Evaluation of the application of ERTS-1 data to the regional land use planning process

The author has identified the following significant results. Employing simple and economical extraction methods, ERTS can provide valuable data to the planners at the state or regional level with a frequency never before possible. Interactive computer methods of working directly with ERTS digital information show much promise for providing land use information at a more specific level, since the data format production rate of ERTS justifies improved methods of analysis

Rancière and the poetics of the social sciences

This article reviews the significance of Jacques Rancière’s work for methodological debates in the social sciences, and education specifically. It explores the implications of framing methodology as an aesthetic endeavour, rather than as the applied technique of research. What is at stake in this distinction is the means by which research intervenes in social order and how it assumes political significance, with Rancière arguing against a notion of science as the other of ideology. Rancière’s argument for a democratic research practice organised around a ‘method of equality’ is situated in relation to openly ideological’ feminist ethnography. The implications of Rancière’s work for investigating affect in academic discourse and subjectification in education are reviewed in the conclusion

The Ljapunov-Schmidt reduction for some critical problems

This is a survey about the application of the Ljapunov-Schmidt reduction for some critical problems

Detection of circulating tumour DNA is associated with inferior outcomes in Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.

BackgroundNew prognostic markers are needed to identify patients with Ewing sarcoma (EWS) and osteosarcoma unlikely to benefit from standard therapy. We describe the incidence and association with outcome of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) using next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays.MethodsA NGS hybrid capture assay and an ultra-low-pass whole-genome sequencing assay were used to detect ctDNA in banked plasma from patients with EWS and osteosarcoma, respectively. Patients were coded as positive or negative for ctDNA and tested for association with clinical features and outcome.ResultsThe analytic cohort included 94 patients with EWS (82% from initial diagnosis) and 72 patients with primary localised osteosarcoma (100% from initial diagnosis). ctDNA was detectable in 53% and 57% of newly diagnosed patients with EWS and osteosarcoma, respectively. Among patients with newly diagnosed localised EWS, detectable ctDNA was associated with inferior 3-year event-free survival (48.6% vs. 82.1%; p = 0.006) and overall survival (79.8% vs. 92.6%; p = 0.01). In both EWS and osteosarcoma, risk of event and death increased with ctDNA levels.ConclusionsNGS assays agnostic of primary tumour sequencing results detect ctDNA in half of the plasma samples from patients with newly diagnosed EWS and osteosarcoma. Detectable ctDNA is associated with inferior outcomes

Dvoretzky type theorems for multivariate polynomials and sections of convex bodies

In this paper we prove the Gromov--Milman conjecture (the Dvoretzky type theorem) for homogeneous polynomials on $\mathbb R^n$, and improve bounds on the number $n(d,k)$ in the analogous conjecture for odd degrees $d$ (this case is known as the Birch theorem) and complex polynomials. We also consider a stronger conjecture on the homogeneous polynomial fields in the canonical bundle over real and complex Grassmannians. This conjecture is much stronger and false in general, but it is proved in the cases of $d=2$ (for $k$'s of certain type), odd $d$, and the complex Grassmannian (for odd and even $d$ and any $k$). Corollaries for the John ellipsoid of projections or sections of a convex body are deduced from the case $d=2$ of the polynomial field conjecture

Measurements of Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation at 0.5 Degree Angular Scales Near the Star Gamma Ursae Minoris

We present results from a four frequency observation of a 6 x 0.6 degree strip of the sky centered near the star Gamma Ursae Minoris during the fourth flight of the Millimeter-wave Anisotropy eXperiment (MAX). The observation was made with a 1.4 degree peak-to-peak sinusoidal chop in all bands. The FWHM beam sizes were 0.55 +/- 0.05 degrees at 3.5 cm-1 and 0.75 +/-0.05 degrees at 6, 9, and 14 cm-1. During this observation significant correlated structure was observed at 3.5, 6 and 9 cm-1 with amplitudes similar to those observed in the GUM region during the second and third flights of MAX. The frequency spectrum is consistent with CMB and inconsistent with thermal emission from interstellar dust. The extrapolated amplitudes of synchrotron and free-free emission are too small to account for the amplitude of the observed structure. If all of the structure is attributed to CMB anisotropy with a Gaussian autocorrelation function and a coherence angle of 25', then the most probable values of DeltaT/TCMB in the 3.5, 6, and 9 cm-1 bands are 4.3 (+2.7, -1.6) x 10-5, 2.8 (+4.3, -1.1) x 10-5, and 3.5 (+3.0, -1.6) x 10-5 (95% confidence upper and lower limits), respectively.Comment: 16 pages, postscrip

Measurements of Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation at Degree Angular Scales Near the Stars Sigma Hercules and Iota Draconis

We present results from two four-frequency observations centered near the stars Sigma Hercules and Iota Draconis during the fourth flight of the Millimeter-wave Anisotropy eXperiment (MAX). The observations were made of 6 x 0.6-degree strips of the sky with 1.4-degree peak to peak sinusoidal chop in all bands. The FWHM beam sizes were 0.55+/-0.05 degrees at 3.5 cm-1 and a 0.75+/-0.05 degrees at 6, 9, and 14 cm-1. Significant correlated structures were observed at 3.5, 6 and 9 cm-1. The spectra of these signals are inconsistent with thermal emission from known interstellar dust populations. The extrapolated amplitudes of synchrotron and free-free emission are too small to account for the amplitude of the observed structures. If the observed structures are attributed to CMB anisotropy with a Gaussian autocorrelation function and a coherence angle of 25', then the most probable values are DT/TCMB = (3.1 +1.7-1.3) x 10^-5 for the Sigma Hercules scan, and DT/TCMB = (3.3 +/- 1.1) x 10^-5 for the Iota Draconis scan (95% confidence upper and lower limits). Finally a comparison of all six MAX scans is presented.Comment: 13 pages, postscript file, 2 figure

Hysteresis and hierarchies: dynamics of disorder-driven first-order phase transformations

We use the zero-temperature random-field Ising model to study hysteretic behavior at first-order phase transitions. Sweeping the external field through zero, the model exhibits hysteresis, the return-point memory effect, and avalanche fluctuations. There is a critical value of disorder at which a jump in the magnetization (corresponding to an infinite avalanche) first occurs. We study the universal behavior at this critical point using mean-field theory, and also present preliminary results of numerical simulations in three dimensions.Comment: 12 pages plus 2 appended figures, plain TeX, CU-MSC-747

Nucleation in Systems with Elastic Forces

Systems with long-range interactions when quenced into a metastable state near the pseudo-spinodal exhibit nucleation processes that are quite different from the classical nucleation seen near the coexistence curve. In systems with long-range elastic forces the description of the nucleation process can be quite subtle due to the presence of bulk/interface elastic compatibility constraints. We analyze the nucleation process in a simple 2d model with elastic forces and show that the nucleation process generates critical droplets with a different structure than the stable phase. This has implications for nucleation in many crystal-crystal transitions and the structure of the final state

Optical binding of particles with or without the presence of a flat dielectric surface

Optical fields can induce forces between microscopic objects, thus giving rise to new structures of matter. We study theoretically these optical forces between two spheres, either isolated in water, or in presence of a flat dielectric surface. We observe different behavior in the binding force between particles at large and at small distances (in comparison with the wavelength) from each other. This is due to the great contribution of evanescent waves at short distances. We analyze how the optical binding depends of the size of the particles, the material composing them, the wavelength and, above all, on the polarization of the incident beam. We also show that depending on the polarization, the force between small particles at small distances changes its sign. Finally, the presence of a substrate surface is analyzed showing that it only slightly changes the magnitudes of the forces, but not their qualitative nature, except when one employs total internal reflection, case in which the particles are induced to move together along the surface.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, and 1 tabl