Development of Thermal Testing Techniques at High Solar Intensities Final Report, 13 Aug. 1965 - 13 May 1967

Solar energy simulation techniques for testing spacecraft thermal performanc

Thermal and structural modeling of superinsulation

Model permits direct physical measurement of the thermal response of critical components of space telescopes, thus providing flexibility for systems studies and design changes

Thermal scale modeling in a simulated space environment Technical summary report, Jun. 1, 1964 - Apr. 30, 1966

Thermal scale modeling in simulated space environmen

Thermal and structural modeling of a large aperture space telescope Technical summary report, 22 Jun. - 22 Sep. 1968

Thermal and structural modeling for large aperture space telescop

Characterization of transgene expression in adenoviral vector-based HIV-1 vaccine candidates

Recombinant adenovirus vectors have been extensively used in gene therapy clinical studies. More recently, the capability of inducing potent cell-mediated and humoral immunity has made these vectors equally attractive candidates for prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine applications. Merck and Co., Inc., developed HIV-1 vaccine candidates based on adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) vectors in which the E1 gene, a critical component for adenovirus replication, was replaced by the cytomegalovirus immediate/early promoter, followed by mutated versions of the HIV-1 gag, pol or nef genes (constructs referred to as MRKAd5gag, MRKAd5pol and MRKAd5nef, respectively). Vaccine performance was evaluated in vitro in a novel assay that measures the level of transgene expression in non-permissive A549 cells. Various combinations of vectors were studied. The results indicate that the vaccine induces a dose-dependent expression of the HIV-1 transgenes in vitro. Furthermore, the gag, pol, and nef transgenes are expressed differentially in A549 cells in an MOI-dependent and formulation-dependent manner, yielding an unexpected enhancement of protein expression in trivalent vs. monovalent formulations. Our data suggest that the presence of additional virus in multivalent formulations increases individual transgene expression in A549 cells, even when the amount of DNA encoding the gene of interest remains constant. This enhancement appears to be controlled at the transcriptional level and related to both the total amount of virus and the combination of transgenes present in the formulation

Content-Based Quality Estimation for Automatic Subject Indexing of Short Texts under Precision and Recall Constraints

Semantic annotations have to satisfy quality constraints to be useful for digital libraries, which is particularly challenging on large and diverse datasets. Confidence scores of multi-label classification methods typically refer only to the relevance of particular subjects, disregarding indicators of insufficient content representation at the document-level. Therefore, we propose a novel approach that detects documents rather than concepts where quality criteria are met. Our approach uses a deep, multi-layered regression architecture, which comprises a variety of content-based indicators. We evaluated multiple configurations using text collections from law and economics, where the available content is restricted to very short texts. Notably, we demonstrate that the proposed quality estimation technique can determine subsets of the previously unseen data where considerable gains in document-level recall can be achieved, while upholding precision at the same time. Hence, the approach effectively performs a filtering that ensures high data quality standards in operative information retrieval systems.Comment: authors' manuscript, paper submitted to TPDL-2018 conference, 12 page

Rayleigh Imaging of Graphene and Graphene Layers

We investigate graphene and graphene layers on different substrates by monochromatic and white-light confocal Rayleigh scattering microscopy. The image contrast depends sensitively on the dielectric properties of the sample as well as the substrate geometry and can be described quantitatively using the complex refractive index of bulk graphite. For few layers (<6) the monochromatic contrast increases linearly with thickness: the samples behave as a superposition of single sheets which act as independent two dimensional electron gases. Thus, Rayleigh imaging is a general, simple and quick tool to identify graphene layers, that is readily combined with Raman scattering, which provides structural identification.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Intramuscular Artesunate for Severe Malaria in African Children: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Current artesunate (ARS) regimens for severe malaria are complex. Once daily intramuscular (i.m.) injection for 3 d would be simpler and more appropriate for remote health facilities than the current WHO-recommended regimen of five intravenous (i.v.) or i.m. injections over 4 d. We compared both a three-dose i.m. and a three-dose i.v. parenteral ARS regimen with the standard five-dose regimen using a non-inferiority design (with non-inferiority margins of 10%). METHODS AND FINDINGS: This randomized controlled trial included children (0.5-10 y) with severe malaria at seven sites in five African countries to assess whether the efficacy of simplified three-dose regimens is non-inferior to a five-dose regimen. We randomly allocated 1,047 children to receive a total dose of 12 mg/kg ARS as either a control regimen of five i.m. injections of 2.4 mg/kg (at 0, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h) (n = 348) or three injections of 4 mg/kg (at 0, 24, and 48 h) either i.m. (n = 348) or i.v. (n = 351), both of which were the intervention arms. The primary endpoint was the proportion of children with ≥ 99% reduction in parasitemia at 24 h from admission values, measured by microscopists who were blinded to the group allocations. Primary analysis was performed on the per-protocol population, which was 96% of the intention-to-treat population. Secondary analyses included an analysis of host and parasite genotypes as risks for prolongation of parasite clearance kinetics, measured every 6 h, and a Kaplan-Meier analysis to compare parasite clearance kinetics between treatment groups. A post hoc analysis was performed for delayed anemia, defined as hemoglobin ≤ 7 g/dl 7 d or more after admission. The per-protocol population was 1,002 children (five-dose i.m.: n = 331; three-dose i.m.: n = 338; three-dose i.v.: n = 333); 139 participants were lost to follow-up. In the three-dose i.m. arm, 265/338 (78%) children had a ≥ 99% reduction in parasitemia at 24 h compared to 263/331 (79%) receiving the five-dose i.m. regimen, showing non-inferiority of the simplified three-dose regimen to the conventional five-dose regimen (95% CI -7, 5; p = 0.02). In the three-dose i.v. arm, 246/333 (74%) children had ≥ 99% reduction in parasitemia at 24 h; hence, non-inferiority of this regimen to the five-dose control regimen was not shown (95% CI -12, 1; p = 0.24). Delayed parasite clearance was associated with the N86YPfmdr1 genotype. In a post hoc analysis, 192/885 (22%) children developed delayed anemia, an adverse event associated with increased leukocyte counts. There was no observed difference in delayed anemia between treatment arms. A potential limitation of the study is its open-label design, although the primary outcome measures were assessed in a blinded manner. CONCLUSIONS: A simplified three-dose i.m. regimen for severe malaria in African children is non-inferior to the more complex WHO-recommended regimen. Parenteral ARS is associated with a risk of delayed anemia in African children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry PACTR201102000277177

Treatment responses in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Germany.

BACKGROUND: Excellent treatment outcomes have recently been reported for patients with multi/extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB) in settings where optimal resources for individualised therapy are available. OBJECTIVE: To ascertain whether differences remain in treatment responses between patients with M/XDR-TB and those with non-M/XDR-TB. METHOD: Patients with TB were prospectively enrolled between March 2013 and March 2016 at five hospitals in Germany. Treatment was conducted following current guidelines and individualised on the basis of drug susceptibility testing. Two-month and 6-month sputum smear and sputum culture conversion rates were assessed. A clinical and radiological score were used to assess response to anti-tuberculosis treatment. RESULTS: Non-M/XDR-TB (n = 29) and M/XDR-TB (n = 46) patients showed similar rates of microbiological conversion: 2-month smear conversion rate, 90% vs. 78%; culture conversion rate, 67% vs. 61%; time to smear conversion, 19 days (IQR 10-32) vs. 31 days (IQR 14-56) (P = 0.066); time to culture conversion, 39 days (IQR 17-67) vs. 39 days (IQR 6-85) (P = 0.191). Both clinical and radiological scores decreased after the introduction of anti-tuberculosis treatment. CONCLUSION: There were no significant differences in scores between the two groups until 6 months of treatment. Under optimal clinical conditions, with the availability of novel diagnostics and a wide range of therapeutic options for individualised treatment, patients with M/XDR-TB achieved 6-month culture conversion rates that were compatible with those in patients with non-M/XDR-TB