Universality of Sparse d>2d>2 Conformal Field Theory at Large NN

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for large $N$ conformal field theories to have a universal free energy and an extended range of validity of the higher-dimensional Cardy formula. These constraints are much tighter than in two dimensions and must be satisfied by any conformal field theory dual to Einstein gravity. We construct and analyze symmetric product orbifold theories on $\mathbb{T}^d$ and show that they only realize the necessary phase structure and extended range of validity if the seed theory is assumed to have a universal vacuum energy.Comment: 32 pages + appendice

Fractal Topology Foundations

In this paper, we introduce the foundation of a fractal topological space constructed via a family of nested topological spaces endowed with subspace topologies, where the number of topological spaces involved in this family is related to the appearance of new structures on it. The greater the number of topological spaces we use, the stronger the subspace topologies we obtain. The fractal manifold model is brought up as an illustration of space that is locally homeomorphic to the fractal topological space.Comment: 20 page

Efficient Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling in Stan

Structural equation models comprise a large class of popular statistical models, including factor analysis models, certain mixed models, and extensions thereof. Model estimation is complicated by the fact that we typically have multiple interdependent response variables and multiple latent variables (which may also be called random effects or hidden variables), often leading to slow and inefficient MCMC samples. In this paper, we describe and illustrate a general, efficient approach to Bayesian SEM estimation in Stan, contrasting it with previous implementations in R package blavaan (Merkle & Rosseel, 2018). After describing the approaches in detail, we conduct a practical comparison under multiple scenarios. The comparisons show that the new approach is clearly better. We also discuss ways that the approach may be extended to other models that are of interest to psychometricians.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure

Semantic descriptor for intelligence services

The exposition and discovery of intelligence especially for connected devices and autonomous systems have become an important area of the research towards an all-intelligent world. In this article, it a semantic description of functions is proposed and used to provide intelligence services mainly for networked devices. The semantic descriptors aim to provide interoperability between multiple domains' vocabularies, data models, and ontologies, so that device applications become able to deploy them autonomously once they are onboarded in the device or system platform. The proposed framework supports the discovery, onboarding, and updating of the services by providing descriptions of their execution environment, software dependencies, policies and data inputs required, as well as the outputs produced, to enable application decoupling from the AI functions

Toxicity of radiotherapy in patients with collagen vascular disease

BACKGROUND. A diagnosis of collagen vascular disease (CVD) may predispose to radiotherapy (RT) toxicity. The objective of the current study was to identify factors that influence RT toxicity in the setting of CVD. METHODS. A total of 86 RT courses for 73 patients with CVD were delivered between 1985 and 2005. CVD subtypes include rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 33 patients), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; 13 patients), scleroderma (9 patients), dermatomyositis/polymyositis (5 patients), ankylosing spondylitis (4 patients), polymyalgia rheumatica/temporal arteritis (4 patients), Wegener granulomatosis (3 patients), and mixed connective tissue disorders (MCTD)/other (2 patients). Each patient with CVD was matched to 1 to 3 controls with respect to sex, race, site irradiated, RT dose (±2 Gray), and age (±5 years). RESULTS. There was no significant difference between CVD patients (65.1%) and controls (72.5%) experiencing any acute toxicity. CVD patients had a higher incidence of any late toxicity (29.1% vs 14%; P = .001), and a trend toward an increased rate of severe late toxicity (9.3% vs 3.7%; P = .079). RT delivered to the breast had increased risk of severe acute toxicity, whereas RT to the pelvis had increased risk of severe acute and late toxicity. RT administered in the setting of scleroderma carried a higher risk of severe late toxicity, whereas RT to SLE patients carried a higher risk of severe acute and late toxicity. CONCLUSIONS. Although generally well tolerated, RT in the setting of CVD appears to carry a higher risk of late toxicity. RT to the pelvis or in the setting of SLE or scleroderma may predispose to an even greater risk of severe toxicity. These issues should be considered when deciding whether to offer RT for these patients. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60460/1/23591_ftp.pd

Automatic design structure matrices: A comparison of two formula student projects

Design Structure Matrices have become a fundamental tool to support engineers in their handling and management of interactions across product & organisational architectures. Recent work in the field has exploited the opportunity afforded by Product Lifecycle Management systems, which capture the digital footprint of engineering projects to generate Design Structure Matrices in real-time through the co-occurrence of edits to product models. Given the systematic and more objective nature of the generation of these DSMs as well as being able to monitor their evolution throughout engineering projects, there now lies an opportunity in comparing projects/products using DSMs. To investigate this and the potential insights that could be generated, this paper presents the automatic generation of DSMs for two Formula Student projects. These have then been compared with respect to the end-of-project, change propagation characteristics and evolution of the DSMs. From this analysis, six insights have been generated that map the characteristics of the DSMs to the performance of the project/product and highlights the potential of automatic DSMs to further support engineering project management

Identifying the influences on performance of engineering design and development projects

Performance of engineering design and development projects depends on myriad factors, creating challenges in implementation and management. These are compounded by potential for high variation across contexts. This work investigates influencers upon performance and contextual variation through relationship between real industry issues and factors that influence project performance. Through survey, interview, and network analysis, issue-causing groups of features in each specific case are identified and compared. The results find a majority of issues arising from person-centric sources. They also identify both discrete groups of issues with narrow source and influence, and with broad ties across the project context; forms which may stem from conditions of the scenario. Finally, they show similarity in the influences on performance across contexts with a caveat that, while the influential area remains, the structure to be taken within may vary. General analysis clarifies performance in engineering and highlights those areas in which support-system development is of most use, and specific analysis gives areas in which industry managers should focus for best benefit to the project

Toxicity of Radiotherapy in Patients With Collagen Vascular Disease

Background A diagnosis of collagen vascular disease (CVD) may predispose to radiotherapy (RT) toxicity. The objective of the current study was to identify factors that influence RT toxicity in the setting of CVD. Methods A total of 86 RT courses for 73 patients with CVD were delivered between 1985 and 2005. CVD subtypes include rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 33 patients), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; 13 patients), scleroderma (9 patients), dermatomyositis/polymyositis (5 patients), ankylosing spondylitis (4 patients), polymyalgia rheumatica/temporal arteritis (4 patients), Wegener granulomatosis (3 patients), and mixed connective tissue disorders (MCTD)/other (2 patients). Each patient with CVD was matched to 1 to 3 controls with respect to sex, race, site irradiated, RT dose (±2 Gray), and age (±5 years). Results There was no significant difference between CVD patients (65.1%) and controls (72.5%) experiencing any acute toxicity. CVD patients had a higher incidence of any late toxicity (29.1% vs 14%; P = .001), and a trend toward an increased rate of severe late toxicity (9.3% vs 3.7%; P = .079). RT delivered to the breast had increased risk of severe acute toxicity, whereas RT to the pelvis had increased risk of severe acute and late toxicity. RT administered in the setting of scleroderma carried a higher risk of severe late toxicity, whereas RT to SLE patients carried a higher risk of severe acute and late toxicity. Conclusions Although generally well tolerated, RT in the setting of CVD appears to carry a higher risk of late toxicity. RT to the pelvis or in the setting of SLE or scleroderma may predispose to an even greater risk of severe toxicity. These issues should be considered when deciding whether to offer RT for these patients. Cancer 2008;113:648–53

Nitrogen Doped Carbon Nanofibers Derived from Water-Soluble Precursors

Nitrogen doped carbon fibers were synthesized from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a water soluble precursor. The PVA fine fibers were first developed by centrifugally spinning an aqueous based solution using Forcespinning® technology. The precursor fibers were then exposed to sulfuric acid vapors to partially carbonize and stabilize the fibers for further heat treatment. For nitrogen doping, the fibers were exposed to two different heat treatment routes. One was under a nitrogen atmosphere at 850°C followed by exposure to ammonia gas at 500°C. The second route consisted of heating the treated fibers in pure ammonia gas only, up to 850°C. Both heating schemes resulted in carbon based fibers that showed evidence of nitrogen content as shown by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The second route showed an effective doping of the carbon fiber with nitrogen atoms, measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which indicated that the nitrogen atoms were fully incorporated into the carbon framework

Neoadjuvant Therapy of Pancreatic Cancer: The Emerging Paradigm?

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140013/1/onco0192-sup-0001.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140013/2/onco0192.pd