The Cancer Immunotherapy Armamentarium: Assessing Applications, Ambitions, and Amplitude

Given the high, and rapidly increasing, incidence of cancer coupled with the enormous cost burden associated with the disease, it has been, and will continue to be, an area of intense focus in biomedical, translational, and clinical research. Research steered towards targeting and manipulating the body’s own immune function to fight cancer has accompanied a paradigm shift in treatment modalities that aims to include more precision/personalized medicine. The positive initial findings and clinical results of recent immunotherapies has precipitated a wave of attention and interest into the field, both in the general public and within the biomedical community. While there have been promising results, harnessing and augmenting the immune system’s ability to recognize and fight cancer has not come without challenges and controversies. In terms of etiology and pathophysiology cancer is incredibly diverse and consequently will likely always require an equally diverse battery of treatment modalities. Combining existing and novel immunotherapies with classical therapeutic approaches will continue to be needed. Where combination therapies are employed caution must be taken to mitigate the potential for increased toxicity and financial burden. The challenge faced will be to work towards rational synergistic approaches with attainable applications and intelligent clinical designs. Coordination and cooperation within the biomedical and translational research communities, as well as with governmental and non-profit organizations to divide attention, funding, and further research into improving all existing and developing strategies remains imperative to be most successful in elucidating and developing the best arsenal against cancer.https://commons.und.edu/es-showcase/1008/thumbnail.jp

Did COVID-19 Change Life Insurance Offerings?

The profitability of life insurance offerings is contingent on accurate projections and pricing of mortality risk. The COVID-19 pandemic created significant uncertainty, with dire mortality predictions from early forecasts resulting in widespread government intervention and greater individual precaution that reduced the projected death toll. We analyze how life insurance companies changed pricing and offerings in response to COVID-19 using monthly data on term life insurance policies from Compulife. We estimate event-study models that exploit well-established variation in the COVID-19 mortality rate based on age and underlying health status. Despite the increase in mortality risk and significant uncertainty, we find limited evidence that life insurance companies increased premiums or decreased policy offerings due to COVID-19

An Investigation of the Structural Integrity of Selected Components of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor

An investigation was made to determine the structural behavior of selected components of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor for increased power level conditions. It was found that a reactor cooling water outlet temperature of 150 deg F will cause severe plastic strain cycling in the aluminum housings for the large test facilities. Increasing the reactor cooling water flow rate of 21,000 gpm will cause plastic deformations in certain reaons of the core box. These latter deformations can be tolerated, but the full implications asscciated with any change in pressure differential must be understood before adopting the above flow rate. (auth

Isotropy of the velocity of light and the Sagnac effect

In this paper, it is shown, using a geometrical approach, the isotropy of the velocity of light measured in a rotating frame in Minkowski space-time, and it is verified that this result is compatible with the Sagnac effect. Furthermore, we find that this problem can be reduced to the solution of geodesic triangles in a Minkowskian cylinder. A relationship between the problems established on the cylinder and on the Minkowskian plane is obtained through a local isometry.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages, 3 eps figures; typos corrected, added references, minor changes; to appear in "Relativity in Rotating Frames", ed. G. Rizzi G. and M.L. Ruggiero, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2003

Compact RF resonator for cryogenic ion traps

We report on the investigation and implementation of a lumped-component, radio-frequency resonator used in a cryogenic vacuum environment to drive an ion trap. The resonator was required to achieve the voltages necessary to trap (about 100 V), while dissipating as little power as possible (< 250 mW). Ultimately a voltage gain of 100 was measured at 5.7 K. Single calcium ions were confined in a trap driven by this device, providing proof of successful resonator operation at low temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Durability-Based Design Criteria for a Quasi-Isotropic Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Automotive Composite

This report provides recommended durability-based design properties and criteria for a quais-isotropic carbon-fiber thermoplastic composite for possible automotive structural applications. The composite consisted of a PolyPhenylene Sulfide (PPS) thermoplastic matrix (Fortron's PPS - Ticona 0214B1 powder) reinforced with 16 plies of carbon-fiber unidirectional tape, [0?/90?/+45?/-45?]2S. The carbon fiber was Hexcel AS-4C and was present in a fiber volume of 53% (60%, by weight). The overall goal of the project, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Freedom Car and Vehicle Technologies and is closely coordinated with the Advanced Composites Consortium, is to develop durability-driven design data and criteria to assure the long-term integrity of carbon-fiber-based composite systems for automotive structural applications. This document is in two parts. Part 1 provides design data and correlations, while Part 2 provides the underlying experimental data and models. The durability issues addressed include the effects of short-time, cyclic, and sustained loadings; temperature; fluid environments; and low-energy impacts (e.g., tool drops and kickups of roadway debris) on deformation, strength, and stiffness. Guidance for design analysis, time-independent and time-dependent allowable stresses, rules for cyclic loadings, and damage-tolerance design guidance are provided