Tracking Down South Branch House: A Critical Look at the Identification of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s South Branch House (FfNm-1)

The late Arthur Silver Morton has contributed immensely to our understanding and preservation of western Canadian history. One of Morton’s joys was locating remains of long forgotten fur trade posts. As a result, a large number of the Saskatchewan fur trade posts that we know of were located and recorded by Morton. The majority of Morton’s investigations took place throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Morton consulted whatever historic sources were available to him at the time: numerous historic documents, ethnographic accounts and local histories. There has been archaeological evidence that suggests Morton misidentified numerous fur trade post sites. For example, research at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s South Branch House (1786-1794), which Morton identified in 1944, has sparked some controversy as to whether or not it is that particular post. As a result, this provides the author with an excellent chance to examine how Morton identified Saskatchewan fur trade posts and to determine through archaeological excavations and historical documents the accuracy of Morton’s historical site designation at South Branch House. A critical approach to Morton’s work will determine how accurate his work is for contemporary archaeological investigations of fur trade posts. Furthermore, this thesis may provide historical archaeologists with insights as to how to go about identifying fur trade posts, which will contribute to our overall understanding of the western Canadian fur trade

The business cycles synchronization in three monetary unions: EMU, WAEMU and CAEMC

International monetary cooperation is, according to theory, seen as the final stage of economic integration. The example of non-European unions shows that it is possible to function within a monetary union and derive benefits from it without first creating a common market or customs union. The aim of this paper is to assess the degree of synchronization of business cycles in three monetary unions: EMU, WAEMU and CAEMC. The study used annual time series illustrating the dynamics of real GDP, which were subjected to the decomposition procedure (Hodrick–Prescott filter). Cycle convergence was examined using spectral analysis. As a result of the conducted research, it can be concluded that the cycles of the EMU countries are more synchronized than the cycles of the WAEMU and CAEMC countries. Cooperation in monetary terms is not enough to achieve a relatively high level of cycle synchronization

Jan Maria Novotny and His Collection of Books on Economics

This article describes the life and books of economist Jan Novotny, whose extensive collection is now housed in the Syracuse University Libraries. Novotny believed that a comprehensive, liberal arts education was an essential prerequisite for anyone who wished to study or professionally practice finance and business. The well-roundedness obtained from the humanities, he argued, would lead those in business and finance to make moral and ehtically sound decisions. His collection covers the last five hundred years, consisting of nearly 6,000 books in many different languages. Novotny managed to flee Czechoslavakia with all of these books, which now provide a wealth of information in the area of the history of public finance

Localized precipitation and runoff on Mars

We use the Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) to simulate lake storms on Mars, finding that intense localized precipitation will occur for lake size >=10^3 km^2. Mars has a low-density atmosphere, so deep convection can be triggered by small amounts of latent heat release. In our reference simulation, the buoyant plume lifts vapor above condensation level, forming a 20km-high optically-thick cloud. Ice grains grow to 200 microns radius and fall near (or in) the lake at mean rates up to 1.5 mm/hr water equivalent (maximum rates up to 6 mm/hr water equivalent). Because atmospheric temperatures outside the surface layer are always well below 273K, supersaturation and condensation begin at low altitudes above lakes on Mars. In contrast to Earth lake-effect storms, lake storms on Mars involve continuous precipitation, and their vertical velocities and plume heights exceed those of tropical thunderstorms on Earth. Convection does not reach above the planetary boundary layer for lakes O(10^2) mbar. Instead, vapor is advected downwind with little cloud formation. Precipitation occurs as snow, and the daytime radiative forcing at the land surface due to plume vapor and storm clouds is too small to melt snow directly (<+10 W/m^2). However, if orbital conditions are favorable, then the snow may be seasonally unstable to melting and produce runoff to form channels. We calculate the probability of melting by running thermal models over all possible orbital conditions and weighting their outcomes by probabilities given by Laskar et al., 2004. We determine that for an equatorial vapor source, sunlight 15% fainter than at present, and snowpack with albedo 0.28 (0.35), melting may occur with 4%(0.1%) probability. This rises to 56%(12%) if the ancient greenhouse effect was modestly (6K) greater than today.Comment: Submitted to JGR Planet

Acorn: A grid computing system for constraint based modeling and visualization of the genome scale metabolic reaction networks via a web interface

Constraint-based approaches facilitate the prediction of cellular metabolic capabilities, based, in turn on predictions of the repertoire of enzymes encoded in the genome. Recently, genome annotations have been used to reconstruct genome scale metabolic reaction networks for numerous species, including Homo sapiens, which allow simulations that provide valuable insights into topics, including predictions of gene essentiality of pathogens, interpretation of genetic polymorphism in metabolic disease syndromes and suggestions for novel approaches to microbial metabolic engineering. These constraint-based simulations are being integrated with the functional genomics portals, an activity that requires efficient implementation of the constraint-based simulations in the web-based environment

The Grizzly, February 8, 1994

Ursinus Celebrates 125 Years of Academics • An Evaluation of the 128 Credit System • In Celebration of Black History Month: Al Eaton Brings on His One-Man Show • Ursinus Crimes Reported • Who Freed South Africa? • Guys Pledging Begins on Friday • Suite Etiquette • Senior Profile: Craig Faucher • Airband \u2794 • Come out and Support a U.C. Senior • Berman to Receive Preservation Grant • Woodward Exhibit on Display • Bright Moments to Perform • An Internal Compass Spinning • Eats & Seats • Wrestlers Up to 9-1 • Ursinus Gymnastics Sets New Records • Personal Interest Workshops to be Held • UC Student Almost Becomes Phillies\u27 Biggest Phanhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1329/thumbnail.jp

Test-retest repeatability of organ uptake on PSMA‐targeted 18F‐DCFPyL PET/CT in patients with prostate cancer

Objectives We evaluated 18F-DCFPyL test–retest repeatability of uptake in normal organs. Methods Twenty-two prostate cancer (PC) patients underwent two 18F-DCFPyL PET scans within 7 days within a prospective clinical trial (NCT03793543). In both PET scans, uptake in normal organs (kidneys, spleen, liver, and salivary and lacrimal glands) was quantified. Repeatability was determined by using within-subject coefficient of variation (wCOV), with lower values indicating improved repeatability. Results For SUVmean, repeatability was high for kidneys, spleen, liver, and parotid glands (wCOV, range: 9.0%–14.3%) and lower for lacrimal (23.9%) and submandibular glands (12.4%). For SUVmax, however, the lacrimal (14.4%) and submandibular glands (6.9%) achieved higher repeatability, while for large organs (kidneys, liver, spleen, and parotid glands), repeatability was low (range: 14.1%–45.2%). Conclusion We found acceptable repeatability of uptake on 18F-DCFPyL PET for normal organs, in particular for SUVmean in the liver or parotid glands. This may have implications for both PSMA-targeted imaging and treatment, as patient selection for radioligand therapy and standardized frameworks for scan interpretation (PROMISE, E-PSMA) rely on uptake in those reference organs

Lack of repeatability of radiomic features derived from PET scans: results from a 18F‐DCFPyL test–retest cohort

Objectives PET-based radiomic metrics are increasingly utilized as predictive image biomarkers. However, the repeatability of radiomic features on PET has not been assessed in a test–retest setting. The prostate-specific membrane antigen-targeted compound 18F-DCFPyL is a high-affinity, high-contrast PET agent that we utilized in a test-retest cohort of men with metastatic prostate cancer (PC). Methods Data of 21 patients enrolled in a prospective clinical trial with histologically proven PC underwent two 18F-DCFPyL PET scans within 7 days, using identical acquisition and reconstruction parameters. Sites of disease were segmented and a set of 29 different radiomic parameters were assessed on both scans. We determined repeatability of quantification by using Pearson's correlations, within-subject coefficient of variation (wCOV), and Bland–Altman analysis. Results In total, 230 lesions (177 bone, 38 lymph nodes, 15 others) were assessed on both scans. For all investigated radiomic features, a broad range of inter-scan correlation was found (r, 0.07–0.95), with acceptable reproducibility for entropy and homogeneity (wCOV, 16.0% and 12.7%, respectively). On Bland–Altman analysis, no systematic increase or decrease between the scans was observed for either parameter (±1.96 SD: 1.07/−1.30, 0.23/−0.18, respectively). The remaining 27 tested radiomic metrics, however, achieved unacceptable high wCOV (≥21.7%). Conclusion Many common radiomic features derived from a test–retest PET study had poor repeatability. Only Entropy and homogeneity achieved good repeatability, supporting the notion that those image biomarkers may be incorporated in future clinical trials. Those radiomic features based on high frequency aspects of images appear to lack the repeatability on PET to justify further study

Expressions 2003-2004

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1024/thumbnail.jp

High SUVs have more robust repeatability in patients with metastatic prostate cancer: results from a prospective test-retest cohort imaged with 18F-DCFPyL

OBJECTIVES: In patients with prostate cancer (PC) receiving prostate-specific membrane antigen- (PSMA-) targeted radioligand therapy (RLT), higher baseline standardized uptake values (SUVs) are linked to improved outcome. Thus, readers deciding on RLT must have certainty on the repeatability of PSMA uptake metrics. As such, we aimed to evaluate the test-retest repeatability of lesion uptake in a large cohort of patients imaged with (18)F-DCFPyL. METHODS: In this prospective, IRB-approved trial (NCT03793543), 21 patients with history of histologically proven PC underwent two (18)F-DCFPyL PET/CTs within 7 days (mean 3.7, range 1 to 7 days). Lesions in the bone, lymph nodes (LN), and other organs were manually segmented on both scans, and uptake parameters were assessed (maximum (SUV(max)) and mean (SUV(mean)) SUVs), PSMA-tumor volume (PSMA-TV), and total lesion PSMA (TL-PSMA, defined as PSMA − TV × SUV(mean))). Repeatability was determined using Pearson's correlations, within-subject coefficient of variation (wCOV), and Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS: In total, 230 pairs of lesions (177 bone, 38 LN, and 15 other) were delineated, demonstrating a wide range of SUV(max) (1.5–80.5) and SUV(mean) (1.4–24.8). Including all sites of suspected disease, SUVs had a strong interscan correlation (R(2) ≥ 0.99), with high repeatability for SUV(mean) and SUV(max) (wCOV, 7.3% and 12.1%, respectively). High SUVs showed significantly improved wCOV relative to lower SUVs (P < 0.0001), indicating that high SUVs are more repeatable, relative to the magnitude of the underlying SUV. Repeatability for PSMA-TV and TL-PSMA, however, was low (wCOV ≥ 23.5%). Across all metrics for LN and bone lesions, interscan correlation was again strong (R(2) ≥ 0.98). Moreover, LN-based SUV(mean) also achieved the best wCOV (3.8%), which was significantly reduced when compared to osseous lesions (7.8%, P < 0.0001). This was also noted for SUV(max) (wCOV, LN 8.8% vs. bone 12.0%, P < 0.03). On a compartment-based level, wCOVs for volumetric features were ≥22.8%, demonstrating no significant differences between LN and bone lesions (PSMA-TV, P =0.63; TL-PSMA, P =0.9). Findings on an entire tumor burden level were also corroborated in a hottest lesion analysis investigating the SUV(max) of the most intense lesion per patient (R(2), 0.99; wCOV, 11.2%). CONCLUSION: In this prospective test-retest setting, SUV parameters demonstrated high repeatability, in particular in LNs, while volumetric parameters demonstrated low repeatability. Further, the large number of lesions and wide distribution of SUVs included in this analysis allowed for the demonstration of a dependence of repeatability on SUV, with higher SUVs having more robust repeatability