Octofoil Newsletter Index for Issues January 1947-December 2020

This index records the Ninth Division stories, and the names and pictures of the 39th Infantry Regiment found in The Octofoil, the official newsletter of the Ninth Division Association. Note: this index covers only the 39th Infantry Regiment. Indexing of the 47th and 60th Infantry Regiments are forthcoming

Chronicle of the 39th Infantry Regiment from Normandy to the Elbe: June 1943 - May 1945

The 39th Infantry Regiment fought as part of the 9th Infantry Division during World War II. This chonicle is a diary of the Regiment\u27s daily operations and actions as it progressed across Europe during 1944 and 1945. The chronicle is portrayed from the vantage point of Richard B. Kann (father of the author) and Dale E. Smith, who served as medics in the 39th Infantry Regiment during that time

From Group Recommendations to Group Formation

There has been significant recent interest in the area of group recommendations, where, given groups of users of a recommender system, one wants to recommend top-k items to a group that maximize the satisfaction of the group members, according to a chosen semantics of group satisfaction. Examples semantics of satisfaction of a recommended itemset to a group include the so-called least misery (LM) and aggregate voting (AV). We consider the complementary problem of how to form groups such that the users in the formed groups are most satisfied with the suggested top-k recommendations. We assume that the recommendations will be generated according to one of the two group recommendation semantics - LM or AV. Rather than assuming groups are given, or rely on ad hoc group formation dynamics, our framework allows a strategic approach for forming groups of users in order to maximize satisfaction. We show that the problem is NP-hard to solve optimally under both semantics. Furthermore, we develop two efficient algorithms for group formation under LM and show that they achieve bounded absolute error. We develop efficient heuristic algorithms for group formation under AV. We validate our results and demonstrate the scalability and effectiveness of our group formation algorithms on two large real data sets.Comment: 14 pages, 22 figure

Influence of C-Peptide on Glucose Utilisation

During the recent years, multiple studies demonstrated that C-peptide is not an inert peptide, but exerts important physiological effects. C-peptide binds to cell membranes, stimulates the Na,K-ATPase and the endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase. Moreover, there is evidence that C-peptide decreases glomerular hyperfiltration and increases glucose utilisation. Nevertheless, there is still limited knowledge concerning mechanisms leading to an increased glucose utilisation either in rats or in humans. The aim of this paper is to give an overview over the published studies regarding C-peptide and glucose metabolism from in vitro studies to longer lasting studies in humans

Dynamics and energetics of the South Pacific Convergence Zone during FGGE SOP-1 and South Pacific Convergence Zone and global-scale

Significant accomplishments (papers published, conference presentations, and education degrees) are presented. The focus of the current research is outlined. Plans for the coming year are discussed briefly

English-medium instruction and impact on academic performance: a randomized control study

Stakeholders and researchers in higher education have long debated the consequences of English-medium instruction (EMI); a key assumption of EMI is that students\u27 academic learning through English should be at least as good as learning through their first language (usually the national language). This study addressed the following question: “What is the impact from English-medium instruction on students’ academic performance in an online learning environment?” “Academic performance” was measured in two ways: number of correctly answered test questions and through-put/drop-out rate. The study adopted an experimental design involving a large group (n = 2,263) randomized control study in a programming course. Student participants were randomly allocated to an English-medium version of the course (the intervention group) or a Swedish-medium version of the course (the control group). The findings were that students enrolled on the English-medium version of the course answered statistically significantly fewer test questions correctly; the EMI students also dropped out from the course to a statistically significantly higher degree compared to students enrolled on the Swedish version of the course. The conclusion of this study is thus that EMI may, under certain circumstances, have negative consequences for students’ academic performance

Optical afterglow luminosities in the Swift epoch: confirming clustering and bimodality

We show that Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) of known redshift and rest frame optical extinction detected by the Swift satellite fully confirm earlier results concerning the distribution of the optical afterglow luminosity at 12 hours after trigger (rest frame time). This distribution is bimodal and relatively narrow, especially for the high luminosity branch. This is intriguing, given that Swift GRBs have, on average, a redshift larger than pre-Swift ones, and is unexpected in the common scenario explaining the GRB afterglow. We investigate if the observed distribution can be the result of selection effects affecting a unimodal parent luminosity distribution, and find that either the distribution is intrinsically bimodal, or most (60 per cent) of the bursts are absorbed by a substantial amount of grey dust. In both cases we suggest that most dark bursts should belong to the underluminous optical family.Comment: 5 pages 3 figures, minor revision, added reference, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Fast-growing pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma in a patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Predictive genetic screening and regular screening programs in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 are intended to detect and treat malignant tumors at the earliest stage possible. Malignant neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors are the most frequent cause of death in these patients. However, the extent and intervals of screening in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 are controversial as neuroendocrine tumors are usually slow growing. Here we report the case of a patient who developed a fast-growing neuroendocrine carcinoma within 15 months of a laparoscopic distal pancreatic resection.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We followed a group of 45 patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 by an annual screening program in the Department of Visceral, Thoracic, and Vascular Surgery at the University Hospital Marburg in cooperation with the Department of Radiology and the Division of Endocrinology. A man with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 who was diagnosed with a recurrent primary hyperparathyroidism underwent a distal pancreatic resection for a non-functional neuroendocrine tumor. In the context of our regular screening program, a large non-functional neuroendocrine tumor was diagnosed in the pancreatic head 15 months after the first pancreatic surgery. Therefore, we performed an enucleation and regional lymph node resection. At histology, the diagnosis of a neuroendocrine carcinoma with one lymph node metastasis was established. There was no evidence of recurrence 9 months after re-operation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Fast-growing neuroendocrine tumors are rare in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. The intervals, both postoperative and in newly diagnosed pancreatic lesions, in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 should be reduced to 6 months to establish the early diagnosis of rapidly progressive disease in a small subset of patients.</p

Comparison of NOAA/NMC stratospheric wind analyses with UARS high resolution Doppler Imager wind measurements

The NOAA National Weather Service currently derives global stratospheric wind analyses via several procedures. The first is the operational data assimilation system that extends from the surface up to about 50 mb and is in process of being tested to about 10 mb. In addition, a balanced wind is determined from the available Climate Analysis Center stratospheric height analyses that encompass the 70-0.4 mb region. The High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) recently launched as a member of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is the first satellite instrument designed to measure winds in this stratospheric region and, thus, provide a basic evaluation of the NMC derived products. The HRDI accomplishes this by utilizing a triple-etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer that allows one to measure the Doppler shift of O2 absorption and emission features of the atmosphere, from which the wind field can be determined

Discovery of the Very Red Near-Infrared and Optical Afterglow of the Short-Duration GRB 070724A

[Abridged] We report the discovery of the near-infrared and optical afterglow of the short-duration gamma-ray burst GRB070724A. The afterglow is detected in i,J,H,K observations starting 2.3 hr after the burst with K=19.59+/-0.16 mag and i=23.79+/-0.07 mag, but is absent in images obtained 1.3 years later. Fading is also detected in the K-band between 2.8 and 3.7 hr at a 4-sigma significance level. The optical/near-IR spectral index, beta_{O,NIR}=-2, is much redder than expected in the standard afterglow model, pointing to either significant dust extinction, A_{V,host}~2 mag, or a non-afterglow origin for the near-IR emission. The case for extinction is supported by a shallow optical to X-ray spectral index, consistent with the definition for ``dark bursts'', and a normal near-IR to X-ray spectral index. Moreover, a comparison to the optical discovery magnitudes of all short GRBs with optical afterglows indicates that the near-IR counterpart of GRB070724A is one of the brightest to date, while its observed optical emission is one of the faintest. In the context of a non-afterglow origin, the near-IR emission may be dominated by a mini-supernova, leading to an estimated ejected mass of M~10^-4 Msun and a radioactive energy release efficiency of f~0.005 (for v~0.3c). However, the mini-SN model predicts a spectral peak in the UV rather than near-IR, suggesting that this is either not the correct interpretation or that the mini-SN models need to be revised. Finally, the afterglow coincides with a star forming galaxy at z=0.457, previously identified as the host based on its coincidence with the X-ray afterglow position (~2" radius). Our discovery of the optical/near-IR afterglow makes this association secure.Comment: Submitted to ApJ; 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl