type of debtor finance in which a business sells its accounts receivable (i.e., invoices) to a third party (called a factor) at a discount. A business will sometimes factor its receivable assets to meet its present and immediate cash needs.Forfaiting is a factoring arrangement used in international trade finance by exporters who wish to sell their receivables to a forfaiter. Factoring is commonly referred to as accounts receivable factoring, invoice factoring, and sometimes accounts receivable financing. Accounts receivable financing is a term more accurately used to describe a form of asset based lending against accounts receivable.

Factoring is not the same as invoice discounting (which is called an "Assignment of Accounts Receivable" in American accounting – as propagated by FASB within GAAP). Factoring is the sale of receivables, whereas invoice discounting ("assignment of accounts receivable" in American accounting) is a borrowing that involves the use of the accounts receivable assets as collateral for the loan. However, in some other markets, such as the UK, invoice discounting is considered to be a form of factoring, involving the "assignment of receivables", that is included in official factoring statistics. It is therefore also not considered to be borrowing in the UK. In the UK the arrangement is usually confidential in that the debtor is not notified of the assignment of the receivable and the seller of the receivable collects the debt on behalf of the factor. In the UK, the main difference between factoring and invoice discounting is confidentiality.