The Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act: The Prospect of Congressional Intervention into the Department of Justice\u27s Corporate Charging Policy

This Note analyzes the Privilege Protection Act, focusing on how it might change corporate white-collar prosecutions. Part I of this Note explores the mechanics of the corporate privilege, the development of the DOJ\u27s waiver policy, and the structure of the Privilege Protection Act. Part II addresses the conflicting views on whether the Privilege Protection Act will bolster corporate attorney-client privilege, provide for the effective and efficient prosecution of white-collar crime, and promote ethical prosecutorial practices. Finally, Part III argues that the Privilege Protection Act is a misguided attempt to correct a greater systemic problem with the corporate attorney-client privilege and the nature of corporate cooperation. If Congress is to act, it should recognize the essential role privilege waiver plays in prosecuting white-collar crime, and should move to limit the deleterious ramifications to corporations of routine privilege waivers. Thus, the doctrine of selective waiver would be a preferable remedy: it would protect the confidentiality of privileged documents that the corporation discloses to the government, and would provide an effective means to balance the corporation\u27s interest in cooperating with the government and avoiding unwarranted civil liability

Robust Deep Sensing Through Transfer Learning in Cognitive Radio

We propose a robust spectrum sensing framework based on deep learning. The received signals at the secondary user's receiver are filtered, sampled and then directly fed into a convolutional neural network. Although this deep sensing is effective when operating in the same scenario as the collected training data, the sensing performance is degraded when it is applied in a different scenario with different wireless signals and propagation. We incorporate transfer learning into the framework to improve the robustness. Results validate the effectiveness as well as the robustness of the proposed deep spectrum sensing framework

Membrane Shape Modulates Transmembrane Protein Distribution

SummaryAlthough membrane shape varies greatly throughout the cell, the contribution of membrane curvature to transmembrane protein targeting is unknown because of the numerous sorting mechanisms that take place concurrently in cells. To isolate the effect of membrane shape, we used cell-sized giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) containing either the potassium channel KvAP or the water channel AQP0 to form membrane nanotubes with controlled radii. Whereas the AQP0 concentrations in flat and curved membranes were indistinguishable, KvAP was enriched in the tubes, with greater enrichment in more highly curved membranes. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching measurements showed that both proteins could freely diffuse through the neck between the tube and GUV, and the effect of each protein on membrane shape and stiffness was characterized using a thermodynamic sorting model. This study establishes the importance of membrane shape for targeting transmembrane proteins and provides a method for determining the effective shape and flexibility of membrane proteins

Pushing the Limits of Detectability: Mixed Dark Matter from Strong Gravitational Lenses

One of the frontiers for advancing what is known about dark matter lies in using strong gravitational lenses to characterize the population of the smallest dark matter halos. There is a large volume of information in strong gravitational lens images -- the question we seek to answer is to what extent we can refine this information. To this end, we forecast the detectability of a mixed warm and cold dark matter scenario using the anomalous flux ratio method from strong gravitational lensed images. The halo mass function of the mixed dark matter scenario is suppressed relative to cold dark matter but still predicts numerous low-mass dark matter halos relative to warm dark matter. Since the strong lens signal is a convolution over a range of dark matter halo masses and since the signal is sensitive to the specific configuration of dark matter halos, not just the halo mass function, degeneracies between different forms of suppression in the halo mass function, relative to cold dark matter, can arise. We find that, with a set of lenses with different configurations of the main deflector and hence different sensitivities to different mass ranges of the halo mass function, the different forms of suppression of the halo mass function between the warm dark matter model and the mixed dark matter model can be distinguished with $40$ lenses with Bayesian odds of 29.4:1.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Atmospheric CO2 decline and the timing of CAM plant evolution

Background and Aims: CAM photosynthesis is hypothesized to have evolved in atmospheres of low CO2 concentration in recent geological time because of its ability to concentrate CO2 around Rubisco and boost water use efficiency relative to C3 photosynthesis. We assess this hypothesis by compiling estimates of when CAM clades arose using phylogenetic chronograms for 73 CAM clades. We further consider evidence of how atmospheric CO2 affects CAM relative to C3 photosynthesis. Results: Where CAM origins can be inferred, strong CAM is estimated to have appeared in the past 30 million years in 46 of 48 examined clades, after atmospheric CO2 had declined from high (near 800 ppm) to lower (<450 ppm) values. In turn, 21 of 25 clades containing CAM species (but where CAM origins are less certain) also arose in the past 30 million years. In these clades, CAM is probably younger than the clade origin. We found evidence for repeated weak CAM evolution during the higher CO2 conditions before 30 million years ago, and possible strong CAM origins in the Crassulaceae during the Cretaceous period prior to atmospheric CO2 decline. Most CAM-specific clades arose in the past 15 million years, in a similar pattern observed for origins of C4 clades. Conclusions: The evidence indicates strong CAM repeatedly evolved in reduced CO2 conditions of the past 30 million years. Weaker CAM can pre-date low CO2 and, in the Crassulaceae, strong CAM may also have arisen in water-limited microsites under relatively high CO2. Experimental evidence from extant CAM species demonstrates that elevated CO2 reduces the importance of nocturnal CO2 fixation by increasing the contribution of C3 photosynthesis to daily carbon gain. Thus, the advantage of strong CAM would be reduced in high CO2, such that its evolution appears less likely and restricted to more extreme environments than possible in low CO2

A Comprehensive Safety Trial of Chimeric Antibody 14.18 With GM-CSF, IL-2, and Isotretinoin in High-Risk Neuroblastoma Patients Following Myeloablative Therapy: Children\u27s Oncology Group Study ANBL0931

Purpose: A phase 3 randomized study (COG ANBL0032) demonstrated significantly improved outcome by adding immunotherapy with ch14.18 antibody to isotretinoin as post-consolidation therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma (NB). This study, ANBL0931, was designed to collect FDA-required safety/toxicity data to support FDA registration of ch14.18. Experimental design: Newly diagnosed high-risk NB patients who achieved at least a partial response to induction therapy and received myeloablative consolidation with stem cell rescue were enrolled to receive six courses of isotretinoin with five concomitant cycles of ch14.18 combined with GM-CSF or IL2. Ch14.18 infusion time was 10-20 h per dose. Blood was collected for cytokine analysis and its association with toxicities and outcome. Results: Of 105 patients enrolled, five patients developed protocol-defined unacceptable toxicities. The most common grade \u3e/= 3 non-hematologic toxicities of immunotherapy for cycles 1-5, respectively, were neuropathic pain (41, 28, 22, 31, 24%), hypotension (10, 17, 4, 14, 8%), allergic reactions (ARs) (3, 10, 5, 7, 2%), capillary leak syndrome (1, 4, 0, 2, 0%), and fever (21, 59, 6, 32, 5%). The 3-year event-free survival and overall survival were 67.6 +/- 4.8% and 79.1 +/- 4.2%, respectively. AR during course 1 was associated with elevated serum levels of IL-1Ra and IFNgamma, while severe hypotension during this course was associated with low IL5 and nitrate. Higher pretreatment CXCL9 level was associated with poorer event-free survival (EFS). Conclusion: This study has confirmed the significant, but manageable treatment-related toxicities of this immunotherapy and identified possible cytokine biomarkers associated with select toxicities and outcome. EFS and OS appear similar to that previously reported on ANBL0032