A Clean Industry Package for the EU

A CLEAN INDUSTRY PACKAGE FOR THE EU A Clean Industry Package for the EU / Sartor, Oliver (Rights reserved) ( -

Exact Treatment of the Pauli Exclusion Operator in Nuclear Matter Calculation

Exact expressions of the Pauli exclusion operator Q in the nuclear matter calculation are presented in detail. Exact formulae are also given for the calculations of the single-particle-potential energy and the binding energy per nucleon with the exact Q operator. Numerical calculations of the G matrix in the lowest-order Brueckner theory are carried out to check the reliability of the standard angle-average approximation for the Q operator by employing the Bonn B and C NN potentials. It is observed that the exact treatment of the operator Q brings about non-negligible and attractive contributions to the binding energy.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

T cell-mediated oral tolerance is intact in germ-free mice

Commensal enteric bacteria stimulate innate immune cells and increase numbers of lamina propria and mesenteric lymph node (MLN) T and B lymphocytes. However, the influence of luminal bacteria on acquired immune function is not understood fully. We investigated the effects of intestinal bacterial colonization on T cell tolerogenic responses to oral antigen compared to systemic immunization. Lymphocytes specific for ovalbumin–T cell receptor (OVA–TCR Tg+) were transplanted into germ-free (GF) or specific pathogen-free (SPF) BALB/c mice. Recipient mice were fed OVA or immunized subcutaneously with OVA peptide (323–339) in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Although the efficiency of transfer was less in GF recipients, similar proportions of cells from draining peripheral lymph node (LN) or MLN were proliferating 3–4 days later in vivo in GF and SPF mice. In separate experiments, mice were fed tolerogenic doses of OVA and then challenged with an immunogenic dose of OVA 4 days later. Ten days after immunization, lymphocytes were restimulated with OVA in vitro to assess antigen-specific proliferative responses. At both high and low doses of OVA, cells from both SPF and GF mice fed OVA prior to immunization had decreased proliferation compared to cells from control SPF or GF mice. In addition, secretion of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-10 by OVA–TCR Tg+ lymphocytes was reduced in both SPF and GF mice fed OVA compared to control SPF or GF mice. Unlike previous reports indicating defective humoral responses to oral antigen in GF mice, our results indicate that commensal enteric bacteria do not enhance the induction of acquired, antigen-specific T cell tolerance to oral OVA

First Report of NRG Oncology/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0622: A Phase 2 Trial of Samarium-153 Followed by Salvage Prostatic Fossa Irradiation in High-Risk Clinically Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer After Radical Prostatectomy.

PURPOSE: To investigate the utility of 153Sm lexidronam (Quadramet) in the setting of men with prostate cancer status post radical prostatectomy who develop biochemical failure with no clinical evidence of osseous metastases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Trial NRG Oncology RTOG 0622 is a single-arm phase 2 trial that enrolled men with pT2-T4, N0-1, M0 prostate cancer status post radical prostatectomy, who meet at least 1 of these biochemical failure criteria: (1) prostate-specific antigen (PSA) \u3e 1.0 ng/mL; (2) PSA \u3e 0.2 ng/mL if Gleason score 9 to 10; or (3) PSA \u3e 0.2 ng/mL if N1. Patients received 153Sm (2.0 mCi/kg intravenously × 1) followed by salvage external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) to the prostatic fossa (64.8-70.2 Gy in 1.8-Gy daily fractions). No androgen deprivation therapy was allowed. The primary objective was PSA response within 12 weeks of receiving 153Sm. The secondary objectives were to: (1) assess the completion rate for the regimen of 153Sm and EBRT; (2) evaluate the hematologic toxicity and other adverse events (AEs) at 12 and 24 weeks; and (3) determine the freedom from progression rate at 2 years. RESULTS: A total of 60 enrolled eligible patients were included in this analysis. Median follow-up was 3.97 years. A PSA response was achieved in 7 of 52 evaluable patients (13.5%), compared with the 25% hypothesized. The 2-year freedom from progression rate was 25.5% (95% confidence interval 14.4%-36.7%), and the biochemical failure rate was 64.4% (95% CI 50.5%-75.2%). Samarium-153 was well tolerated, with 16 (of 60) grade 3 to 4 hematologic AEs and no grade 5 hematologic AEs. Radiation therapy was also well tolerated, with no grade 3 to 5 acute radiation therapy-related AEs and 1 grade 3 to 4 and no grade 5 late radiation therapy-related AEs. CONCLUSIONS: Trial NRG Oncology RTOG 0622 did not meet its primary endpoint of PSA response, although the regimen of 153Sm and salvage EBRT was well tolerated. Although the toxicity profile supports study of 153Sm in high-risk disease, it may not be beneficial in men receiving EBRT

Guidelines for sustainable building design: Recommendations from the Presidio of San Francisco energy efficiency design charrette

In 1994, the Bay Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers{reg_sign} organized a two-day design charrette for energy-efficient redevelopment of buildings by the National Park Services (NPS) at the Presidio of San Francisco. This event brought together engineers, researchers, architects, government officials, and students in a participatory environment to apply their experience to create guidelines for the sustainable redesign of Presidio buildings. The venue for the charrette was a representative barracks building located at the Main Post of the Presidio. Examination of this building allowed for the development of design recommendations, both for the building and for the remainder of the facilities. The charrette was organized into a committee structure consisting of: steering, measurement and monitoring, modeling, building envelope and historic preservation (architectural), HVAC and controls, lighting, and presentation. Prior to the charrette itself, the modeling and measurement/monitoring committees developed substantial baseline data for the other committees during the charrette. An integrated design approach was initiated through interaction between the committees during the charrette. Later, committee reports were cross-referenced to emphasize whole building design and systems integration

Bayesian Sensitivity Analysis of Flight Parameters in a Hard-Landing Analysis Process

A flight parameter sensor simulation model was developed to assess the conservatism of the landing gear component loads calculated using a typical hard-landing analysis process. Conservatism exists due to factors of safety that are incorporated into any hard-landing analysis process to account for uncertainty in the measurement of certain flight parameters. The flight parameter sensor simulation model consists of 1) an aircraft and landing gear dynamic model to determine the “actual” landing gear loads during a hard landing; 2) an aircraft sensor and data acquisition model to represent the aircraft sensors and flight data recorder systems to investigate the effect of signal processing on the flight parameters; and 3) an automated hard-landing analysis process, representative of that used by airframe and equipment manufacturers, to determine the “simulated” landing gear loads. Using a technique of Bayesian sensitivity analysis, a number of flight parameters are varied in the flight parameter sensor simulation model to gain an understanding of the sensitivity of the difference between actual and simulated loads to the individual flight parameters in symmetric and asymmetric two-point landings. This study shows that the error can be reduced by learning the true value of the following flight parameters: longitudinal tire–runway friction coefficient, aircraft vertical acceleration (related to vertical descent velocity), lateral acceleration (related to lateral velocity), Euler roll angle, mass, center of gravity position, and main landing gear tire type. It was also shown that, due to the modeling techniques used, shock absorber servicing state and tire pressure do not contribute significantly to the error

Deep learning for detecting and explaining unfairness in consumer contracts

Consumer contracts often contain unfair clauses, in apparent violation of the relevant legislation. In this paper we present a new methodology for evaluating such clauses in online Terms of Services. We expand a set of tagged documents (terms of service), with a structured corpus where unfair clauses are liked to a knowledge base of rationales for unfairness, and experiment with machine learning methods on this expanded training set. Our experimental study is based on deep neural networks that aim to combine learning and reasoning tasks, one major example being Memory Networks. Preliminary results show that this approach may not only provide reasons and explanations to the user, but also enhance the automated detection of unfair clauses

Chemotherapy following radium-223 dichloride treatment in ALSYMPCA

BACKGROUND Radium-223 prolongs overall survival in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and symptomatic bone metastases, regardless of prior docetaxel. Whether or not chemotherapy can be safely administered following radium-223 treatment is of clinical importance. An exploratory analysis of prospectively collected data, from the ALSYMPCA (ALpharadin in SYMptomatic Prostate CAncer) patient subgroup who received chemotherapy after radium-223 or placebo treatment, was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of chemotherapy following radium-223. METHODS In ALSYMPCA, CRPC patients with symptomatic bone metastases and no visceral metastases were randomized 2:1 to receive six injections of radium-223 (50 kBq/kg IV) or placebo plus best standard of care, stratified by prior docetaxel, baseline alkaline phosphatase, and current bisphosphonate use. In this exploratory analysis, chemotherapy agents administered following study treatment were identified; timing and duration were calculated. Hematologic safety was reviewed, and overall survival analyzed. RESULTS Overall, 142 radium-223 and 64 placebo patients received subsequent chemotherapy; most common were docetaxel (70% radium-223, 72% placebo) and mitoxantrone (16% radium-223, 20% placebo). The majority of patients (61% radium-223, 58% placebo) had received prior docetaxel. Radium-223 patients started subsequent chemotherapy later than placebo patients; chemotherapy duration was similar between groups. In radium-223 and placebo patients receiving subsequent chemotherapy, median hematologic values (hemoglobin, neutrophils, and platelets) remained nearly constant up to 18 months following start of chemotherapy, regardless of prior docetaxel treatment. A low percentage of patients in both groups had grades 3–4 hematologic values (<10%). Platelet count decline, from last measurement before chemotherapy, was numerically greater in radium-223 versus placebo patients. Median overall survivals from start of chemotherapy were 16.0 and 15.8 months following radium-223 and placebo, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Chemotherapy following radium-223, regardless of prior docetaxel, is feasible and appears to be well tolerated in patients with CRPC and symptomatic bone metastases