Holomorphic Extension from Weakly Pseudoconcave CR Manifolds

Let M be a smooth locally embeddable CR manifold, having some CR dimension m and some CR codimension d. We find an improved local geometric condition on M which guarantees, at a point p on M, that germs of CR distributions are smooth functions, and have extensions to germs of holomorphic functions on a full ambient neighborhood of p. Our condition is a form of weak pseudoconcavity, closely related to essential pseudoconcavity as introduced in [HN1]. Applications are made to CR meromorphic functions and mappings. Explicit examples are given which satisfy our new condition,but which are not pseudoconcave in the strong sense. These results demonstrate that for codimension d > 1, there are additional phenomena which are invisible when d = 1

Analysis of internal fuel motion during PINEX-2 experiment

This paper describes the analyses performed for the PINEX-2 experiment to calculate the ejection of molten fuel into the reflector and fission gas plenum for an internally-vented fuel pin during a simulated 5$/s transient overpower excursion. The LAFM code was used to predict the transient fuel melting and fission gas release, and the HOTPIM and FUMO-T codes were used to predict the fuel ejection. The analytical results were compared with initial data from both the Pinhole-TV Imaging System and the fast-neutron hodoscope, as well as post-transient examinations of the fuel pin

Strategien zur Regulation der Schwarzfäule (Guignardia bidwellii) im ökologischen Weinbau

Die Schwarzfäule tritt in einigen deutschen Weinbaugebieten flächendeckend auf und kann gravierende Ertragsausfälle verursachen. Um die Produktionssicherheit im ökologischen Weinbau zu gewährleisten, wurde ein Kooperationsprojekt mit der Zielsetzung initiiert, Informationen über die Biologie des Schadpilzes zu erarbeiten und Strategien zur Prävention und Bekämpfung der Krankheit unter den spezifischen Bedingungen des ökologischen Weinbaus zu entwickeln. Die Biologie des Schaderregers und seiner Interaktionen mit der Rebe wurde in Hinblick auf die Fruchtkörperentwicklung, die Sporenbildung und den Infektionsprozess eingehend untersucht und in Beziehung zu Witterungsbedingungen und Bewirtschaftungsparametern gesetzt. Die Ergebnisse bilden eine Grundlage für die Einschätzung des Infektionsrisikos und die Entwicklung von Entscheidungshilfen für den Rebschutz. Traditionelle und „pilzwiderstandsfähige“ Rebsorten wurden hinsichtlich ihrer Anfälligkeit für die Schwarzfäule charakterisiert, wodurch den Winzern Informationen für die Auswahl weniger Anfälliger Sorten zum Anbau in Befallsgebieten zur Verfügung stehen. Befallenes Rebholz und befallene Ranken wurden als bedeutende Quellen des Primärinokulums der Schwarzfäule identifiziert. Das Entfernen befallener Blätter bei Laubarbeiten erwies sich als Möglichkeit, das Infektionsrisiko für die Trauben zu reduzieren. Aus einer Vielzahl von Mikroorganismen, Pflanzenextrakten, Pflanzenschutz- und –stärkungsmitteln wurden wirksame Agenzien selektiert und im Freiland unter Praxisbedingungen geprüft. Die Kombination von Pflanzenschutzmitteln auf der Basis von Schwefel und Kupfer war besonders wirksam. Wurde, abhängig vom Entwicklungsstadium und dem Infektionsrisiko, das Kupfer mit Gesteinsmehl ersetzt, ließ sich der Kupferaufwand erheblich reduzieren. Im Gegensatz zu Gewächshausversuchen war die Wirkung saponinhaltiger Pflanzenextrakte im Freiland unzureichend. Bei entsprechender Formulierung zur Verbesserung der Regenfestigkeit könnte das große Potential dieser Pflanzenextrakte jedoch genutzt werden. Aufgrund der Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojekts stehen dem ökologischen Weinbau Informationen als Grundlage eines umfassenden Managementkonzepts für die Schwarzfäule zur Verfügung

Unacceptably High Mortality Related to Measles Epidemics in Niger, Nigeria, and Chad

BACKGROUND: Despite the comprehensive World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) measles mortality–reduction strategy and the Measles Initiative, a partnership of international organizations supporting measles mortality reduction in Africa, certain high-burden countries continue to face recurrent epidemics. To our knowledge, few recent studies have documented measles mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of our study was to investigate measles mortality in three recent epidemics in Niamey (Niger), N'Djamena (Chad), and Adamawa State (Nigeria). METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted three exhaustive household retrospective mortality surveys in one neighbourhood of each of the three affected areas: Boukoki, Niamey, Niger (April 2004, n = 26,795); Moursal, N'Djamena, Chad (June 2005, n = 21,812); and Dong District, Adamawa State, Nigeria (April 2005, n = 16,249), where n is the total surveyed population in each of the respective areas. Study populations included all persons resident for at least 2 wk prior to the study, a duration encompassing the measles incubation period. Heads of households provided information on measles cases, clinical outcomes up to 30 d after rash onset, and health-seeking behaviour during the epidemic. Measles cases and deaths were ascertained using standard WHO surveillance-case definitions. Our main outcome measures were measles attack rates (ARs) and case fatality ratios (CFRs) by age group, and descriptions of measles complications and health-seeking behaviour. Measles ARs were the highest in children under 5 y old (under 5 y): 17.1% in Boukoki, 17.2% in Moursal, and 24.3% in Dong District. CFRs in under 5-y-olds were 4.6%, 4.0%, and 10.8% in Boukoki, Moursal, and Dong District, respectively. In all sites, more than half of measles cases in children aged under 5 y experienced acute respiratory infection and/or diarrhoea in the 30 d following rash onset. Of measles cases, it was reported that 85.7% (979/1,142) of patients visited a health-care facility within 30 d after rash onset in Boukoki, 73.5% (519/706) in Moursal, and 52.8% (603/1,142) in Dong District. CONCLUSIONS: Children in these countries still face unacceptably high mortality from a completely preventable disease. While the successes of measles mortality–reduction strategies and progress observed in measles control in other countries of the region are laudable and evident, they should not overshadow the need for intensive efforts in countries that have just begun implementation of the WHO/UNICEF comprehensive strategy

Thermal Links for the Implementation of an Optical Refrigerator

Optical refrigeration has been demonstrated by several groups of researchers, but the cooling elements have not been thermally linked to realistic heat loads in ways that achieve the desired temperatures. The ideal thermal link will have minimal surface area, provide complete optical isolation for the load, and possess high thermal conductivity. We have designed thermal links that minimize the absorption of fluoresced photons by the heat load using multiple mirrors and geometric shapes including a hemisphere, a kinked waveguide, and a tapered waveguide. While total link performance is dependent on additional factors, we have observed net transmission of photons with the tapered link as low as 0.04%. Our optical tests have been performed with a surrogate source that operates at 625 nm and mimics the angular distribution of light emitted from the cooling element of the Los Alamos solid state optical refrigerator. We have confirmed the optical performance of our various link geometries with computer simulations using CODE V optical modeling software. In addition we have used the thermal modeling tool in COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS to investigate other heating factors that affect the thermal performance of the optical refrigerator. Assuming an ideal cooling element and a nonabsorptive dielectric trapping mirror, the three dominant heating factors are (1) absorption of fluoresced photons transmitted through the thermal link, (2) blackbody radiation from the surrounding environment, and (3) conductive heat transfer through mechanical supports. Modeling results show that a 1 cm3 load can be chilled to 107 K with a 100Wpump laser. We have used the simulated steady-state cooling temperatures of the heat load to compare link designs and system configurations

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

Constraining the Nature of Dark Energy using the SKA

We investigate the potential of the Square Kilometer Array Telescope (SKA) to constrain the sound speed of dark energy. The Integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) effect results in a significant power spectrum signal when CMB temperature anisotropies are cross-correlated with galaxies detectable with the SKA in HI. We consider using this measurement, the autocorrelation of HI galaxies and the CMB temperature power spectrum to derive constraints on the sound speed. We study the contributions to the cross-correlation signal made by galaxies at different redshifts and use redshift tomography to improve the signal-to-noise. We use a chi-square analysis to estimate the significance of detecting a sound speed different from that expected in quintessence models, finding that there is potential to distinguish very low sound speeds from the quintessence value.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures; updated references for publication MNRA

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts