Generalised risk-sensitive control with full and partial state observation

This paper generalises the risk-sensitive cost functional by introducing noise dependent penalties on the state and control variables. The optimal control problems for the full and partial state observation are considered. Using a change of probability measure approach, explicit closed-form solutions are found in both cases. This has resulted in a new risk-sensitive regulator and filter, which are generalisations of the well-known classical results

Deep Neural Networks - A Brief History

Introduction to deep neural networks and their history.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure

Cystic lymphangioma of the lesser sac presenting as acute appendicitis: A case report

Intra-abdominal lymphangiomas usually present by 2 years of age and are uncommon in adults. Cystic lymphagiomas arising from the lesser sac are even more uncommon. We report an unusual case of a lesser sac cystic lymphangioma presenting as acute appendicitis. A 21 year old female was admitted with pyrexia, right iliac fossa tenderness and an elevated C-reactive protein (CRP). At laparotomy, a large fluid filled cystic lesion was observed occupying the right side of the abdominal cavity. The lesion was excised in its entirety and histological diagnosis confirmed lymphangioma. The patient remains well with no evidence of recurrence 1 year post resection

OCT2, SSX and SAGE1 reveal the phenotypic heterogeneity of spermatocytic seminoma reflecting distinct subpopulations of spermatogonia

Spermatocytic seminoma (SS) is a rare testicular neoplasm that occurs predominantly in older men. In this study, we aimed to shed light on the histogenesis of SS by investigating the developmental expression of protein markers that identify distinct subpopulations of human spermatogonia in the normal adult testis. We analysed the expression pattern of OCT2, SSX2-4, and SAGE1 in 36 SS cases and four intratubular SS (ISS) as well as a series of normal testis samples throughout development. We describe for the first time two different types of SS characterized by OCT2 or SSX2-4 immunoexpression. These findings are consistent with the mutually exclusive antigenic profile of these markers during different stages of testicular development and in the normal adult testis. OCT2 was expressed predominantly in Adark spermatogonia, SSX2-4 was present in Apale and B spermatogonia and leptotene spermatocytes, whilst SAGE1 was exclusively present in a subset of post-pubertal germ cells, most likely B spermatogonia. The presence of OCT2 and SSX2-4 in distinct subsets of germ cells implies that these markers represent germ cells at different maturation stages. Analysis of SAGE1 and SSX2-4 in ISS showed spatial differences suggesting ongoing maturation of germ cells during progression of SS tumourigenesis. We conclude that the expression pattern of OCT2, SSX2-4, and SAGE1 supports the origin of SS from spermatogonia and provides new evidence for heterogeneity of this tumour, potentially linked either to the cellular origin of SS or to partial differentiation during tumour progression, including a hitherto unknown OCT2-positive variant of the tumour likely derived from Adark spermatogonia. Copyright © 2011 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Methodology for evaluating thermal track buckling in dual gauge tracks with continuous welded rail

In the National Spanish railway network, two types of track gauge with continuous welded rails are currently in use: the Iberian wide gauge (1668 mm) and the standard gauge (1435 mm). In order to improve links and freight traffic between different lines and with the rest of Europe, a dual gauge track with three rails was developed. This solution modifies the classical track configuration, so it is necessary to develop new methodologies and studies to understand its behavior. Among other loads applied on a continuous welded rail track, a considerable rise in temperature induces compressive stresses in the three rails that can lead to lateral track buckling. Moreover, on dual gauge tracks, the addition of the third rail increases the axial compression, which may lead to track instability. For this reason, a three-dimensional continuous welded rail model is developed in this study to be used for dual gauge track buckling analysis on straight tracks subjected to temperature load. The continuous welded rail dual gauge track model consists of beam, solid and spring elements, in which a non-linear behaviour of the ballast is considered. The results obtained may be used to predict the buckling capacity of the continuous welded rail on dual gauge tracks with respect to different parameters such as lateral resist-ance, lateral imperfections, sleeper spacing or torsional stiffness.Villalba Sanchis, I.; Insa Franco, R.; Salvador Zuriaga, P.; Martínez Fernández, P. (2017). Methodology for evaluating thermal track buckling in dual gauge tracks with continuous welded rail. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. 231(3):269-279. doi:10.1177/0954409715626957S269279231

Therapeutic DNA vaccine induces broad T cell responses in the gut and sustained protection from viral rebound and AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

Immunotherapies that induce durable immune control of chronic HIV infection may eliminate the need for life-long dependence on drugs. We investigated a DNA vaccine formulated with a novel genetic adjuvant that stimulates immune responses in the blood and gut for the ability to improve therapy in rhesus macaques chronically infected with SIV. Using the SIV-macaque model for AIDS, we show that epidermal co-delivery of plasmids expressing SIV Gag, RT, Nef and Env, and the mucosal adjuvant, heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin (LT), during antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced a substantial 2-4-log fold reduction in mean virus burden in both the gut and blood when compared to unvaccinated controls and provided durable protection from viral rebound and disease progression after the drug was discontinued. This effect was associated with significant increases in IFN-γ T cell responses in both the blood and gut and SIV-specific CD8+ T cells with dual TNF-α and cytolytic effector functions in the blood. Importantly, a broader specificity in the T cell response seen in the gut, but not the blood, significantly correlated with a reduction in virus production in mucosal tissues and a lower virus burden in plasma. We conclude that immunizing with vaccines that induce immune responses in mucosal gut tissue could reduce residual viral reservoirs during drug therapy and improve long-term treatment of HIV infection in humans

Evaluation of 3D printed PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP versus collagen membranes for guided bone regeneration in a beagle implant model

Here, we compared 3D-printed polycaprolactone/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)/beta-tricalcium phosphate (PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP) membranes with the widely used collagen membranes for guided bone regeneration (GBR) in beagle implant models. For mechanical property comparison in dry and wet conditions and cytocompatibility determination, we analyzed the rate and pattern of cell proliferation of seeded fibroblasts and preosteoblasts using the cell counting kit-8 assay and scanning electron microscopy. Osteogenic differentiation was verified using alizarin red S staining. At 8 weeks following implantation in vivo using beagle dogs, computed tomography and histological analyses were performed after sacrifice. Cell proliferation rates in vitro indicated that early cell attachment was higher in collagen than in PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP membranes; however, the difference subsided by day 7. Similar outcomes were found for osteogenic differentiation, with approximately 2.5 times greater staining in collagen than PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP, but without significant difference by day 14. In vivo, bone regeneration in the defect area, represented by new bone formation and bone-to-implant contact, paralleled those associated with collagen membranes. However, tensile testing revealed that whereas the PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP membrane mechanical properties were conserved in both wet and dry states, the tensile property of collagen was reduced by 99% under wet conditions. Our results demonstrate in vitro and in vivo that PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP membranes have similar levels of biocompatibility and bone regeneration as collagen membranes. In particular, considering that GBR is always applied to a wet environment (e.g. blood, saliva), we demonstrated that PCL/PLGA/beta-TCP membranes maintained their form more reliably than collagen membranes in a wet setting, confirming their appropriateness as a GBR membrane.11109Ysciescopu

Differential Dynamics of Transposable Elements during Long-Term Diploidization of Nicotiana Section Repandae (Solanaceae) Allopolyploid Genomes

PubMed ID: 23185607This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Diseleno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]selenophene-containing high-mobility conjugated polymer for organic field-effect transistors

KGaA, Weinheim The synthesis of a diseleno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]selenophene (DSS) composed of three fused selenophenes is reported and it is used as a building block for the preparation of a high hole mobility conjugated polymer (PDSSTV). The polymer demonstrates strong intermolecular interactions even in solution, despite steric repulsion between the large Se atom in DSS and adjacent (C β )–H atoms which leads to a partially twisted confirmation PDSSTV. Nevertheless, 2D grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (2D-GIXD) analysis reveals that the polymer tends to align in a highly ordered edge-on orientation after thermal annealing. The polymer demonstrates promising performance in a field-effect transistor device with saturated hole mobility up to 2 cm 2 V −1 s −1 obtained under relatively low gate voltages of −30 V. The ultilization of a Se-containing fused aromatic system, therefore, appears to be a promising avenue for the development of high-performance conjugated polymers