Fast Cars and No Brakes: Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation as a Platform for Novel Immunotherapies

AbstractAutologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is indicated in a number of hematologic malignancies, including multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Hodgkin lymphoma. Relapse, however, remains 1 of the main causes of post-ASCT failure, and several strategies are being investigated to decrease the risk of relapse of progression. Recent advances in the treatment of hematological malignancies have included adoptive transfer of genetically modified T cells that express chimeric antigen receptors or T cell receptors, as well the use of checkpoint inhibitors. Early clinical results in nontransplantation patients have been very promising. This review will focus on the use of gene-modified T cells and checkpoint inhibitors in stem cell transplantation

Remote characterization of fire behavior during the FireFlux II experiment

The FireFlux II field experiment was conducted on January 30th, 2013 in south-east Texas, USA, under high fire danger conditions. The experiment was designed to study the behavior of a head fire progressing through a flat, tall grass prairie, and it was informed by the use of a coupled fire-atmosphere model. Vegetation properties and fuel moisture were measured shortly before the experiment. Near-surface atmospheric conditions were monitored during the experiment using an elaborate meteorological instrumentation array. Fire behavior was observed through a combination of remote and in-situ sensors. Clements et al. (2019) presented the analysis of the experiment micrometeorology and in-situ fire behavior observations acquired using a thermocouple array. In this paper, we extend the study of fire behavior during the FireFlux II experiment with the analysis of remote sensing observations. Two thermal infrared and two visible cameras were deployed during the experiment. One thermal and one visible camera were mounted on a helicopter, whereas the other two cameras were installed on a 40-m-height tower next to the burn unit. The tower infrared camera covered a reduced area of interest coincident with the thermocouple array and it allowed monitoring the fire spread as well as measuring the spatially-resolved evolution of brightness temperature. Imagery collected from the helicopter allowed extending fire behavior measurements to the complete burn unit. While airborne IR footage was saturated and did not allow estimation of emitted radiant heat, its analysis allowed tracking fire progression through the plot and therefore estimating rate of spread and fire time of arrival. The existence of in-situ temperature observations provides an outstanding opportunity to validate remote sensing methodologies. In addition, the combination of remote observations with in-situ fire and fuel measurements allows a comprehensive characterization of fire behavior, including spatially-resolved fire rate of spread and fire time of arrival, fire radiative power, Byram’s fire line intensity, and air temperature during fire front passage. This paper presents preliminary results from this analysis. Such results demonstrate the usefulness of the selected datasets and the potential of the proposed methodology, encouraging further work. Possible applications of the resulting dataset include (i) the validation of existing fire behavior models that are able to predict any of the measured variables, (ii) the development of data-driven fire behavior models, and (iii) the investigation of the relative contribution of radiative and convective heat transfer mechanisms to fire spreadPostprint (published version

Mapping the depleted area of silicon diodes using a micro-focused X-ray beam

For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS detector at CERN, the current ATLAS Inner Detector will be replaced with the ATLAS Inner Tracker. The ATLAS Inner Tracker will be an all-silicon detector, consisting of a pixel tracker and a strip tracker. Sensors for the ITk strip tracker are required to have a low leakage current up to bias voltages of -700 V to maintain a low noise and power dissipation. In order to minimise sensor leakage currents, particularly in the high-radiation environment inside the ATLAS detector, sensors are foreseen to be operated at low temperatures and to be manufactured from wafers with a high bulk resistivity of several k{\Omega} cm. Simulations showed the electric field inside sensors with high bulk resistivity to extend towards the sensor edge, which could lead to increased surface currents for narrow dicing edges. In order to map the electric field inside biased silicon sensors with high bulk resistivity, three diodes from ATLAS silicon strip sensor prototype wafers were studied with a monochromatic, micro-focused X-ray beam at the Diamond Light Source. For all devices under investigation, the electric field inside the diode was mapped and its dependence on the applied bias voltage was studied. The findings showed that the electric field in each diode under investigation extended beyond its bias ring and reached the dicing edge

Emissivity prediction of functionalized surfaces using artificial intelligence

Tuning surface emissivity has been of great interest in thermal radiation applications, such as thermophotovoltaics and passive radiative cooling. As a low-cost and scalable technique for manufacturing surfaces with desired emissivities, femtosecond laser surface processing (FLSP) has recently drawn enormous attention. Despite the versatility offered by FLSP, there is a knowledge gap in accurately predicting the outcome emissivity prior to fabrication. In this work, we demonstrate the immense advantage of employing artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to predict the emissivity of complex surfaces. For this aim, we used FLSP to fabricate 116 different aluminum samples. A comprehensive dataset was established by collecting surface characteristics, laser operating parameters, and the measured emissivities for all samples. We demonstrate the successful application of AI in two distinct scenarios: (1) effective emissivity classification solely based on 3D surface morphology images, and (2) emissivity prediction based on surface characteristics and FLSP parameters. These findings open new pathways towards extended implementation of AI to predict various surface properties in functionalized samples or extract the required fabrication parameters via reverse engineering

Antibiotic Effects on Microbial Communities Responsible for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas generated by nitrification and denitrification. The goal of this project is to examine the effects of antibiotics on microbial communities responsible for N2O emissions from terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We conducted laboratory and mesocosm experiments in soil samples. Higher N2O production was observed in soils exposed to tetracycline. This was associated with reduction of bacterial denitrifiers abundance and enhanced fungal abundance

The Pointing System of the Herschel Space Observatory. Description, Calibration, Performance and Improvements

We present the activities carried out to calibrate and characterise the performance of the elements of attitude control and measurement on board the Herschel spacecraft. The main calibration parameters and the evolution of the indicators of the pointing performance are described, from the initial values derived from the observations carried out in the performance verification phase to those attained in the last year and half of mission, an absolute pointing error around or even below 1 arcsec, a spatial relative pointing error of some 1 arcsec and a pointing stability below 0.2 arsec. The actions carried out at the ground segment to improve the spacecraft pointing measurements are outlined. On-going and future developments towards a final refinement of the Herschel astrometry are also summarised. A brief description of the different components of the attitude control and measurement system (both in the space and in the ground segments) is also given for reference. We stress the importance of the cooperation between the different actors (scientists, flight dynamics and systems engineers, attitude control and measurement hardware designers, star-tracker manufacturers, etc.) to attain the final level of performance.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom