We study the resonant relaxation (RR) of an axisymmetric, low-mass (or Keplerian) stellar disc orbiting a more massive black hole (MBH). Our recent work on the general kinetic theory of RR is ...simplified in the standard manner by the neglect of 'gravitational polarization' and applied to a razor-thin axisymmetric disc. The wake of a stellar orbit is expressed in terms of the angular momenta exchanged with other orbits, and used to derive a kinetic equation for RR under the combined actions of self-gravity, 1 PN and 1.5 PN general relativistic effects of the MBH and an arbitrary external axisymmetric potential. This is a Fokker-Planck equation for the stellar distribution function (DF), wherein the diffusion coefficients are given self-consistently in terms of contributions from apsidal resonances between pairs of stellar orbits. The physical kinetics is studied for the two main cases of interest. (1) 'Lossless' discs in which the MBH is not a sink of stars, and disc mass, angular momentum and energy are conserved: we prove that general H-functions can increase or decrease during RR, but the Boltzmann entropy is (essentially) unique in being a non-decreasing function of time. Therefore, secular thermal equilibria are maximum entropy states, with DFs of the Boltzmann form; the two-ring correlation function at equilibrium is computed. (2) Discs that lose stars to the MBH through an 'empty loss cone': we derive expressions for the MBH feeding rates of mass, angular momentum and energy in terms of the diffusive fluxes at the loss-cone boundaries.
•We propose a generative segment-pose wise multi-clustering approach.•Unsupervised generative augmentation is proposed to resolve the sample scarcity.•Segment-pose wise threshold determination is ...proposed to validate generative networks.•A validation technique to evaluate the generated person re-ID images.
Person re-identification matches the images of a person captured in multiple cameras in a smart surveillance environment. The process of matching the images captured from multiple viewing angles is challenging due to the variations caused by illumination, occlusion, dynamic pose change, etc., To tackle such challenges, large number of samples are required to identify the unique features of a person. In real-world crowded surveillance environment, it is highly difficult to capture the sufficient number of images to build a deep model. This scarcity in samples can be resolved by generating images using generative networks. The existing literature lacks robust discriminators and validation techniques to validate the generative network in an unsupervised person re-identification setup. Thus, we propose an unsupervised adversarial segment-pose distance threshold representation to validate the generated images in addition to the conventional discriminator. The images are generated and cross-validated with the determined segment-pose distance threshold. Labelling process is performed by matching the unoccluded segment with its appropriate ground truth parent cluster based on the segment-pose distance threshold. We have performed experiments on the benchmark person re-ID datasets like DukeMTMC re-ID, Market1501, CUHK03 and MSMT17. The effectiveness of the proposed unsupervised generative model is proved by reporting a +2.6% highest ranking accuracy over the state-of-the-art methods.
Abstract
We report a case of progressive, severe mpox virus (MPXV) infection in a patient with AIDS despite a standard course of tecovirimat. He significantly improved after administration of ...vaccinia immune globulin intravenous (VIGIV) highlighting its use as an adjunct for severe disease in immunocompromised hosts.
Aggregations of social organisms exhibit a remarkable range of properties and functionalities. Multiple examples, such as fire ants or slime mold, show how a population of individuals is able to ...overcome an existential threat by gathering into a solid-like aggregate with emergent functionality. Surprisingly, these aggregates are driven by simple rules, and their mechanisms show great parallelism among species. At the same time, great effort has been made by the scientific community to develop active colloidal materials, such as microbubbles or Janus particles, which exhibit similar behaviors. However, a direct connection between these two realms is still not evident, and it would greatly benefit future studies. In this review, we first discuss the current understanding of living aggregates, point out the mechanisms in their formation and explore the vast range of emergent properties. Second, we review the current knowledge in aggregated colloidal systems, the methods used to achieve the aggregations and their potential functionalities. Based on this knowledge, we finally identify a set of over-arching principles commonly found in biological aggregations, and further suggest potential future directions for the creation of bio-inspired colloid aggregations.
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•Social insects and organisms often aggregate and behave as a solid superorganism.•Solid aggregations can be conceptualized as dynamic and active networks.•Interactions within those networks are the origin of collective intelligence.•This review shows how these networks can be recreated in synthetic soft matter.
Fuel cells represent a clean alternative to current technologies for utilizing hydrocarbon fuel resources. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have acquired due importance as they are ...best suited for applications where a quick start up is required such as in automobiles. The prime requirements of fuel cell membranes are high proton conductivity, low methanol/water permeability, good mechanical and thermal stability and moderate price. Membranes and the operating parameters together have a profound influence on performance of PEMFCs. Perfluorinated ionomers, hydrocarbon and aromatic polymers and acid–base complexes have been described in the review. The performance of this special class of polymers, considering their structure–property relationship and the current research involving their applicability in fuel cell systems are presented. Modifications made to Nafion
® membranes, the conceptual design of substitutes for perfluorosulfonic acid materials and modifications made to aromatic membranes to render them suitable for this application have been summarized. Promising avenues for further research in this area have been identified.
The study assessed the epigenetic regulation and the role of microRNA (miR) expression in locally advanced triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) and comparison with the clinico-pathological variables ...and survival.
Fifty patients of locally advanced TNBC during the period 2011-2013 were included. Expression level of test microRNA (miR-182 and miR-18a) was determined using Taqman quantitative Real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) from formalin fixed paraffin embedded biopsy blocks. Clinical and demographic information and survival data was retrieved from the Hospital medical records.
An improved clinical complete response (cCR) was observed in patients with age ≥ 45 years (80%), premenopausal status (70%), tumor size < 6 cms (80%), nodal status N0-N1 (95%) and grade II-III tumor (80%). A statistically significant correlation was observed on comparison of cCR with menopausal status (p-value 0.020), T category (p-value 0.018) and the clinical nodal status (p-value 0.003). pCR also correlated with clinical nodal status (p-value 0.008). Epigenetically, miR-18a under expression (< 8.84) was most commonly associated with tumor size < 6 cms (76.7%), clinical nodal status N0-N1 (90%), cCR (60%) and pCR (53.3%). A similar trend was observed with miR-182. Statistical significance was observed with T category (p-values 0.003 and 0.004), clinical nodal status (p-values 0.001 and 0.001), clinical response (p-values 0.002 and 0.002) and pathological response (p-values 0.007 and 0.006) with respect to miR-18a and miR-182, respectively. Also, the menopausal status significantly correlated with the miR-182 expression (p-value 0.009). miR-182 overexpression (≥ 6.32) was not observed in any of the postmenopausal patients. A univariate cox proportional hazard regression model also showed statistical interactions (p-values <0.004).
miR-182 and miR-18a overexpression correlates with worse clinical and pathological tumor characteristics in locally advanced TNBC and hence could be used to predict the outcomes and prognosis in these patients.
Most exoplanetary systems in binary stars are of S-type, and consist of one or more planets orbiting a primary star with a wide binary stellar companion. Planetary eccentricities and mutual ...inclinations can be large, perhaps forced gravitationally by the binary companion. Earlier work on single planet systems appealed to the Kozai-Lidov instability wherein a sufficiently inclined binary orbit excites large-amplitude oscillations in the planet's eccentricity and inclination. The instability, however, can be quenched by many agents that induce fast orbital precession, including mutual gravitational forces in a multiplanet system. Here we report that orbital precession, which inhibits Kozai-Lidov cycling in a multiplanet system, can become fast enough to resonate with the orbital motion of a distant binary companion. Resonant binary forcing results in dramatic outcomes ranging from the excitation of large planetary eccentricities and mutual inclinations to total disruption. Processes such as planetary migration can bring an initially non-resonant system into resonance. As it does not require special physical or initial conditions, binary resonant driving is generic and may have altered the architecture of many multiplanet systems. It can also weaken the multiplanet occurrence rate in wide binaries, and affect planet formation in close binaries.
Multiple factors can influence outcomes of patients receiving identical interventions in clinical trials and in routine practice. Here, we compare outcomes of men with metastatic castrate-resistant ...prostate cancer (mCRPC) treated with docetaxel and prednisone in routine practice and in clinical trials.
We reviewed patients with mCRPC treated with docetaxel at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Primary outcomes were overall survival and PSA response rate. Secondary outcomes were reasons for discontinuation and febrile neutropenia. Outcomes were compared for men treated in routine practice and in clinical trials, and with data from the TAX 327 study.
From 2001 to 2011, 438 men were treated, of whom 357 received 3-weekly docetaxel as first-line chemotherapy: 314 in routine practice and 43 in clinical trials. Trial patients were younger and had better performance status. Median survival was 13.6 months 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 12.1–15.1 months in routine practice and 20.4 months (95% CI 17.4–23.4 months, P = 0.007) within clinical trials, compared with 19.3 months (95% CI 17.6–21.3 months, P < 0.001) in the TAX 327 study. PSA response rates were 45%, 54%, and 53%, respectively (P = NS). Reasons for treatment discontinuation were similar although trial patients received more cycles (median: 6 versus 8 versus 9.5, P < 0.001). Rates of febrile neutropenia were 9.6, 0, and 3% (P < 0.001) while rates of death within 30 days of last dose were 4%, 0%, and 3%, respectively (P = NS).
Survival of patients with mCRPC treated with docetaxel in routine practice is shorter than for men included in trials and is associated with more toxicity.
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