Earlier Counterparts Research Articles

Parallel and Flexible Dynamic Programming via the Mini-Batch Bellman Operator

The Bellman operator constitutes the foundation of dynamic programming (DP). An alternative is presented by the Gauss-Seidel operator, whose evaluation, differently from that of the Bellman operator where the states are all processed at once, updates one state at a time, while incorporating into the computation the interim results. The provably better convergence rate of DP methods based on the Gauss-Seidel operator comes at the price of an inherent sequentiality, which prevents the exploitation of modern multi-core systems. In this work we propose a new operator for dynamic programming, namely, the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">mini-batch Bellman operator</i> , which aims at realizing the trade-off between the better convergence rate of the methods based on the Gauss-Seidel operator and the parallelization capability offered by the Bellman operator. After the introduction of the new operator, a theoretical analysis for validating its fundamental properties is conducted. Such properties allow one to successfully deploy the new operator in the main dynamic programming schemes, such as value iteration and modified policy iteration. We compare the convergence of the DP algorithm based on the new operator with its earlier counterparts, shedding light on the algorithmic advantages of the new formulation and the impact of the batch-size parameter on the convergence. Finally, an extensive numerical evaluation of the newly introduced operator is conducted. In accordance with the theoretical derivations, the numerical results show the competitive performance of the proposed operator and its superior flexibility, which allows one to adapt the efficiency of its iterations to different structures of MDPs and hardware setups.

Resurgent totalitarianism, charismatic dictatorship, and the rise of socio-political extremism in the age of globalisation and multiculturalism: an escalating human rights crisis

ABSTRACT Globally, there are certain tendencies in a significant number of regimes today that indicate a shift away from liberal democracy, the rule of law, equality, and justice. This threatens international human rights, advancing towards totalitarianism. The technologies available to totalitarian regimes today for control, intimidation, indoctrination, and mass manipulation are far more advanced than their earlier counterparts. It is typically led by a charismatic dictator and a single political party that uses powerful narratives of blame, hate speech, instilling fear, and scapegoating to seise or maintain power at any cost. That being so, amid contemporary global shifts to totalitarianism, human rights abuses persist worldwide despite the ratification of so many international treaties. This piece engages in critically analysing the situation faced by the targeted group of citizens who live under the rules of resurgent totalitarian states. The study further examines the reasons why certain countries and communities get along well with their counterparts while others appear to be breeding grounds, what role governments, politicians, and leaders play in the development and support of group divisions and ideologies of social difference, and how these ideologies lead to the creation of a destructive culture and infrastructure on the path to large-scale bloodshed.

Reeling in the Whirlpool galaxy: Distance to M 51 clarified through Cepheids and the type IIP supernova 2005cs

Context. The distance to the Whirlpool galaxy, M 51, is still debated, even though the galaxy has been studied in great detail. Current estimates range from 6.02 to 9.09 Mpc, and different methods yield discrepant results. No Cepheid distance has been published for M 51 to date. Aims. We aim to estimate a more reliable distance to M 51 through two independent methods: Cepheid variables and their period-luminosity relation, and an augmented version of the expanding photosphere method (EPM) on the type IIP supernova SN 2005cs, which exploded in this galaxy. Methods. For the Cepheid variables, we analysed a recently published Hubble Space Telescope catalogue of stars in M 51. By applying filtering based on the light curve and colour-magnitude diagram, we selected a high-quality sample of M 51 Cepheids to estimate the distance through the period-luminosity relation. For SN 2005cs, an emulator-based spectral fitting technique was applied, which allows for the fast and reliable estimation of the physical parameters of the supernova atmosphere. We augmented the established framework of EPM with these spectral models to obtain a precise distance to M 51. Results. The two resulting distance estimates are DCep = 7.59 ± 0.30 Mpc and D2005cs = 7.34 ± 0.39 Mpc using the Cepheid period-luminosity relation and the spectral modelling of SN 2005cs, respectively. This is the first published Cepheid distance for this galaxy. The obtained values are precise to 4–5% and are fully consistent within 1σ uncertainties. Because these two estimates are completely independent, they can be combined for an even more precise estimate, which yields DM 51 = 7.50 ± 0.24 Mpc (3.2% uncertainty). Conclusions. Our distance estimates agree with most of the results obtained previously for M 51, but they are more precise than the earlier counterparts. However, they are significantly lower than the TRGB estimates, which are often adopted for the distance to this galaxy. The results highlight the importance of direct cross-checks between independent distance estimates so that systematic uncertainties can be quantified. Because of the large discrepancy, this finding can also affect distance-sensitive studies and their discussion for objects within M 51, as well as the estimation of the Hubble constant through the type IIP standardizable candle method, for which SN 2005cs is a calibrator object.

Implementing the first program of minimally invasive esophagectomy for cancer in Israel: shifting the paradigm in a high-volume center - a cohort study.

Esophagectomy is associated with significant perioperative morbidity. Limited data are available on the process of implementation of minimally invasive techniques in esophagectomy and related outcomes. The authors sought to describe implementation processes and outcomes following the implementation of the first minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) program at a high-volume center in Israel under the mentorship of American early adopters. Patients who underwent esophagectomy for esophageal carcinoma 2011-2022 were included. Early and late cohorts were created for learning curve analysis. Secondary analysis included patients who underwent open esophagectomy 1997-2011. Overall, 300 patients underwent MIE: three-field MIE (3F-MIE) was performed in 242 (80.7%) patients, two-field MIE (2F-MIE) in 58 (19.3%) patients. Following program implementation in 2012, the number of MIE performed increased during the first 3 years ( n =33, 86.8% in 2015). Among 3F-MIE patients, a higher number of retrieved lymph nodes was reported during later cases (median, IQR1-3 17, 12-23 vs. 12, 8-12, P <0.001) while surgeries required a longer time (median, IQR1-3 300min, 261-355 vs. 262.5, 239-300, P <0.001). Among 2F-MIE patients, the late cohort had lower rates of prolonged ICU admissions than earlier counterparts ( n =2, 6.9% vs. n =9, 31%, P =0.041), overall and severe 30-day complications ( n =12, 41.4% vs. n =23, 79.3%, P <0.001 and n =7, 24.1% vs. n =23, 79.3%, P =0.003). MIE was safely implemented. Nodal yield was higher among MIE patients than open esophagectomy. During the study years, open approach was gradually abandoned in favor of 3F-MIE procedures, while 2F-MIE increased over the course of the last years.

Convergence Rate Analysis and Improved Iterations for Numerical Radius Computation

The current two main methods for computing the numerical are the level-set approach of Mengi and Overton and the cutting-plane method of Uhlig, but until now, no formal convergence rate results have been established for either. In practice, which is faster is also unclear, with Uhlig's method sometimes being much faster than Mengi and Overton's approach, and on other problems, much slower. In this paper, we clarify this issue and also propose three improved methods. We show that Mengi and Overton's method converges quadratically, as has been suspected, while we completely characterize the total cost of Uhlig's method for so-called disk matrices. Then, for arbitrary fields of values, we derive the exact Q-linear local convergence rate of Uhlig's cutting procedure. Together, this establishes that Uhlig's method is extremely expensive when the field of values is a disk centered at the origin, but that the local rate of convergence of his cutting procedure actually varies from linear to superlinear depending on the shape and location of the field of values, which we show can be encapsulated by a single parameter via introducing the notion of normalized curvature. These results fully explain why Uhlig's method can both be exceptionally fast and exceptionally slow. With this insight, we propose an improved level-set method and an improved cutting-plane method, both of which can be significantly faster than their earlier counterparts, while also establishing analogous convergence rate results for both. Moreover, in order to remain efficient for any field of values configuration, we introduce a third algorithm that leverages the concept of normalized curvature and combines both of our improved iterations.

Gender Disparities in Academic Outcomes Among Graduates of a Canadian MD-PhD Program.

Women have traditionally been underrepresented in MD and MD-PhD training programs. Here, we describe the changing demographics of an MD-PhD Program over three distinct time intervals. We designed a 64-question survey and sent it to 47 graduates of the McGill University MD-PhD program in Montréal, Québec, Canada, since its inception in 1985. We also sent a 23-question survey to the 24 students of the program in 2021. The surveys included questions related to demographics, physician-scientist training, research metrics, as well as academic and personal considerations. We collected responses from August 2020 to August 2021 and grouped them into three intervals based on respondent graduation year: 1995-2005 (n = 17), 2006-2020 (n = 23) and current students (n = 24). Total response rate was 90.1% (n = 64/71). We found that there are more women currently in the program compared to the 1995-2005 cohort (41.7% increase, p<0.01). In addition, women self-reported as physician-scientists less frequently than men and reported less protected research time. Overall, recent MD-PhD alumni represent a more diverse population compared with their earlier counterparts. Identifying barriers to training remains an important step in ensuring MD-PhD trainees become successful physician-scientists.

Target Detection for Distributed MIMO Radar With Non-Orthogonal Waveforms in Cluttered Environments

Orthogonal radar waveforms originating from spatially distributed transmitters (TXs) usually arrive at a receiver (RX) in non-orthogonal forms, as they propagate through different paths with distinct delays and Doppler frequencies in distributed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar. Non-orthogonal waveforms complicate the composition of the target and clutter returns, making it more challenging to separate one from the other. In this paper, we consider joint target detection and clutter mitigation in distributed MIMO radar. We first present a general signal model for distributed MIMO radar in cluttered environments. Next, we propose three families of detection solutions, including non-coherent detectors that require no phase estimation and are relatively simple to implement, coherent detectors that offer enhanced detection performance given accurate phase information, and hybrid detectors that are a compromise of the former two, requiring only local phase coherence but no explicit phase estimation. In addition, approximate solutions are proposed in each category with further complexity reduction, using high clutter-to-noise (CNR) approximation or convex relaxation. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed detectors, which outperform their earlier counterparts that neglect the presence of clutter.

“I’ve overcome a mountain that had little hills”: teacher candidates’ perspectives of student teaching during a global pandemic

In the fall of 2020, two teacher educators conducted a qualitative study to better understand how 14 female undergraduate, early childhood education teacher candidates completing student teaching at a large public university in a Midwestern state, navigated student teaching during a global pandemic. Analyzing data from transcripts of regularly submitted teaching reflections, we examined how these novice educators perceived and reacted to this situation, to determine the influence of this unique event on their professional growth. Findings revealed that while some elements of student teaching appeared similar to the experience of candidates completing student teaching in earlier times, these candidates’ experience was colored by the unavoidable challenges of a global pandemic, including altered instructional experiences, professional interactions, student relationships, and pedagogical options. Because candidates student teaching during the pandemic had such different experiences than their earlier counterparts, a traditional menu of learning opportunities and mentoring will likely be insufficient to meet their varied development requirements as new teachers. It will be critical to scrutinize the skills, knowledge base, and emotional perspectives of each early career educator and to create individualized development and support plans that build on the unique opportunities and challenges they will carry into their first teaching positions.

Paroles pamphlétaires dans le premier xixe siècle (1814–1848). Par Laetitia Saintes

Not many people, even among specialists in French literature, will have heard of Paul-Louis Courier. In the nineteenth century, however, he was almost as famous as Diderot and Chateaubriand still are, mainly because in 1824 he published a pamphlet entitled Le Pamphlet des pamphlets that, in inadvertent homage to its title by posterity, became something like a model of what a pamphlet should be. For many years during the nineteenth century, Courier was associated as strongly with the pamphlet as Lafontaine with the fable or La Rochefoucauld with the maxim. He is, as a result, one of the major figures in Laetitia Saintes’s large and very well documented study of French pamphlet literature in the first half of the nineteenth century, when Courier had a readership and a presence comparable to those now enjoyed by Chateaubriand, Germaine de Staël, or Benjamin Constant. Unlike them, however, Courier adopted a persona, in this case that of a plain-spoken peasant from the Touraine, to comment on topical subjects, current events, and public figures. Here too the persona in question became something like a model of what a persona should be. In this respect, Courier was soon matched or followed by the chansonnier Pierre-Jean de Béranger and by the many assorted publications of Louis de Courmenin and Claude Tillier, and their work in turn provides the basis of much of the historical and analytical content of the whole monograph. Despite its size, both the historical and analytical sides of this otherwise fine study are somewhat limited. Pamphlet literature did not begin in France between 1814 and 1848; even in nineteenth-century France, it had its earlier counterparts in the publications of the period of the French Wars of Religion or the mazarinades of the time of the Fronde. The reason for making the point is not to indicate a straightforward historical omission but to suggest, instead, that overlooking this temporal dimension makes it more difficult to recognize the several different levels of historicity built into the combination of a pamphlet and a persona, irrespective of whether its target is situated in France in the nineteenth century or, as in the persona of John Bull and the pamphlets of William ­Cobbett, somewhere entirely different. Something, in short, about the genre itself has gone missing. ­Pamphlets clearly belong to the world of print, but their content could belong to the worlds of Roman satire, the Greek Cynics, or even the Parisian sans-culottes. The multiple connotations of the satire, diatribe, or polemic often involved in pamphlet literature are not particularly visible in this study, and neither is discussion of the procedures and evaluations followed in other well-known studies of pamphlet literature by, for example, Mikhail Bakhtin or Robert Darnton. On its own terms, however, this remains an impressively thorough examination of French pamphlet literature between 1814 and 1848.

Analysis method for the design of long submarine cables

The recent push for renewable electrical energy sources has resulted in a significant increase in the installation of the offshore wind farms. These farms become much bigger than their earlier counterparts and the generated power is much larger. This puts additional performance requirements on the export cables. Long submarine export cables are not only subjected to changing laying conditions along the route, including depth and seabed material variations, but also the loading patterns vary significantly over time. Additionally, applied reactive power compensation measures and the time-dependent grid situation change the distribution of the current along the route. These unique features of long submarine power cables necessitate a new type of approach to their design and construction optimization. This paper introduces a new approach for ampacity calculations of long submarine power cables. As the ampacity calculations form a basis for the design of a cable route, it is of paramount importance that they are performed as accurately as possible. The approach can be applied to general-purpose circuit solvers, and this paper describes how to implement it using the ATP-EMTP software, which is extended to the consideration of concurrent electrical and thermal effects. The approach permits considering all the important local and time-dependent parameters of the analysis simultaneously. In particular, the approach allows simultaneous analysis of the varying laying conditions along the route including changes in the depth of burial and thermal resistivity of the soil together with the temporal variations of the cable loading. Additionally, current characteristics in long AC cable conductors are strongly affected by the reactive power flow, which in turn depends on the location of the reactive power compensation, the reactive power demand for grid operation, and the wind farm voltage reactive power control strategy. Such analysis cannot be performed with any existing analytical tool. Also, numerical tools cannot handle such problems because a 3-dimensional time-dependent analysis of a cable route which is 100 km long would encounter convergence problems as the size of such model would be prohibitive. Hence, at present, the proposed approach is the only one available to solve this complex electro-thermal problem. Several numerical examples illustrate an application of the proposed methodology.

The National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Model Guidance Suite

Abstract The National Hurricane Center (NHC) uses a variety of guidance models for its operational tropical cyclone track, intensity, and wind structure forecasts, and as baselines for the evaluation of forecast skill. A set of the simpler models, collectively known as the NHC guidance suite, is maintained by NHC. The models comprising the guidance suite are briefly described and evaluated, with details provided for those that have not been documented previously. Decay-SHIFOR is a modified version of the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Forecast (SHIFOR) model that includes decay over land; this modification improves the SHIFOR forecasts through about 96 h. T-CLIPER, a climatology and persistence model that predicts track and intensity using a trajectory approach, has error characteristics similar to those of CLIPER and D-SHIFOR but can be run to any forecast length. The Trajectory and Beta model (TAB), another trajectory track model, applies a gridpoint spatial filter to smooth winds from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) model. TAB model errors were 10%–15% lower than those of the Beta and Advection model (BAM), the model it replaced in 2017. Optimizing TAB’s vertical weights shows that the lower troposphere’s environmental flow provides a better match to observed tropical cyclone motion than does the upper troposphere’s, and that the optimal steering layer is shallower for higher-latitude and weaker tropical cyclones. The advantages and disadvantages of the D-SHIFOR, T-CLIPER, and TAB models relative to their earlier counterparts are discussed. Significance Statement This paper provides a comprehensive summary and evaluation of a set of simpler forecast models used as guidance for NHC’s operational tropical cyclone forecasts, and as baselines for the evaluation of forecast skill; these include newer techniques that extend forecasts to 7 days and beyond.

The Laws of Hammurabi: At the Confluence of Royal and Scribal Traditions by Pamela Bartash

Reviewed by: The Laws of Hammurabi: At the Confluence of Royal and Scribal Traditions by Pamela Bartash Ben Dewar (bio) The Laws of Hammurabi: At the Confluence of Royal and Scribal Traditions Pamela Bartash Oxford University Press, 2020. x + 320 pp. $99 hardcover. The monograph under discussion is an "histoire totale" (3) of the Laws of Hammurabi and the stele bearing it, investigating the ideological messages present in the text and image, the scribal culture that influenced the text's composition, and the reception of the Laws in later periods. Bartash's core argument is that Mesopotamian law collections were written by taking a series of stock legal situations and improvising a series of statutes based on them that expressed the scribe's own notions of what was fair and just. The Laws merged this tradition with that of royal inscriptions to create an innovative new expression of royal power. In chapter one, Bartash argues that the image on the stele alters the standard investiture scene in several ways to present Hammurabi as closer in status to the god Shamash. Furthermore, pairing this image with an unusually long text in an archaiz generalization ing, top-to-bottom script creates an original and eye-catching monument. Chapter two focuses on three textual traditions relating to justice that were pre-existent when the Laws was written: acts of equity described in royal hymns and inscriptions, social reform edicts, and law collections. Bartash analyses the content and rhetoric of these three types of text, arguing that they all demonstrate the role of justice in royal legitimation, but do so in different ways. Chapters three and four explore how the Laws' author combined the traditions discussed in chapter two into a new expression of royal justice. Chapter three analyses the Laws as a royal inscription, analysing how the author engaged with the discourse practices of Mesopotamian commemorative inscriptions. Chapter four compares the Laws with other law collections to argue that it is more complexly structured than its earlier counterparts. Bartash argues that, like the authors of earlier law codes, the Laws' scribe [End Page 209] improvised a series of example statutes based on his knowledge of legal texts and terminology internalised during scribal education. However, the Laws' scribe innovatively structured their improvised statutes, demonstrating a more complex conceptualisation and systematisation of law and implying a number of legal principles. The Laws therefore marks an important step, Bartash argues, towards the generalization and abstraction of law. Bartash demonstrates the conceptualization and systematization present in the Laws in chapter five, which uses the adoption statutes from the Laws as a case study for the concepts discussed in chapter four. Chapter four ends with an excursus on scribes and their education. The placement of this section is slightly confusing. The excursus outlines scribes' internalisation of the discourse practices and streams of tradition engaged in chapter four. One would therefore expect it to be placed earlier in the book. This is, however, a minor criticism, and the reader does not feel lost for not having read the excursus before chapter four. Chapter six tackles the important question of the legal authority of the Laws. Previous scholarship has often debated whether the Laws represents the law as it was practiced in Mesopotamia by identifying legal cases in royal letters or archival records that mirror circumstances described in the Laws. Bartash argues that this methodology applies modern conceptions of legal precedent to a culture whose legal system did not operate on precedent, and emphasizes the consistency of law while ignoring the need for discretion in the adjudication of individual legal cases. Bartash instead focuses on the flexibility of Mesopotamian law; the Laws is not a written record of the code actually enforced, but one scribe's expression of their own ideas—formed through intensive engagement with pre-existing legal literature—on what is fair and just. This novel approach to the Laws resolves many of the problems surrounding the nature of the Laws, and greatly improves our understanding of Mesopotamian law. Chapter seven explores the reception of the Laws in later periods. First, Bartash considers instances of scribal improvization in later law collections. She argues that the exportation of the...

Effective and selective electroreduction of aqueous nitrate catalyzed by copper particles on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Drinking-water contamination with nitrate ions is inevitable and wide spreading, which demands feasible removal. Water de-nitration by potentiostatic electroreduction is described here. A novel electrocatalyst based on nano-copper particles, supported onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and spray-deposited onto fluorine doped tin oxide-glass substrates, is described. The Cu/MWCNT/FTO electrode has been characterized by several methods and assessed as a working electrode in aqueous nitrate ion electroreduction, in comparison with MWCNT sprayed on FTO (MWCNT/FTO) with no copper. Comparison with earlier reported electrodes is also described. XRD patterns confirm the presence of nano-copper crystallites, in the electrode, with average size ⁓45 nm. Within 2 h of electrolysis, Cu/MWVNT/FTO exhibits more than 65% removal of nitrate at −1.80 V (vs. SCE). In longer time (7 h) the electrode completely converts the nitrate into N2 (∼65%) and (NH4+) ∼35% with no NO2− ions. The kinetics show 0.76 order with respect to nitrate, and a rate constant 4.53 × 10−2 min−1 higher than earlier counterparts. The new electrode functions under various conditions of temperature, pH, electrolyte type and concentration and inter-electrode spacing, only at ambient applied potential. Moreover, the electrode exhibits stability under nitrate electroreduction conditions, and can be recovered and reused for multiple times without efficiency loss. XRD and EDS results also confirm the electrode stability after multiple reuse. Compared to earlier systems, the Cu/MWCNT/FTO is environmentally stable, safe, non-costly with high nitrate removal efficiency and selectivity.

Kemalism and Populism

Abstract This article examines the trajectory of populism/halkçilik, one of the least studied principles of Kemalism, from its origins in the ideas of Enlightenment to its practices in modern Turkey. Unlike its commonly perceived negative connotation that is often associated with irrational political objectives, populism is a manifestation of equality premise of Enlightenment. Populism gained popularity among the nineteenth-century American and Russian farmers as well as fin de siècle French intellectuals and politicians. Neither the Russian Narodnik movement nor the American Populist Party were as influential as the French solidarists who were backed by Vatican to carve a middle path between unrefined Capitalism and revolutionary Marxism. Inspired by its earlier counterparts in France and Russia, Kemalist principle of Populism aimed to end inherited socio-economic inequalities that had existed in the former Ottoman Empire. While modern Turkey curbed some inequalities, it has stumbled upon the same core obstacle, unequal distribution of resources. The never-ending human fight for equality will carry on whether it carries the banner of Kemalism or any other ideology.

Hepatotoxicity of contemporary antiretroviral drugs.

To date, more than 30 antiretroviral drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of HIV infection. As new drugs with better efficacy and safety profile become available for clinical practice, older drugs are either withdrawn from the market or become no longer actively prescribed. We review hepatotoxicity associated with contemporary antiretroviral drugs, with emphasis on data from the past 3 years. Although less robust data exists for side effects of contemporary antiretroviral medications recently approved for the management of HIV (i.e., doravirine, ibalizumab, fostemsavir, cabotegravir), the risks of substantial hepatotoxicity appears to be minimal with these agents. Although newer antiretroviral drugs are better tolerated than their earlier counterparts, they are not completely devoid of adverse drug reactions, including hepatotoxicity. Monitoring patients on antiretroviral therapy for treatment-emergent liver injury should continue to be part of routine clinical care.

High dimensional mapping of temporal evolution within the marrow microenvironment in response to FLT3 inhibitor therapy.

7020 Background: The advent of genomic sequencing technologies has revealed underlying genetic alterations, such as FLT3 mutations, that can be targeted in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, development of resistance limits the durability of response. Recent data has implicated that factors from the bone marrow microenvironment mediate initial resistance to FLT3 inhibitors (FLT3i) in AML. We combined high dimensional characterization techniques, time-of-flight mass cytometry (CyTOF) and RNA sequencing, to examine sequential marrow stromal samples from a subset of patients with FLT3 mutated AML treated with the FLT3i gilteritinib. Here, we report on the heterogeneity and evolution of cell surface and secreted factors over time. Methods: RNA sequencing of primary FLT3-ITD stromal samples (N = 29) from pre-study and on-treatment patients enabled prioritization of candidate targets for CyTOF. Target-specific purified antibodies were purchased pre-conjugated to metal lanthanides or conjugated in house according to manufacturer protocols (after validation via traditional flow cytometry). Primary stromal cells were cultured ex vivo until confluent and were harvested and stained according to a standardized protocol, and subsequently run on a Helios (Fluidigm) mass cytometer. A computational approach was employed to compensate and visualize data via the CATALYST R package. A total of four pre-treatment and four post-gilteritinib timepoint isolates (N = 8) were analyzed. Results: A 36-target mass cytometry panel revealed protein level differences in patients before and after gilteritinib therapy. Dimensional reduction techniques such as MDS and UMAP showed that samples taken from later timepoints clustered together compared to their earlier counterparts with respect to global protein expression. Inflammatory mediators such as IL1-beta and MCP-1 were upregulated in patient stroma soon after gilteritinib treatment and therefore potentially contribute to early resistance. Novel markers previously implicated in early resistance to targeted therapies in AML such as FGF2 and FGFR1 similarly peaked earlier in treatment, mimicking the clinical course of expression observed in marrow stroma of patients treated with another FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib (Traer et al. Cancer Res. 2016). Conclusions: Our findings show that primary marrow stroma evolves during gilteritinib treatment, and that stromal proteins previously reported to promote early resistance to FLT3i are also upregulated during gilteritinib resistance. The heterogeneity of stromal cell isolates detected by mass cytometry highlights the utility of high dimensional tracking of disease course in patients, and may enable a better understanding of how the temporal evolution of the marrow microenvironment contributes to development of resistance to targeted therapies such as gilteritinib and other FLT3i over time.

Beyond the Boundaries: A Study of Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupé

The debate over the position of women, their condition in their family and society at large, has&nbsp; contributed in giving them many rights earlier denied. Nevertheless, the basic rights for&nbsp; women are still not enough to say that their position is equal to their male counterparts.&nbsp; Although women in general, are said to be in better positions than their earlier counterparts,&nbsp; but they are still in the marginalized position, because the multifaceted gender patterns work&nbsp; differently on women of different classes and backgrounds through culture. By looking at the&nbsp; women characters from two different social backgrounds, this paper attempts to have a better&nbsp; understanding of their marginalization through Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupé. This paper aims to&nbsp; study the plight of women who are called privileged according to the societal norms yet, they&nbsp; are marginalized. In Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupé, the protagonist Akhila, an independent&nbsp; unmarried woman, goes on a journey alone to Kanyakumari in order to find a place for&nbsp; herself. The text contrasts the challenges of living alone positing it against the women&nbsp; surrounded by human relationships. The objective of this paper is to study how human&nbsp; relationships have become a tool to women’s oppression and also what major role travel plays&nbsp; in the development and realization of ‘Self’. Human psyche, being largely influenced by&nbsp; culture, has many a time played a crucial role in victimizing human being themselves,&nbsp; especially, the women. So, in a way it includes the deep cultural influences on human psyche&nbsp; that leads to the oppression of a particular group and suggests alternatives to deal with them.&nbsp;&nbsp

Strategies for Marketing Really New Products to the Mass Market: A Text Mining-Based Case Study of Virtual Reality Games

This paper reports on a text mining-based case study aimed at determining how virtual reality (VR) games, as examples of really new products (RNPs), market themselves when they are introduced to the mass market. The goal was to examine the marketing foci of RNPs and any subsequent changes over time when the RNPs survive. VR games are a type of RNP offering several unique benefits, such as immersive gameplay and storytelling, which are advanced compared with their earlier counterparts. To examine the marketing foci of VR games, we collected 17,000 pieces of promotional text from a major online gaming marketplace, Steam Store, published from the beginning of the second quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2018. We performed text analysis (topic modeling) and found that game marketers paid particular attention to the VR nature of VR games when they first entered the marketplace. However, game content increasingly was emphasized in subsequent quarters. In addition, the marketing foci for VR games seemed to go through an exploratory process, which was not observed among non-VR games in the same period. The results offer insights into how the focus of RNPs’ marketing evolves as their newness fades.

Yield-Maturity Relationships of Summer Maize from 2003 to 2017 in the Huanghuaihai Plain of China

Information on yield-maturity relationships is important for maize breeding and cultivation, but it is seldom available in geographic zones where there are limited heat resources for summer maize. Two novel systematic crop yield models were put forward in terms of production efficiency. These models as well as three other conventional models were used to analyze the crop yield and maturity dataset of 23,691 records that were collected from the annual reports for the national summer maize zonal trials conducted in the Huanghuaihai Plain of China during 2003 to 2017. (1) Crop yield increases were usually below 14.5 kg/666.7 m2 due to longer maturity days, varying from 1 d to 15 d increments. Maize hybrids with later maturity fell into five categories: statistically significantly less, not significantly less, the same, not significantly more, or statistically significantly more output than their earlier counterparts. (2) Three yield components acted on crop yield gaps in the order of descending effects as kernel number per ear ≈ 1000-kernel weight > ear number per unit land area. (3) Space production efficiency was more important than canopy volume to crop yield. (4) Time production efficiency was dominant and maturity was negligible in crop yield formation. The findings provide insights into yield–maturity relationships in maize and useful information for summer maize breeding and cultivation strategies.

Chinese learner writers’ niche establishment in the Literature Review chapter of theses: A diachronic perspective

Conducting innovative research often requires establishing and occupying a niche. In thesis writing, the Literature Review (LR) chapter generally involves the evaluation of previous research in order to establish and occupy that niche. As little empirical examination of the possible variations in learner writers' niche-establishment (NE) practices in a domestic context, during different periods in time, has been conducted, the present study aims to fill this gap. In total, 40 theses written in English by Chinese postgraduate students of linguistics and applied linguistics from the same university graduate program were selected from two periods of time: 1990–2000 (Period A) and 2005–2015 (Period B). It was found that the more recent learner writers were discursively more critical than their earlier counterparts. To account for this, we considered the cross-period differences in genre-specific academic training in general, and NE training in particular, which was offered by the university's graduate program, to be one of the most plausible factors.