SUPPLY AND DEMAND RISKS IN LABORATORY FORWARD AND SPOT MARKETS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE

Laboratory experimental methods are used to investigate the impacts of supply and/or demand risks on prices, quantities traded, and earnings within forward and spot market institutions. Random demand and/or supply shifts can be as much as 25 percent of the expected equilibrium outcome. Nevertheless, results suggest that the spot or forward trading institution itself has a greater influence on market outcomes than the presence of risk within the trading institutions. Sellers tend to have relatively higher earnings in a spot market than buyers, regardless of the risk. Total surplus, however, generally is greater in a forward market.laboratory markets, forward market, spot market, supply and/or demand risks, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing,

SUPPLY AND DEMAND RISKS IN FORWARD AND SPOT MARKETS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE

Laboratory methods are used to investigate the impacts of supply and/or demand risks on prices, quantities traded, and earnings within forward and spot market institutions. Results suggest that the spot or forward trading institution itself has a greater influence on market outcomes than supply/demand risks within the institution.Marketing,

Concomitant Carcinoma in situ in Cystectomy Specimens Is Not Associated with Clinical Outcomes after Surgery

Objective: The aim of this study was to externally validate the prognostic value of concomitant urothelial carcinoma in situ (CIS) in radical cystectomy (RC) specimens using a large international cohort of bladder cancer patients. Methods: The records of 3,973 patients treated with RC and bilateral lymphadenectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) at nine centers worldwide were reviewed. Surgical specimens were evaluated by a genitourinary pathologist at each center. Uni- and multivariable Cox regression models addressed time to recurrence and cancer-specific mortality after RC. Results: 1,741 (43.8%) patients had concomitant CIS in their RC specimens. Concomitant CIS was more common in organ-confined UCB and was associated with lymphovascular invasion (p < 0.001). Concomitant CIS was not associated with either disease recurrence or cancer-specific death regardless of pathologic stage. The presence of concomitant CIS did not improve the predictive accuracy of standard predictors for either disease recurrence or cancer-specific death in any of the subgroups. Conclusions: We could not confirm the prognostic value of concomitant CIS in RC specimens. This, together with the discrepancy between pathologists in determining the presence of concomitant CIS at the morphologic level, limits the clinical utility of concomitant CIS in RC specimens for clinical decision-making

Giant growth rate in nano-oxidation of p-silicon surfaces by using ethyl alcohol liquid bridges

We demonstrate that local oxidation nanolithography can be performed in liquid environments different from aqueous solutions with a significant improvement in the aspect ratio of the fabricated motives. Here, we perform a comparative study of noncontact atomic force microscopy oxidation experiments in water and ethyl alcohol. The growth rate of local oxides can be increased by almost an order of magnitude by using oxyanions from ethyl alcohol molecules. We propose that the enhanced growth rate is a consequence of the reduction of the trapped charges within the growing oxide. The present results open the possibility of using local oxidation nanolithography to directly fabricate vertical oxide structures while keeping lateral sizes in the nanometer range.This work was supported by the European Commission (MONA-LISA, G5RD-2000-00349).Peer reviewe

Concomitant Carcinoma in situ in Cystectomy Specimens Is Not Associated with Clinical Outcomes after Surgery

Objective: The aim of this study was to externally validate the prognostic value of concomitant urothelial carcinoma in situ (CIS) in radical cystectomy (RC) specimens using a large international cohort of bladder cancer patients. Methods: The records of 3,973 patients treated with RC and bilateral lymphadenectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) at nine centers worldwide were reviewed. Surgical specimens were evaluated by a genitourinary pathologist at each center. Uni- and multivariable Cox regression models addressed time to recurrence and cancer-specific mortality after RC. Results: 1,741 (43.8%) patients had concomitant CIS in their RC specimens. Concomitant CIS was more common in organ-confined UCB and was associated with lymphovascular invasion (p < 0.001). Concomitant CIS was not associated with either disease recurrence or cancer-specific death regardless of pathologic stage. The presence of concomitant CIS did not improve the predictive accuracy of standard predictors for either disease recurrence or cancer-specific death in any of the subgroups. Conclusions: We could not confirm the prognostic value of concomitant CIS in RC specimens. This, together with the discrepancy between pathologists in determining the presence of concomitant CIS at the morphologic level, limits the clinical utility of concomitant CIS in RC specimens for clinical decision-making. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

First stellar spectroscopy in Leo P

We present the first stellar spectroscopy in the low-luminosity (MV ∼ −9.3 mag), dwarf galaxy Leo P. Its significantly low oxygen abundance (3% solar) and relative proximity (∼1.6 Mpc) make it a unique galaxy in which to investigate the properties of massive stars with near-primordial compositions akin to those in the early Universe. From our VLT-MUSE spectroscopy we find the first direct evidence for an O-type star in the prominent H II region, providing an important test case to investigate the potential environmental dependence of the upper end of the initial mass function in the dwarf galaxy regime. We classify 14 further sources as massive stars (and 17 more as candidate massive stars), most likely B-type objects. From comparisons with published evolutionary models we argue that the absolute visual magnitudes of massive stars in very metal-poor systems such as Leo P and I Zw 18 may be fainter by ∼0.5 mag compared to Galactic stars. We also present spectroscopy of two carbon stars identified previously as candidate asymptotic-giant-branch stars. Two of three further candidate asymptotic-giant-branch stars display Ca II absorption, confirming them as cool, evolved stars; we also recover Ca II absorption in the stacked data of the next brightest 16 stars in the upper red giant branch. These discoveries will provide targets for future observations to investigate the physical properties of these objects and to calibrate evolutionary models of luminous stars at such low metallicity. The MUSE data also reveal two 100 pc-scale ring structures in Hα emission, with the H II region located on the northern edge of the southern ring. Lastly, we report serendipitous observations of 20 galaxies, with redshifts ranging from z = 0.39, to a close pair of star-forming galaxies at z = 2.5

Using H-alpha Morphology and Surface Brightness Fluctuations to Age-Date Star Clusters in M83

We use new WFC3 observations of the nearby grand design spiral galaxy M83 to develop two independent methods for estimating the ages of young star clusters. The first method uses the physical extent and morphology of Halpha emission to estimate the ages of clusters younger than tau ~10 Myr. It is based on the simple premise that the gas in very young (tau < few Myr) clusters is largely coincident with the cluster stars, is in a small, ring-like structure surrounding the stars in slightly older clusters (e.g., tau ~5 Myr), and is in a larger ring-like bubble for still older clusters (i.e., ~5-10 Myr). The second method is based on an observed relation between pixel-to-pixel flux variations within clusters and their ages. This method relies on the fact that the brightest individual stars in a cluster are most prominent at ages around 10 Myr, and fall below the detection limit (i.e., M_V < -3.5) for ages older than about 100 Myr. These two methods are the basis for a new morphological classification system which can be used to estimate the ages of star clusters based on their appearance. We compare previous age estimates of clusters in M83 determined from fitting UBVI Halpha measurements using predictions from stellar evolutionary models with our new morphological categories and find good agreement at the ~95% level. The scatter within categories is ~0.1 dex in log tau for young clusters (10 Myr) clusters. A by-product of this study is the identification of 22 "single-star" HII regions in M83, with central stars having ages ~4 Myr.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables; published in March Ap

Patterns of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy in the head and neck. The prognosis remains poor and late recurrences often occur after 5 years and later. To date, there are no reliable prognostic markers for ACC. In several solid tumors, tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are associated with improved survival. This study aims to investigate the role of distribution patterns of tumor infiltrating immune cells (TIL) in ACC. A cohort of 50 patients from three different cancer centers was available for analysis. Sections were stained for CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD20 and evaluated with regard to their distribution of TIL. Patterns were determined as infiltrated-excluded, infiltrated-inflamed and presence of tertiary lymphoid structures. About half of the cases showed an infiltrated-excluded TIL pattern and only a minority of six cases had TLS present within the tumor. Within the inflamed phenotype CD3+ cells were by far the most abundant lymphocyte subtype, and within this compartment, CD8+ T cells were predominant. There was no influence on overall or disease-free survival by any of the TIL patterns. This indicates that ACC is a tumor with very low immunogenicity and even abundance of lymphocytes does not seem to improve prognosis for this disease. Therefore, the observed lack of response towards immunotherapy is not surprising and other methods to induce recognition of ACC by the immune system must be found

Fast machine-learning online optimization of ultra-cold-atom experiments

We apply an online optimization process based on machine learning to the production of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). BEC is typically created with an exponential evaporation ramp that is optimal for ergodic dynamics with two-body s-wave interactions and no other loss rates, but likely sub-optimal for real experiments. Through repeated machine-controlled scientific experimentation and observations our ‘learner’ discovers an optimal evaporation ramp for BEC production. In contrast to previous work, our learner uses a Gaussian process to develop a statistical model of the relationship between the parameters it controls and the quality of the BEC produced. We demonstrate that the Gaussian process machine learner is able to discover a ramp that produces high quality BECs in 10 times fewer iterations than a previously used online optimization technique. Furthermore, we show the internal model developed can be used to determine which parameters are essential in BEC creation and which are unimportant, providing insight into the optimization process of the system