Afatinib use in recurrent epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

•Genomic tumor testing is an important tool in guiding treatment for gynecologic malignancies.•Targetable mutations may lead to new therapies in gynecologic cancer treatment.•Her2/neu mutations in serous ovarian carcinomas can be targeted with ERBB2 inhibitors.•Afatinib shows promising response rates in lung cancers carrying Her2/neu mutations.•Afatinib may be effective in serous ovarian tumors exhibiting Her2/neu or ERBB2 mutations

A study of commuter airplane design optimization

Problems of commuter airplane configuration design were studied to affect a minimization of direct operating costs. Factors considered were the minimization of fuselage drag, methods of wing design, and the estimated drag of an airplane submerged in a propellor slipstream; all design criteria were studied under a set of fixed performance, mission, and stability constraints. Configuration design data were assembled for application by a computerized design methodology program similar to the NASA-Ames General Aviation Synthesis Program

The association between busy directors and acquisition performance

This paper addresses the question of whether independent directors of the bidding firm are effective monitors during acquisitions and whether this effectiveness is impaired when the independent directors serve on multiple boards. The choice of the acquisition setting, where the board of directors is known to be engaged in active decision-making, facilitates a direct test of the role of independent directors as effective, external monitors of the boards activities. We employ three indicators of the bidding boards performance in making optimal acquisition decisions: the acquisition premium (benchmarked against subsequent performance), a new indicator comprising the conflicts of interest associated with the acquisitions (conflicted acquisitions), and the post-acquisition stock performance. The results suggest that more independent boards and busy independent directors on the bidding firms board are associated with more effective acquisition decisions by the board. However, busy independent directors are associated with less effective acquisition decisions when the bidding firm has higher free cash flows consistent with Jensen (1986). We also find that busy executive directors on the bidding firms board have no implications for the effectiveness of acquisition decisions unless the director is a busy chairperson or busy CEO both of whom are associated with less effective acquisition decisions. This paper contributes direct evidence on the effectiveness of bidding firm independent directors in their role as monitors and decision-makers

Steady-state evolution of debris disks around A stars

In this paper a simple analytical model for the steady-state evolution of debris disks due to collisions is confronted with Spitzer observations of main sequence A stars. All stars are assumed to have planetesimal belts with a distribution of initial masses and radii. In the model disk mass is constant until the largest planetesimals reach collisional equilibrium whereupon the mass falls off oc 1/t. We find that the detection statistics and trends seen at both 24 and 70um can be fitted well by the model. While there is no need to invoke stochastic evolution or delayed stirring to explain the statistics, a moderate rate of stochastic events is not ruled out. Potentially anomalous systems are identified by a high dust luminosity compared with the maximum permissible in the model (HD3003, HD38678, HD115892, HD172555). Their planetesimals may have unusual properties (high strength or low eccentricity) or this dust could be transient. While transient phenomena are also favored for a few systems in the literature, the overall success of our model, which assumes planetesimals in all belts have the same strength, eccentricity and maximum size, suggests a large degree of uniformity in the outcome of planet formation. The distribution of planetesimal belt radii, once corrected for detection bias, follows N(r) oc r^{-0.8+-0.3} for 3-120AU. Since the inner edge is often attributed to an unseen planet, this provides a unique constraint on the planetary systems of A stars. It is also shown that P-R drag may sculpt the inner edges of A star disks close to the Spitzer detection threshold (HD2262, HD19356, HD106591, HD115892). This model can be readily applied to the interpretation of future surveys, and predictions are made for the upcoming SCUBA-2 survey, including that >17% of A stars should be detectable at 850um.Comment: Accepted by Ap

Multi-Epoch Observations of HD69830: High Resolution Spectroscopy and Limits to Variability

The main-sequence solar-type star HD69830 has an unusually large amount of dusty debris orbiting close to three planets found via the radial velocity technique. In order to explore the dynamical interaction between the dust and planets, we have performed multi-epoch photometry and spectroscopy of the system over several orbits of the outer dust. We find no evidence for changes in either the dust amount or its composition, with upper limits of 5-7% (1 $\sigma$ per spectral element) on the variability of the {\it dust spectrum} over 1 year, 3.3% (1 $\sigma$) on the broad-band disk emission over 4 years, and 33% (1 $\sigma$) on the broad-band disk emission over 24 years. Detailed modeling of the spectrum of the emitting dust indicates that the dust is located outside of the orbits of the three planets and has a composition similar to main-belt, C-type asteroids asteroids in our solar system. Additionally, we find no evidence for a wide variety of gas species associated with the dust. Our new higher SNR spectra do not confirm our previously claimed detection of H$_2$O ice leading to a firm conclusion that the debris can be associated with the break-up of one or more C-type asteroids formed in the dry, inner regions of the protoplanetary disk of the HD69830 system. The modeling of the spectral energy distribution and high spatial resolution observations in the mid-infrared are consistent with a $\sim$ 1 AU location for the emitting material

Searching for a dusty cometary belt around TRAPPIST-1 with ALMA

Low-mass stars might offer today the best opportunities to detect and characterize planetary systems, especially those harbouring close-in low-mass temperate planets. Among those stars, TRAPPIST-1 is exceptional since it has seven Earth-sized planets, of which three could sustain liquid water on their surfaces. Here we present new and deep ALMA observations of TRAPPIST-1 to look for an exo-Kuiper belt which can provide clues about the formation and architecture of this system. Our observations at 0.88 mm did not detect dust emission, but can place an upper limit of 23 µJy if the belt is smaller than 4 au, and 0.15 mJy if resolved and 100 au in radius. These limits correspond to low dust masses of ̃10-5 to 10-2 M⊕, which are expected after 8 Gyr of collisional evolution unless the system was born with a >20 M⊕ belt of 100 km-sized planetesimals beyond 40 au or suffered a dynamical instability. This 20 M⊕ mass upper limit is comparable to the combined mass in TRAPPIST-1 planets, thus it is possible that most of the available solid mass in this system was used to form the known planets. A similar analysis of the ALMA data on Proxima Cen leads us to conclude that a belt born with a mass ≳1 M⊕ in 100 km-sized planetesimals could explain its putative outer belt at 30 au. We recommend that future characterizations of debris discs around low-mass stars should focus on nearby and young systems if possible

Debris Disks: Probing Planet Formation

Debris disks are the dust disks found around ~20% of nearby main sequence stars in far-IR surveys. They can be considered as descendants of protoplanetary disks or components of planetary systems, providing valuable information on circumstellar disk evolution and the outcome of planet formation. The debris disk population can be explained by the steady collisional erosion of planetesimal belts; population models constrain where (10-100au) and in what quantity (>1Mearth) planetesimals (>10km in size) typically form in protoplanetary disks. Gas is now seen long into the debris disk phase. Some of this is secondary implying planetesimals have a Solar System comet-like composition, but some systems may retain primordial gas. Ongoing planet formation processes are invoked for some debris disks, such as the continued growth of dwarf planets in an unstirred disk, or the growth of terrestrial planets through giant impacts. Planets imprint structure on debris disks in many ways; images of gaps, clumps, warps, eccentricities and other disk asymmetries, are readily explained by planets at >>5au. Hot dust in the region planets are commonly found (<5au) is seen for a growing number of stars. This dust usually originates in an outer belt (e.g., from exocomets), although an asteroid belt or recent collision is sometimes inferred.Comment: Invited review, accepted for publication in the 'Handbook of Exoplanets', eds. H.J. Deeg and J.A. Belmonte, Springer (2018

Spatially Resolved Images of Dust Belt(s) Around the Planet-hosting Subgiant Kappa CrB

We present Herschel spatially resolved images of the debris disc orbiting the subgiant Kappa CrB. Not only are these the first resolved images of a debris disc orbiting a subgiant, but Kappa CrB is a rare example of an intermediate mass star where a detailed study of the structure of the planetary system can be made, including both planets and planetesimal belt(s). The only way to discover planets around such stars using the radial velocity technique is to observe 'retired' A stars, which are cooler and slower rotators compared to their main-sequence counterparts. A planetary companion has already been detected orbiting the subgiant Kappa CrB, with revised parameters of m sin i = 2.1MJ and apl = 2.8AU (Johnson et al. 2008a). We present additional Keck I HIRES radial velocity measurements that provide evidence for a second planetary companion, alongside Keck II AO imaging that places an upper limit on the mass of this companion. Modelling of our Herschel images shows that the dust is broadly distributed, but cannot distinguish between a single wide belt (from 20 to 220AU) or two narrow dust belts (at around 40 and 165AU). Given the existence of a second planetary companion beyond approximately 3AU it is possible that the absence of dust within approximately 20AU is caused by dynamical depletion, although the observations are not inconsistent with depletion of these regions by collisional erosion, which occurs at higher rates closer to the star.Comment: Updated abstrac

XWeB: the XML Warehouse Benchmark

With the emergence of XML as a standard for representing business data, new decision support applications are being developed. These XML data warehouses aim at supporting On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) operations that manipulate irregular XML data. To ensure feasibility of these new tools, important performance issues must be addressed. Performance is customarily assessed with the help of benchmarks. However, decision support benchmarks do not currently support XML features. In this paper, we introduce the XML Warehouse Benchmark (XWeB), which aims at filling this gap. XWeB derives from the relational decision support benchmark TPC-H. It is mainly composed of a test data warehouse that is based on a unified reference model for XML warehouses and that features XML-specific structures, and its associate XQuery decision support workload. XWeB's usage is illustrated by experiments on several XML database management systems