Noninvasive Analyses of Kidney Injury Molecule-1 Messenger RNA in Kidney Transplant Recipients With Graft Dysfunction

AbstractBackgroundKidney graft fibrosis is a major factor related to chronic loss of kidney function. At present, the finding of fibrosis depends on the analysis of tissue in the renal biopsy, which has important limitations. In this study, we evaluated the messenger mRNA transcription and gene expression of kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) in kidney tissue and in urinary sediment cells of kidney transplant patients with graft dysfunction aiming at the development of techniques that may allow the noninvasive diagnosis of interstitral fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IF/TA).Patients and methodsRNA extracted from cells in tissue and urine of 77 renal transplant patients whose biopsies were classified according to the Banff scheme-2007. Four diagnostic groups were established: (1) acute tubular necrosis (n = 9); (2) acute rejection (n = 49); (3) acute calcineurin inhibitors nephrotoxicity (n = 10); and (4) interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA, n = 29). Tissue and urine cell RNA was amplified and quantification were made by real-time polymerase chain reactron. Data from the quantification of gene expression are presented as median and 25th to 75th percentiles.ResultsMessenger RNA levels of the KIM-1 gene were higher in the biopsies (26.17; 3.38–294.53) and urinary sediment cells (0.09; 0–5.81) of the patients classified as having IF/TA as compared with all others groups. A significant correlation between gene expression in samples of urine and tissue cells was found (P < .01).ConclusionThese initial data suggests that KIM-1 gene mRNA quantification can be used as a noninvasive biomarker of IF/TA

Configuring Crowdsourcing for Requirements Elicitation

Crowdsourcing is an emerging paradigm which utilises the power of the crowd in contributing information and solving problems. Crowdsourcing can support requirements elicitation, especially for systems used by a wide range of users and working in a dynamic context where requirements evolve regularly. For such systems, traditional elicitation methods are typically costly and limited in catering for the high diversity, scale and volatility of requirements. In this paper, we advocate the use of crowdsourcing for requirements elicitation and investigate ways to configure crowdsourcing to improve the quality of elicited requirements. To confirm and enhance our argument, we follow an empirical approach starting with two focus groups involving 14 participants, users and developers, followed by an online expert survey involving 34 participants from the Requirements Engineering community. We discuss our findings and present a set of challenges of applying crowdsourcing to aid requirements engineering with a focus on the elicitation stage

A Goal-based Framework for Contextual Requirements Modeling and Analysis

Requirements Engineering (RE) research often ignores, or presumes a uniform nature of the context in which the system operates. This assumption is no longer valid in emerging computing paradigms, such as ambient, pervasive and ubiquitous computing, where it is essential to monitor and adapt to an inherently varying context. Besides influencing the software, context may influence stakeholders' goals and their choices to meet them. In this paper, we propose a goal-oriented RE modeling and reasoning framework for systems operating in varying contexts. We introduce contextual goal models to relate goals and contexts; context analysis to refine contexts and identify ways to verify them; reasoning techniques to derive requirements reflecting the context and users priorities at runtime; and finally, design time reasoning techniques to derive requirements for a system to be developed at minimum cost and valid in all considered contexts. We illustrate and evaluate our approach through a case study about a museum-guide mobile information system

The cultural side of value creation

The question of how organizations create value has become a central question for understanding inter-firm competition and performance differentials. Much of the work on the topic emphasizes the importance of technological innovation for improving operational efficiency and/or product functionality . Accordingly, much of the work in the area has focused on understanding the development of technological capabilities and the dynamics of competition among different technologies. Whereas this line of research has contributed greatly to our understanding of value creation through technology performance improvement, it has also left unexplored the strategies for differentiating products on the basis of their cultural significance. Yet, research in a wide variety of disciplines ranging from anthropology, to cultural sociology, and consumer behavior shows that consumers value products not only for their functional and technical performance, but also for their cultural meanings. The infusion of products with cultural meanings enables consumers to use these products to make statements about their personal and social identity and status. It is therefore well understood that consumers derive value not only from what products do (functional value), but also from what they signify in a given social group (symbolic value). While strategy scholars recognize that product meanings are a source of differentiation and generate price premia (Porter, 1980), they also tend to view the activities that generate them – e.g. branding – as a part of the marketing strategy of the firm. More generally, strategy research has been criticized for its reluctance to delve into the demand side of value-creation. Rooted in disciplinary assumptions about atomistic consumers with idiosyncratic preferences, strategy researchers view demand as largely exogenous and ignore its cultural embeddedness in social conventions that define the cultural meanings of objects and shape consumption choices. As a result, they have given limited attention to the question of how firms can strategically manage the symbolic value of their products. In this paper we propose a cultural perspective on value creation that can direct strategic organization research toward the systematic investigation of how producers engage with the cultural meaning systems that supply frameworks for interpretation and valuation of goods. To guide research in this direction we first discuss how products acquire cultural significance and then outline three core implications of these ideas for the strategy and organization of firms. First, we discuss how recognizing the cultural significance of products shifts attention from technological innovation that alters product functionality to cultural innovation that alters their cultural significance. Second, we explain the need to develop distinct cultural resources that enable firms to identify and exploit opportunities for cultural innovation. Third, we draw attention to the need for cultural intent defined as developing an explicit strategy for utilizing cultural resources to achieve specific cultural positioning for the firm’s products

E835 at FNAL: Charmonium Spectroscopy in pˉp\bar p p Annihilations

I present preliminary results on the search for $h_c$ in its $\eta_c\gamma$ and $J/\psi\pi^0$ decay modes. We observe an excess of \eta_c\gamma$events near 3526 MeV that has a probability${\cal P} \sim 0.001$to arise from background fluctations. The resonance parameters are$M=3525.8 \pm 0.2 \pm 0.2 $MeV,$\Gamma\leq$1 MeV, and$10.6\pm 3.7\pm3.4(br) < \Gamma_{\bar{p}p}B_{\eta_c\gamma} < 12.8\pm 4.8\pm4.5(br) $eV. We find no event excess within the search region in the$J/\psi\pi^0$ mode.Comment: Presented at the 6th International Conference on Hyperons, Charm and Beauty Hadrons (BEACH 2004), Chicago(Il), June 27-July 3,200

Interference Study of the chi_c0 (1^3P_0) in the Reaction Proton-Antiproton -> pi^0 pi^0

Fermilab experiment E835 has observed proton-antiproton annihilation production of the charmonium state chi_c0 and its subsequent decay into pi^0 pi^0. Although the resonant amplitude is an order of magnitude smaller than that of the non-resonant continuum production of pi^0 pi^0, an enhanced interference signal is evident. A partial wave expansion is used to extract physics parameters. The amplitudes J=0 and 2, of comparable strength, dominate the expansion. Both are accessed by L=1 in the entrance proton-antiproton channel. The product of the input and output branching fractions is determined to be B(pbar p -> chi_c0) x B(chi_c0 -> pi^0 pi^0)= (5.09 +- 0.81 +- 0.25) x 10^-7.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by PRL (July 2003

Anointed or appointed? Father–daughter succession within the family business

With the focus on events and outcomes shaping most of the existing family business research on intra-family succession, the subtleties of the incumbent-successor relationship and the dynamic nature of succession as a process of becoming is somewhat neglected. In particular, we have limited understanding of how successor identities are constructed as legitimate between incumbent and successor during father-daughter succession. This article addresses this gap in understanding by exploring how the daughter successor engages in identity work with the father incumbent during the process of succession and the role of father-daughter gendered relations in shaping her successor identity. Using a two-stage research design strategy, we draw upon empirical evidence derived from 14 individual and joint semi-structured interviews to present a narrative analysis of five father-daughter dyads. In so doing, we unveil how the daughter’s successor identity was co-constructed as legitimate and how father-daughter gendered relations influenced this process. Although daughters rely on certain father-daughter relations (preparation, endorsement and osmotic credibility) for legitimacy, they also need to develop independently from their father in order to heighten their own visibility and establish credibility

Precision measurements of the total and partial widths of the psi(2S) charmonium meson with a new complementary-scan technique in antiproton-proton annihilations

We present new precision measurements of the psi(2S) total and partial widths from excitation curves obtained in antiproton-proton annihilations by Fermilab experiment E835 at the Antiproton Accumulator in the year 2000. A new technique of complementary scans was developed to study narrow resonances with stochastically cooled antiproton beams. The technique relies on precise revolution-frequency and orbit-length measurements, while making the analysis of the excitation curve almost independent of machine lattice parameters. We study the psi(2S) meson through the processes pbar p -> e+ e- and pbar p -> J/psi + X -> e+ e- + X. We measure the width to be Gamma = 290 +- 25(sta) +- 4(sys) keV and the combination of partial widths Gamma_e+e- * Gamma_pbarp / Gamma = 579 +- 38(sta) +- 36(sys) meV, which represent the most precise measurements to date.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Final manuscript accepted for publication in Phys. Lett. B. Parts of the text slightly expanded or rearranged; results are unchange

The UA9 experimental layout

The UA9 experimental equipment was installed in the CERN-SPS in March '09 with the aim of investigating crystal assisted collimation in coasting mode. Its basic layout comprises silicon bent crystals acting as primary collimators mounted inside two vacuum vessels. A movable 60 cm long block of tungsten located downstream at about 90 degrees phase advance intercepts the deflected beam. Scintillators, Gas Electron Multiplier chambers and other beam loss monitors measure nuclear loss rates induced by the interaction of the beam halo in the crystal. Roman pots are installed in the path of the deflected particles and are equipped with a Medipix detector to reconstruct the transverse distribution of the impinging beam. Finally UA9 takes advantage of an LHC-collimator prototype installed close to the Roman pot to help in setting the beam conditions and to analyze the efficiency to deflect the beam. This paper describes in details the hardware installed to study the crystal collimation during 2010.Comment: 15pages, 11 figure, submitted to JINS

Feasibility studies of the time-like proton electromagnetic form factor measurements with PANDA at FAIR

The possibility of measuring the proton electromagnetic form factors in the time-like region at FAIR with the \PANDA detector is discussed. Detailed simulations on signal efficiency for the annihilation of $\bar p +p$ into a lepton pair as well as for the most important background channels have been performed. It is shown that precision measurements of the differential cross section of the reaction $\bar p +p \to e^++ e^-$ can be obtained in a wide angular and kinematical range. The individual determination of the moduli of the electric and magnetic proton form factors will be possible up to a value of momentum transfer squared of $q^2\simeq 14$ (GeV/c)$^2$. The total $\bar p +p\to e^++e^-$ cross section will be measured up to $q^2\simeq 28$ (GeV/c)$^2$. The results obtained from simulated events are compared to the existing data. Sensitivity to the two photons exchange mechanism is also investigated.Comment: 12 pages, 4 tables, 8 figures Revised, added details on simulations, 4 tables, 9 figure