12,698 research outputs found
ELECTRONIC MARKET USE BY OKLAHOMA LAMB PRODUCERS
Socioeconomic and production system characteristics of a sample of Oklahoma sheep producers were employed to examine the decision to use or not use an electronic market for slaughter lambs. Producer attributes that influence electronic market use were identified with qualitative choice models. The results help identify characteristics of electronic markets which influence their success. The findings also have implications about educational opportunities for cooperative extension.Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,
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Integrity static analysis of COTS/SOUP
This paper describes the integrity static analysis approach developed to support the justification of commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) used in a safety-related system. The static analysis was part of an overall software qualification programme, which also included the work reported in our paper presented at Safecomp 2002. Integrity static analysis focuses on unsafe language constructs and “covert” flows, where one thread can affect the data or control flow of another thread. The analysis addressed two main aspects: the internal integrity of the code (especially for the more critical functions), and the intra-component integrity, checking for covert channels. The analysis process was supported by an aggregation of tools, combined and engineered to support the checks done and to scale as necessary. Integrity static analysis is feasible for industrial scale software, did not require unreasonable resources and we provide data that illustrates its contribution to the software qualification programme
Bounds on the force between black holes
We treat the problem of N interacting, axisymmetric black holes and obtain
two relations among physical parameters of the system including the force
between the black holes. The first relation involves the total mass, the
angular momenta, the distances and the forces between the black holes. The
second one relates the angular momentum and area of each black hole with the
forces acting on it.Comment: 13 pages, no figure
Note: "Lock-in accelerometry" to follow sink dynamics in shaken granular matter
Understanding the penetration dynamics of intruders in granular beds is
relevant not only for fundamental Physics, but also for geophysical processes
and construction on sediments or granular soils in areas potentially affected
by earthquakes. While the penetration of intruders in two dimensional (2D)
laboratory granular beds can be followed using video recording, it is useless
in three dimensional (3D) beds of non-transparent materials such as common
sand. Here we propose a method to quantify the sink dynamics of an intruder
into laterally shaken granular beds based on the temporal correlations between
the signals from a reference accelerometer fixed to the shaken granular bed,
and a probe accelerometer deployed inside the intruder. Due to its analogy with
the working principle of a lock in amplifier, we call this technique Lock in
accelerometry (LIA). During Earthquakes, some soils can lose their ability to
sustain shear and deform, causing subsidence and sometimes substantial building
damage due to deformation or tumblin
Extracting the depolarization coefficient D_NN from data measured with a full acceptance detector
The spin transfer from vertically polarized beam protons to Lambda or Sigma
hyperons of the associated strangeness production pp -> pK Lambda (Sigma) is
described with the depolarization coefficient D_NN. As the polarization of the
hyperons is determined by their weak decays, detectors, which have a large
acceptance for the decay particles, are needed. In this paper a formula is
derived, which describes the depolarization coefficient D_NN by count rates of
a 4 pi detector. It is shown, that formulas, which are given in publications
for detectors with restricted acceptance, are specific cases of this formula
for a 4 pi detector.Comment: Accepted for publication by Nuclear Instruments and Methods in
Physics Research Section
Killing Vector Fields in Three Dimensions: A Method to Solve Massive Gravity Field Equations
Killing vector fields in three dimensions play important role in the
construction of the related spacetime geometry. In this work we show that when
a three dimensional geometry admits a Killing vector field then the Ricci
tensor of the geometry is determined in terms of the Killing vector field and
its scalars. In this way we can generate all products and covariant derivatives
at any order of the ricci tensor. Using this property we give ways of solving
the field equations of Topologically Massive Gravity (TMG) and New Massive
Gravity (NMG) introduced recently. In particular when the scalars of the
Killing vector field (timelike, spacelike and null cases) are constants then
all three dimensional symmetric tensors of the geometry, the ricci and einstein
tensors, their covariant derivatives at all orders, their products of all
orders are completely determined by the Killing vector field and the metric.
Hence the corresponding three dimensional metrics are strong candidates of
solving all higher derivative gravitational field equations in three
dimensions.Comment: 25 pages, some changes made and some references added, to be
published in Classical and Quantum Gravit
A randomized, phase II study of afatinib versus cetuximab in metastatic or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
BackgroundAfatinib is an oral, irreversible ErbB family blocker that has shown activity in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated lung cancer. We hypothesized that the agent would have greater antitumor activity compared with cetuximab in recurrent or metastatic (R/M) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients, whose disease has progressed after platinum-containing therapy.Patients and methodsAn open-label, randomized, phase II trial was conducted in 43 centers; 124 patients were randomized (1 : 1) to either afatinib (50 mg/day) or cetuximab (250 mg/m(2)/week) until disease progression or intolerable adverse events (AEs) (stage I), with optional crossover (stage II). The primary end point was tumor shrinkage before crossover assessed by investigator (IR) and independent central review (ICR).ResultsA total of 121 patients were treated (61 afatinib, 60 cetuximab) and 68 crossed over to stage II (32 and 36 respectively). In stage I, mean tumor shrinkage by IR/ICR was 10.4%/16.6% with afatinib and 5.4%/10.1% with cetuximab (P = 0.46/0.30). Objective response rate was 16.1%/8.1% with afatinib and 6.5%/9.7% with cetuximab (IR/ICR). Comparable disease control rates were observed with afatinib (50%) and cetuximab (56.5%) by IR; similar results were seen by ICR. Most common grade ≥3 drug-related AEs (DRAEs) were rash/acne (18% versus 8.3%), diarrhea (14.8% versus 0%), and stomatitis/mucositis (11.5% versus 0%) with afatinib and cetuximab, respectively. Patients with DRAEs leading to treatment discontinuation were 23% with afatinib and 5% with cetuximab. In stage II, disease control rate (IR/ICR) was 38.9%/33.3% with afatinib and 18.8%/18.8% with cetuximab.ConclusionAfatinib showed antitumor activity comparable to cetuximab in R/M HNSCC in this exploratory phase II trial, although more patients on afatinib discontinued treatment due to AEs. Sequential EGFR/ErbB treatment with afatinib and cetuximab provided sustained clinical benefit in patients after crossover, suggesting a lack of cross-resistance
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