The Transmuted Weibull-Pareto Distribution

A new generalization of the Weibull-Pareto distribution called the transmuted Weibull-Pareto distribution is proposed and studied. Various mathematical properties of this distribution including ordinary and incomplete moments, quantile and generating functions, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves and order statistics are derived. The method of maximum likelihood is used for estimating the model parameters. The flexibility of the new lifetime model is illustrated by means of an application to a real data set

Prognostic Information for Known Genetic Carriers of RB1 Pathogenic Variants (Germline and Mosaic)

OBJECTIVE: To compare the number of tumors per eye for mosaic carriers of RB1 pathogenic variants with full germline variants and the conversion from unilateral to bilateral disease. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study comparing patients with retinoblastoma and different genetic subtypes (HP: high penetrant, LP: low penetrant & mosaicism). SUBJECTS: Data were analysed between 1992 and 2018 at the Retinoblastoma Unit, Royal London Hospital, London UK. All familial patients had a parent with a known pathogenic variant even if the parent did not manifest the disease. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of tumors per eye in children who developed retinoblastoma in that eye. Other outcomes included total number of tumors per patient, age at diagnosis, laterality at presentation and later, sex and stage according to International Intraocular Retinoblastoma Classification RESULTS: 111 patients were included: 64 full germline, familial patients (53 HP and 11 LP) & 47 were mosaic patients. 12 (23%) of HP patients were unilateral and 8 of 12 (67%) developed tumors in their previously unaffected eye. 34 (72%) of mosaic patients were unilateral and only 2 (6%) developed tumors in their unaffected eye. Age at diagnosis was higher in mosaic patients (median 22 months) than HP patients (median 7) (p<0.00002). Number of tumors per eye was fewer in patients with mosaic alleles (median 1.0 range 1-6) compared to patients with HP alleles (median 3.0 range 1-8) (p<0.0003). All three children (4 eyes) with mosaicism and more than 2 tumors per eye had high levels of mosaicism. CONCLUSIONS: Children with mosaic alleles have fewer tumors per eye compared to those with known high penetrant pathogenic variants and are more likely to remain unilateral. The level of mosaicism has an impact on laterality and number of tumors

Low frequency noise statistics for the breakdown characterization of ultra-thin gate oxides

We have investigated the statistics of low frequency noise in the tunneling current of ultrathin oxides (2.5nm-4nm) in metal oxide semiconductor capacitors as a function of the applied voltage stress. The statistical analysis includes (i) non-Gaussianity (nG), which is a measure of the degree of temporal correlation in the noise, and (ii) ratio of integrated noise power to the DC leakage current (R). The occurrence of high peaks in nG indicates the appearance of new percolation paths, and the subsequent conduction through these paths is indicated by R. Our results show that the nG and R characteristics are generic for the oxides of different thickness and growth quality and have the potential, in conjunction with leakage itself, of being used as a prognosticator of oxide reliability.Comment: 4 page

ParaMT: a Paraphraser for Machine Translation

In this paper we present ParaMT, a bilingual/multilingual paraphraser to be applied in machine translation. We select paraphrases of support verb constructions and use the NooJ linguistic environment to formalize and generate translation equivalences through the use of dictionary and local grammars with syntactic and semantic content. Our research shows that linguistic paraphrasal knowledge constitutes a key element in conversion of source language into controlled language text that presents more successful translation result

Lepton Models for TeV Emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946

(Aims.) SNR RX J1713.7-3946 is perhaps one of the best observed shell-type supernova remnants with emissions dominated by energetic particles accelerated near the shock front. The nature of the TeV emission, however, is an issue still open to investigation. (Methods.) We carry out a systematic study of four lepton models for the TeV emission with the Markov chain Monte Carlo method. (Results.) It is shown that current data already give good constraints on the model parameters. Two commonly used parametric models do not appear to fit the observed radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray spectra. Models motivated by diffusive shock acceleration and by stochastic acceleration by compressive waves in the shock downstream give comparably good fits. The former has a sharper spectral cutoff in the hard X-ray band than the latter. Future observations with the HXMT and NuSTAR may distinguish these two models.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by A&A Lette

5-(Prop-2-yn­yl)-5H-dibenzo[b,f]azepine

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C17H13N, contains two independent butterfly-shaped mol­ecules. The seven-membered azepine rings both adopt a boat conformation. The dihedral angles between the benzene rings in the two mol­ecules are 46.95 (11) and 52.21 (11)°

Dispersion force for materials relevant for micro and nanodevices fabrication

The dispersion (van der Waals and Casimir) force between two semi-spaces are calculated using the Lifshitz theory for different materials relevant for micro and nanodevices fabrication, namely, gold, silicon, gallium arsenide, diamond and two types of diamond-like carbon (DLC), silicon carbide, silicon nitride and silicon dioxide. The calculations were performed using recent experimental optical data available in the literature, usually ranging from the far infrared up to the extreme ultraviolet bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The results are presented in the form of a correction factor to the Casimir force predicted between perfect conductors, for the separation between the semi-spaces varying from 1 nanometre up to 1 micrometre. The relative importance of the contributions to the dispersion force of the optical properties in different spectral ranges is analyzed. The role of the temperature for semiconductors and insulators is also addressed. The results are meant to be useful for the estimation of the impact of the Casimir and van der Waals forces on the operational parameters of micro and nanodevices