To P or not to P: on the evidential nature of P-values and their place in scientific inference

The customary use of P-values in scientific research has been attacked as being ill-conceived, and the utility of P-values has been derided. This paper reviews common misconceptions about P-values and their alleged deficits as indices of experimental evidence and, using an empirical exploration of the properties of P-values, documents the intimate relationship between P-values and likelihood functions. It is shown that P-values quantify experimental evidence not by their numerical value, but through the likelihood functions that they index. Many arguments against the utility of P-values are refuted and the conclusion is drawn that P-values are useful indices of experimental evidence. The widespread use of P-values in scientific research is well justified by the actual properties of P-values, but those properties need to be more widely understood.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures and R cod

An Overview of Variational Integrators

The purpose of this paper is to survey some recent advances in variational integrators for both finite dimensional mechanical systems as well as continuum mechanics. These advances include the general development of discrete mechanics, applications to dissipative systems, collisions, spacetime integration algorithms, AVI’s (Asynchronous Variational Integrators), as well as reduction for discrete mechanical systems. To keep the article within the set limits, we will only treat each topic briefly and will not attempt to develop any particular topic in any depth. We hope, nonetheless, that this paper serves as a useful guide to the literature as well as to future directions and open problems in the subject

Importance of Shear in the bcc-to-hcp Transformation in Iron

Iron shows a pressure-induced martensitic phase transformation from the ground state ferromagnetic bcc phase to a nonmagnetic hcp phase at ≈13 GPa. The exact transformation pressure (TP) and pathway are not known. Here we present a multiscale model containing a quantum-mechanics-based multiwell energy function accounting for the bcc and hcp phases of Fe and a construction of kinematically compatible and equilibrated mixed phases. This model suggests that shear stresses have a significant influence on the bcc↔hcp transformation. In particular, the presence of modest shear accounts for the scatter in measured TPs. The formation of mixed phases also provides an explanation for the observed hysteresis in TP

Near infra-red photoimmunotherapy with anti-CEA-IR700 results in extensive tumor lysis and a significant decrease in tumor burden in orthotopic mouse models of pancreatic cancer.

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) of cancer utilizes tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies conjugated to a photosensitizer phthalocyanine dye IR700 which becomes cytotoxic upon irradiation with near infrared light. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of PIT on human pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo in an orthotopic nude mouse model. The binding capacity of anti-CEA antibody to BxPC-3 human pancreatic cancer cells was determined by FACS analysis. An in vitro cytotoxicity assay was used to determine cell death following treatment with PIT. For in vivo determination of PIT efficacy, nude mice were orthotopically implanted with BxPC-3 pancreatic tumors expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP). After tumor engraftment, the mice were divided into two groups: (1) treatment with anti-CEA-IR700 + 690 nm laser and (2) treatment with 690 nm laser only. Anti-CEA-IR700 (100 μg) was administered to group (1) via tail vein injection 24 hours prior to therapy. Tumors were then surgically exposed and treated with phototherapy at an intensity of 150 mW/cm2 for 30 minutes. Whole body imaging was done subsequently for 5 weeks using an OV-100 small animal imaging system. Anti-CEA-IR700 antibody bound to the BxPC3 cells to a high degree as shown by FACS analysis. Anti-CEA-IR700 caused extensive cancer cell killing after light activation compared to control cells in cytotoxicity assays. In the orthotopic models of pancreatic cancer, the anti-CEA-IR700 group had significantly smaller tumors than the control after 5 weeks (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the body weights of mice in the anti-CEA-IR700 and control groups indicating that PIT was well tolerated by the mice

Characteristics of the Single-Longitudinal-Mode Planar-Waveguide External Cavity Diode Laser at 1064 nm

We describe the characteristics of the planar-waveguide external cavity diode laser (PW-ECL). To the best of our knowledge, it is the first butterfly-packaged 1064 nm semiconductor laser that is stable enough to be locked to an external frequency reference. We evaluated its performance from the viewpoint of precision experiments. Using a hyperfine absorption line of iodine, we suppressed its frequency noise by a factor of up to 104 at 10 mHz. The PWECL's compactness and low cost make it a candidate to replace traditional Nd:YAG nonplanar ring oscillators and fiber lasers in applications that require a single longitudinal mode

From START to FINISH : the influence of osmotic stress on the cell cycle

Peer reviewedPublisher PD