Bourgault phosphorus trials

Non-Peer Reviewe

Phosphorus and seed ratetrial in canola

Non-Peer ReviewedA first year experiment was set up to compare 50lbs P2O5 placed in the seed row to 25lbs P2O5 in the Seed row and 25lbs P2O5 in the band. This experiment also included using a 5lb seeding rate (10 seeds/ft2) to a 2.5lbs seeding rate (5 seeds/ft2). Although plant stand and maturity was affected, yield was not

Sustainable biomass production in agroforestry systems

Non-Peer ReviewedResearch conducted in 2007 through 2009 on the occasional biomass harvest from willow rings could provide balanced co-existence between agriculture and wetlands. This would provide biomass feedstock while preserving the wetland for future generations. The focus of the research will be on the sustainable production of biomass in agroforestry systems. The goals of this research project are to determine the impact of biomass harvest on re-growth of willow rings; evaluate the feasibility of mechanical harvest using a bio-baler; determine the biomass yield and production costs; and quantify fuel characteristics of harvested willow. Results have shown that the bio-baler tested can efficiently harvest biomass from willow rings at a rate of 6.5 tonnes/hour. The re-growth of the willows was rapid and was not impacted by the harvest. There are thousands of hectares of wetlands and surrounding willow rings available on the Canadian landscape for harvesting at a reasonable cost of production. The willow ring biomass harvested is suitable for small scale heating systems. Additional research will be conducted on the utilization of the biomass harvested from willow rings as a bioenergy source to supply a biomass boiler for heating purposes at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Agroforestry Development Centre (ADC) in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. This research will include the economics and environmental aspects and will consider the life cycle analysis

Modification of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene with 1,4-diaminobutane in near critical propane

Granules of high density polyethylene grafted with 0.17 wt.% maleic anhydride (PEMA) were modified with an excess of 1,4-diaminobutane (DAB) by impregnation from near critical propane. After formation of amic acid groups, the excess of diaminobutane was extracted with a near critical propane–ethanol mixture (95/5 wt.%). Finally, the obtained PEMA–DAB was imidised quantitatively to the corresponding imide (PEMI) in the melt. The obtained PEMI showed no increased gel content with respect to the PEMA. The presence of primary amine groups was indirectly proven by selective extraction experiments. It appeared that PEMI samples had reacted with the anhydride groups of styrene-MA copolymer (SMA) during melt blending of SMA with PEMI, while the PEMA had not reacted. SMA/PEMI 80/20 blends consisted of a continuous SMA phase and PEMI droplets with a diameter of less than 1 μm. SMA/PEMA 80/20 blends showed a course morphology of PEMA strings in a continuous SMA phase. With this article we have shown that this new technique for the chemical modification of swollen HDPE particles in near critical propane has proven to be much better than the conventional modification in the melt, when it comes to avoiding crosslinking

Long-Term Outcome of Sustained Endocrine Monotherapy for Elderly Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Among elderly breast cancer patients, endocrine therapy may be chosen as definitive treatment by patients or physicians. This study investigated the efficacy of endocrine monotherapy (ET) in terms of avoidance of invasive local treatment. Methods: Elderly patients (≥70 years) with a diagnosis of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer who underwent ET between 2008 and 2015 were identified through the Netherlands Cancer Registry. The primary outcome was the cumulative risk of undergoing invasive local treatment (radiotherapy or surgery) for the primary tumor. The secondary outcomes were development of uncontrolled local disease and overall survival (OS). Results: Of the 105 patients (median age, 86 years) enrolled in this study, 91 (78 %) received ET as definitive treatment, whereas 14 received ET as a “bridge to surgery.” For the 91 patients who used ET as intended definitive treatment, the 5-year cumulative risk of undergoing invasive local treatment and experiencing uncontrolled disease were respectively 28 % and 16 %. The 5-year cumulative OS was 42 %. Whereas 11 patients had metastatic or locally progressive breast cancer at the time of death, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, and old age or dementia were reported as contributing to the death of 39 patients. Conclusions: For a select group of elderly breast cancer patients who received sustained ET, the risk of undergoing invasive local treatment was surpassed by a twofold higher risk of dying. As an alternative to invasive local treatment, ET can be discussed as a safe and effective option for patients unwilling or unfit to undergo surgery.</p

Nivolumab and ipilimumab in the real-world setting in patients with mesothelioma

Objectives: Nivolumab (anti-PD-1) plus ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) is a new first-line treatment combination for patients with pleural mesothelioma. Nivolumab-ipilimumab improved the survival, however, 30.3% of the patients suffered from grade 3–4 treatment related adverse events (TRAE's) and TRAE's led to discontinuation in 23.0% of all patients. Here, we present the first real-world data of nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with malignant mesothelioma treated in two mesothelioma expert centers. Methods: Clinical data of patients with mesothelioma treated with nivolumab and ipilimumab were prospectively collected. Clinical parameters were obtained every visit, CT scans were evaluated every 12 weeks and adverse events were assessed continuously during the treatment. Data on grade 2–5 TRAE's and activity (overall response rate (ORR), duration of response (DOR), disease control rate (DCR), median progression-free survival (mPFS) and median overall survival (mOS) were reported. Results: Between January 2021 and August 2022, 184 patients were treated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab. The median follow-up was 12.1 months (95 %CI 11.1 – 13.1). Grade 3–4 TRAEs were seen in 27.7 % of the patients and 25.0 % discontinued immunotherapy treatment early because of TRAE's. ORR was 21.7 % (95 % CI 15.7–27.7), median DOR was 5.7 months (IQR 3.2–8.7) and DCR at 12 weeks 56.0 % (95 % CI 48.8–63.2). The mPFS was 5.5 months (95 %CI 4.1–6.9), mOS was 14.1 months (95 % CI 11.1–18.2). Conclusions: Nivolumab plus ipilimumab had an equal efficacy in a real-world comparable population but also a high risk of TRAE's, leading to discontinuation of treatment in 25% of the patients.</p

Forecasting Player Behavioral Data and Simulating in-Game Events

Understanding player behavior is fundamental in game data science. Video games evolve as players interact with the game, so being able to foresee player experience would help to ensure a successful game development. In particular, game developers need to evaluate beforehand the impact of in-game events. Simulation optimization of these events is crucial to increase player engagement and maximize monetization. We present an experimental analysis of several methods to forecast game-related variables, with two main aims: to obtain accurate predictions of in-app purchases and playtime in an operational production environment, and to perform simulations of in-game events in order to maximize sales and playtime. Our ultimate purpose is to take a step towards the data-driven development of games. The results suggest that, even though the performance of traditional approaches such as ARIMA is still better, the outcomes of state-of-the-art techniques like deep learning are promising. Deep learning comes up as a well-suited general model that could be used to forecast a variety of time series with different dynamic behaviors

Bahadur Representation for the Nonparametric M-Estimator Under alpha-mixing Dependence

Under the condition that the observations, which come from a high-dimensional population (X,Y), are strongly stationary and strongly-mixing, through using the local linear method, we investigate, in this paper, the strong Bahadur representation of the nonparametric M-estimator for the unknown function m(x)=arg minaIE(r(a,Y)|X=x), where the loss function r(a,y) is measurable. Furthermore, some related simulations are illustrated by using the cross validation method for both bivariate linear and bivariate nonlinear time series contaminated by heavy-tailed errors. The M-estimator is applied to a series of S&P 500 index futures andspot prices to compare its performance in practice with the usual squared-loss regression estimator