Efficient Universal Noiseless Source Codes

Although the existence of universal noiseless variable-rate codes for the class of discrete stationary ergodic sources has previously been established, very few practical universal encoding methods are available. Efficient implementable universal source coding techniques are discussed in this paper. Results are presented on source codes for which a small value of the maximum redundancy is achieved with a relatively short block length. A constructive proof of the existence of universal noiseless codes for discrete stationary sources is first presented. The proof is shown to provide a method for obtaining efficient universal noiseless variable-rate codes for various classes of sources. For memoryless sources, upper and lower bounds are obtained for the minimax redundancy as a function of the block length of the code. Several techniques for constructing universal noiseless source codes for memoryless sources are presented and their redundancies are compared with the bounds. Consideration is given to possible applications to data compression for certain nonstationary sources

Comparison of Post-injection Site Pain Between Technetium Sulfur Colloid and Technetium Tilmanocept in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy.

BackgroundNo prior studies have examined injection pain associated with Technetium-99m Tilmanocept (TcTM).MethodsThis was a randomized, double-blinded study comparing postinjection site pain between filtered Technetium Sulfur Colloid (fTcSC) and TcTM in breast cancer lymphoscintigraphy. Pain was evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0-100 mm) and the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ). The primary endpoint was mean difference in VAS scores at 1-min postinjection between fTcSC and TcTM. Secondary endpoints included a comparison of SF-MPQ scores between the groups at 5 min postinjection and construction of a linear mixed effects model to evaluate the changes in pain during the 5-min postinjection period.ResultsFifty-two patients underwent injection (27-fTcSC, 25-TcTM). At 1-min postinjection, patients who received fTcSC experienced a mean change in pain of 16.8 mm (standard deviation (SD) 19.5) compared with 0.2 mm (SD 7.3) in TcTM (p = 0.0002). At 5 min postinjection, the mean total score on the SF-MPQ was 2.8 (SD 3.0) for fTcSC versus 2.1 (SD 2.5) for TcTM (p = 0.36). In the mixed effects model, injection agent (p < 0.001), time (p < 0.001) and their interaction (p < 0.001) were associated with change in pain during the 5-min postinjection period. The model found fTcSC resulted in significantly more pain of 15.2 mm (p < 0.001), 11.3 mm (p = 0.001), and 7.5 mm (p = 0.013) at 1, 2, and 3 min postinjection, respectively.ConclusionsInjection with fTcSC causes significantly more pain during the first 3 min postinjection compared with TcTM in women undergoing lymphoscintigraphy for breast cancer

Whether to Grant an Individual Chapter 11 Debtor an Early Discharge

This Article provides a framework for determining whether to grant an \u27early\u27 discharge to an individual chapter 11 debtor. An early discharge permits such a debtor to receive a discharge before making all payments under the confirmed plan. The Article analyzes the circumstances that warrant issuing such an early discharge, and what information ought to be included in the disclosure statement, plan, and notice of confirmation hearing. The Article concludes that an individual chapter 11 debtor may obtain a early discharge: (1) upon confirmation of a reorganization plan where the debtor has paid unsecured creditors before confirmation, or where necessary to keep important customers or to obtain financing to pay unsecured creditors, or (2) after plan confirmation but before plan payments are finished if the unsecured creditors have received the required distribution and the debtor no longer has sufficient income to meet living expenses and to make the required payments

A fast scintillator Compton telescope for medium-energy gamma-ray astronomy

The field of medium-energy gamma-ray astronomy urgently needs a new mission to build on the success of the COMPTEL instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. This mission must achieve sensitivity significantly greater than that of COMPTEL in order to advance the science of relativistic particle accelerators, nuclear astrophysics, and diffuse backgrounds, and bridge the gap between current and future hard X-ray missions and the high-energy Fermi mission. Such an increase in sensitivity can only come about via a dramatic decrease in the instrumental background. We are currently developing a concept for a low-background Compton telescope that employs modern scintillator technology to achieve this increase in sensitivity. Specifically, by employing LaBr3 scintillators for the calorimeter, one can take advantage of the unique speed and resolving power of this material to improve the instrument sensitivity while simultaneously enhancing its spectroscopic and imaging performance. Also, using deuterated organic scintillator in the scattering detector will reduce internal background from neutron capture. We present calibration results from a laboratory prototype of such an instrument, including time-of-flight, energy, and angular resolution, and compare them to simulation results using a detailed Monte Carlo model. We also describe the balloon payload we have built for a test flight of the instrument in the fall of 2010

A new low-background Compton telescope using LaBr3 scintillator

Gamma-ray astronomy in the MeV range suffers from weak fluxes from sources and high background in the nuclear energy range. The background comes primarily from neutron-induced gamma rays, with the neutrons being produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the Earth\u27s atmosphere, the spacecraft, and the instrument. Compton telescope designs often suppress this background by requiring coincidences in multiple detectors and a narrow time-of-flight (ToF) acceptance window. The COMPTEL experience on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory shows that a 1.9-ns ToF resolution is insufficiently narrow to achieve the required low background count rate. Furthermore, neutron interactions in the detectors themselves generate an irreducible background. By employing LaBr3 scintillators for the calorimeter, one can take advantage of the unique speed and resolving power of the material to improve the instrument sensitivity and simultaneously enhance its spectroscopic performance and thus its imaging performance. We present a concept for a balloon- or space-borne Compton telescope that employs deuterated liquid in the scattering detector and LaBr3 as a calorimeter and estimate the improvement in sensitivity over past realizations of Compton telescopes. We show initial laboratory test results from a small prototype, including energy and timing resolution. Finally, we describe our plan to fly this prototype on a test balloon flight to directly validate our background predictions and guide the development of a full-scale instrument

Mezzanine Finance and Preferred Equity Investment in Commercial Real Estate: Security, Collateral & Control

This article will review both the genesis and the rise in popularity of preferred equity and mezzanine debt, examine their legal and structural differences, and provide some exposition as to how these financing techniques work from security, collateral and control standpoints. We do not undertake in this article to address the differences in tax and accounting treatment between mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments both for either the mezzanine lender or preferred equity investor on the one hand, or for the mezzanine borrower or the common equity investor, on the other hand. In deciding upon which structure to use, transaction participants should consult with their independent tax and accounting advisors to ensure that the transaction is appropriately structured to best meet their individual needs, subject to such compromise as may be necessary to effect a desired transaction. We proceed as follows: Section II outlines the legal principles of, and the practical realities that have shaped, real estate finance from common law to modernity. Section III begins with an exposition of the preferred equity instruments and mezzanine debt that form the subject of this study. It will start by outlining their qualities and follow with a delineation of the organizational structures used in deals in which they form part of the capital structure. Lastly, it will proceed through theoretical and practical issues for legal counsel to consider. Section IV will address an open issue, never, to the authors’ knowledge, having been before a court: whether these funding mechanisms should be treated as equitable mortgages according to the common law equitable tradition to treat mortgage-like agreements as mortgages. This Section will argue that these funding mechanisms should not be treated as equitable mortgages. Finally, we will set forth our conclusion in Section V

Radiographic characterization and energy spectrum of the IoGold 125I source Model 3631‐A

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135057/1/mp8543.pd

Beyond Nanopore Sequencing in Space: Identifying the Unknown

Astronaut Kate Rubins sequenced DNA on the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time in August 2016 (Figure 1A). A 2D sequencing library containing an equal mixture of lambda bacteriophage, Escherichia coli, and Mus musculus was prepared on the ground with a SQK_MAP006 kit and sent to the ISS frozen and loaded into R7.3 flow cells. After a total of 9 on-orbit sequencing runs over 6 months, it was determined that there was no decrease in sequencing performance on-orbit compared to ground controls (1). A total of ~280,000 and ~130,000 reads generated on-orbit and on the ground, respectively, identified 90% of reads that were attributed to 30% lambda bacteriophage, 30% Escherichia coli, and 30% M. musculus (Figure 1B). Extensive bioinformatics analysis determined comparable 2D and 1D read accuracies between flight and ground runs (Figure 1C), and data collected from the ISS were able to construct directed assemblies of E.coli and lambda genomes at 100% and M. musculus mitochondrial genome at 96.7%. These findings validate sequencing as a viable option for potential on-orbit applications such as environmental microbial monitoring and disease diagnosis. Current microbial monitoring of the ISS applies culture-based techniques that provide colony forming unit (CFU) data for air, water, and surface samples. The identity of the cultured microorganisms in unknown until sample return and ground-based analysis, a process that can take up to 60 days. For sequencing to benefit ISS applications, spaceflight-compatible sample preparation techniques are required. Subsequent to the testing of the MinION on-orbit, a sample-to-sequence method was developed using miniPCR and basic pipetting, which was only recently proven to be effective in microgravity. The work presented here details the in- flight sample preparation process and the first application of DNA sequencing on the ISS to identify unknown ISS-derived microorganisms

Coyote, Canis latrans - Rio Grande Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia, Interactions

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are widely known to be predators of Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopauo sspp.). We describe two observations of single Coyotes coming within 10 m of feeding Wild Turkey flocks without attempting to predate them in Stevens County, Kansas. We relate these observations to Coyote predation on turkeys and mobbing behavior