A Survey of Corporate Real Estate Executives on Factors Influencing Corporate Real Estate Performance

There is a growing awareness that corporations can profit from more effective management of their real estate assets, yet there is little academic research in the field. Based on a survey of corporate real estate executives, this article identifies some key organizational and operational factors that are considered to be important in effective corporate real estate asset management. A qualitative model of corporate real estate effectiveness is proposed, drawing on the emerging literature in the field. The model is tested using the survey data, yielding encouraging results that point to promising new areas of research.

Migration Strategies Vary in Space, Time, and Among Species in the Smallfish Metacommunity of the Everglades

Spatial ecology and movement strategies of aquatic organisms may limit their response to human-caused drying of wetland habitats. We characterized the movement strategies of the most abundant species of fish in the wetlands of the Everglades (USA) to better understand how they cope with annual fluctuations in aquatic habitat size. Over a six-year period, we used a sampling method designed to measure the density, activity levels, and movement direction of small fishes. We estimated changes in displacement speed and directional bias to identify patterns of movement that different fishes use to disperse over the gradient of disturbance in this environment. Movement of fishes ranged from highly active and directed to passive and random, and varied with hydrological condition (water rising, stable, or dropping). Six of the eight species studied displayed directed movement (possibly displaying taxis along environmental gradients) that varied in both speed and directional bias in response to hydrological cues. The remaining two species did not adjust the direction that they moved in response to hydrological cues, but their activity levels increased. Moving with directional bias may improve a fish\u27s chance of early arrival in a newly available habitat or of escaping the risk of desiccation in drying wetlands. Fishes that change activity levels may improve their likelihood of reaching favorable environments by increasing diffusion rates and greater sampling of the environment. Interspecific variation in movement strategies is predicted to play a large role in community structure and may be a primary driver of the dynamics of the Everglades fish metacommunity

Trajectory Design for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission, scheduled to be launched in 2017. TESS will travel in a highly eccentric orbit around Earth, with initial perigee radius near 17 Earth radii (Re) and apogee radius near 59 Re. The orbit period is near 2:1 resonance with the Moon, with apogee nearly 90 degrees out-of-phase with the Moon, in a configuration that has been shown to be operationally stable. TESS will execute phasing loops followed by a lunar flyby, with a final maneuver to achieve 2:1 resonance with the Moon. The goals of a resonant orbit with long-term stability, short eclipses and limited oscillations of perigee present significant challenges to the trajectory design. To rapidly assess launch opportunities, we adapted the Schematics Window Methodology (SWM76) launch window analysis tool to assess the TESS mission constraints. To understand the long-term dynamics of such a resonant orbit in the Earth-Moon system we employed Dynamical Systems Theory in the Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP). For precise trajectory analysis we use a high-fidelity model and multiple shooting in the General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) to optimize the maneuver delta-V and meet mission constraints. Finally we describe how the techniques we have developed can be applied to missions with similar requirements. Keywords: resonant orbit, stability, lunar flyby, phasing loops, trajectory optimizatio

Potential Tumor Suppressor Role for the c-Myb Oncogene in Luminal Breast Cancer

The transcription factor c-Myb has been well characterized as an oncogene in several human tumor types, and its expression in the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell population is essential for proper hematopoiesis. However, the role of c-Myb in mammopoeisis and breast tumorigenesis is poorly understood, despite its high expression in the majority of breast cancer cases (60-80%).We find that c-Myb high expression in human breast tumors correlates with the luminal/ER+ phenotype and a good prognosis. Stable RNAi knock-down of endogenous c-Myb in the MCF7 luminal breast tumor cell line increased tumorigenesis both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting a possible tumor suppressor role in luminal breast cancer. We created a mammary-derived c-Myb expression signature, comprised of both direct and indirect c-Myb target genes, and found it to be highly correlated with a published mature luminal mammary cell signature and least correlated with a mammary stem/progenitor lineage gene signature.These data describe, for the first time, a possible tumor suppressor role for the c-Myb proto-oncogene in breast cancer that has implications for the understanding of luminal tumorigenesis and for guiding treatment

The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope: Instrument and Data Characteristics

The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) was flown as part of the Astro observatory on the Space Shuttle Columbia in December 1990 and again on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in March 1995. Ultraviolet (1200-3300 Angstroms) images of a variety of astronomical objects, with a 40 arcmin field of view and a resolution of about 3 arcsec, were recorded on photographic film. The data recorded during the first flight are available to the astronomical community through the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC); the data recorded during the second flight will soon be available as well. This paper discusses in detail the design, operation, data reduction, and calibration of UIT, providing the user of the data with information for understanding and using the data. It also provides guidelines for analyzing other astronomical imagery made with image intensifiers and photographic film.Comment: 44 pages, LaTeX, AAS preprint style and EPSF macros, accepted by PAS

Photometry of Kuiper belt object (486958) Arrokoth from New Horizons LORRI

On January 1st 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by the classical Kuiper belt object (486958) Arrokoth (provisionally designated 2014 MU69), possibly the most primitive object ever explored by a spacecraft. The I/F of Arrokoth is analyzed and fit with a photometric function that is a linear combination of the Lommel-Seeliger (lunar) and Lambert photometric functions. Arrokoth has a geometric albedo of p_v = 0.21_(−0.04)^(+0.05) at a wavelength of 550 nm and ≈0.24 at 610 nm. Arrokoth's geometric albedo is greater than the median but consistent with a distribution of cold classical Kuiper belt objects whose geometric albedos were determined by fitting a thermal model to radiometric observations. Thus, Arrokoth's geometric albedo adds to the orbital and spectral evidence that it is a cold classical Kuiper belt object. Maps of the normal reflectance and hemispherical albedo of Arrokoth are presented. The normal reflectance of Arrokoth's surface varies with location, ranging from ≈0.10–0.40 at 610 nm with an approximately Gaussian distribution. Both Arrokoth's extrema dark and extrema bright surfaces are correlated to topographic depressions. Arrokoth has a bilobate shape and the two lobes have similar normal reflectance distributions: both are approximately Gaussian, peak at ≈0.25 at 610 nm, and range from ≈0.10–0.40, which is consistent with co-formation and co-evolution of the two lobes. The hemispherical albedo of Arrokoth varies substantially with both incidence angle and location, the average hemispherical albedo at 610 nm is 0.063 ± 0.015. The Bond albedo of Arrokoth at 610 nm is 0.062 ± 0.015

Particle-Like Solutions of the Einstein-Dirac Equations

The coupled Einstein-Dirac equations for a static, spherically symmetric system of two fermions in a singlet spinor state are derived. Using numerical methods, we construct an infinite number of soliton-like solutions of these equations. The stability of the solutions is analyzed. For weak coupling (i.e., small rest mass of the fermions), all the solutions are linearly stable (with respect to spherically symmetric perturbations), whereas for stronger coupling, both stable and unstable solutions exist. For the physical interpretation, we discuss how the energy of the fermions and the (ADM) mass behave as functions of the rest mass of the fermions. Although gravitation is not renormalizable, our solutions of the Einstein-Dirac equations are regular and well-behaved even for strong coupling.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX, 21 PostScript figures, some references adde

ATR maintains chromosomal integrity during postnatal cerebellar neurogenesis and is required for medulloblastoma formation

Microcephaly and medulloblastoma may both result from mutations that compromise genomic stability. We report that ATR, which is mutated in the microcephalic disorder Seckel syndrome, sustains cerebellar growth by maintaining chromosomal integrity during postnatal neurogenesis. Atr deletion in cerebellar granule neuron progenitors (CGNPs) induced proliferation-associated DNA damage, p53 activation, apoptosis and cerebellar hypoplasia in mice. Co-deletions of either p53 or Bax and Bak prevented apoptosis in Atr-deleted CGNPs, but failed to fully rescue cerebellar growth. ATR-deficient CGNPs had impaired cell cycle checkpoint function and continued to proliferate, accumulating chromosomal abnormalities. RNA-Seq demonstrated that the transcriptional response to ATR-deficient proliferation was highly p53 dependent and markedly attenuated by p53 co-deletion. Acute ATR inhibition in vivo by nanoparticle-formulated VE-822 reproduced the developmental disruptions seen with Atr deletion. Genetic deletion of Atr blocked tumorigenesis in medulloblastoma-prone SmoM2 mice. Our data show that p53-driven apoptosis and cell cycle arrest – and, in the absence of p53, non-apoptotic cell death – redundantly limit growth in ATR-deficient progenitors. These mechanisms may be exploited for treatment of CGNP-derived medulloblastoma using ATR inhibition

A Gene Expression Panel is Accurate for Diagnosis and Monitoring Treatment of Eosinophilic Esophagitis in Adults

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) can be difficult to diagnose. We aimed to evaluate whether a gene expression score could differentiate adult EoE cases from non-EoE controls and to determine whether scores normalized after treatment for EoE

BlackOPs: Increasing confidence in variant detection through mappability filtering

Identifying variants using high-throughput sequen-cing data is currently a challenge because true biological variants can be indistinguishable from technical artifacts. One source of technical arti-fact results from incorrectly aligning experimen-tally observed sequences to their true genomic origin (‘mismapping’) and inferring differences in mismapped sequences to be true variants. We de-veloped BlackOPs, an open-source tool that simu-lates experimental RNA-seq and DNA whole exome sequences derived from the reference genome, aligns these sequences by custom parameters, detects variants and outputs a blacklist of positions and alleles caused by mismapping. Blacklist