Spectra Research (United States)

We present a portable sensor for quantitative detection of the critical heavy metal toxin, Cadmium (Cd), by LFA, replacing high Coefficient of Variation (CV) image-based analysis with a MEMS spectrometer. Fabricated via X-ray lithography, the spectral chip achieves a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$200: 1$</tex> high aspect ratio (HAR) and 5 nm wavelength resolution at VIS∼NIR bandwidth. This direct spectroscopic system, over 75 % smaller than benchtop units, enhances total measurement precision to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$13 \% \text{CV}$</tex> (including strip variability), while the instrument's standalone CV is under 3 %. The sensor achieved a 2.75 ppb Limit of Detection (LOD) with a calibration curve <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$R^{2}$</tex> of 0.966 across a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$4 \sim 56 p p b$</tex> range.

There is significant variability in the pathogenetic characteristics of prostate cancer (PCa) across different anatomical zones. This study aims to understand the metastatic risk associated with these zonal predispositions among African men. This hospital-based retrospective observational study included 120 biopsy-confirmed PCa patients examined between 2019 and 2023. Data on cancer history, sociodemographic, and clinical characteristics were collected from medical records. A logistic regression model was used to identify predictors of metastasis. The majority of PCa lesions were found in the left (60.0%) and right peripheral zones (55.8%), followed by the left (42.5%) and right transitional zones (41.7%). Lesions in the anterior fibromuscular stroma (crude odds ratio (cOR): 3.27, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13-9.47; p = 0.029), central gland (cOR: 5.38, 95% CI: 1.40-20.60; p = 0.014), and diffuse infiltration involving whole gland (cOR: 6.78, 95% CI: 1.17-30.07; p = 0.032) were associated with significantly increased odds of metastasis. Lesions in the anterior fibromuscular stroma were a marginally independent predictor of metastasis (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 28.14, 95% CI: 0.96-822.46; p = 0.053). This study underscores the variability in metastatic risk of PCa lesions across different anatomical zones in African men. Lesions in the anterior fibromuscular stroma, central gland, and diffuse infiltration involving the whole gland have higher odds of metastasis. These findings highlight the need for targeted diagnostic and therapeutic strategies based on lesion localization to improve PCa management in this population.

En 2009, tuve la alegría de celebrar, en Santa Catarina, la obra de Noé Jitrik, en vida y en presencia. Reconocía, en sus primeros escritos, la alternativa entre historia y genealogía, Hegel o Spinoza, que Pierre Macherey había pioneramente señalado (1977). Es decir, no tanto el aut... aut, disyuntivo que había marcado a los lectores de la revista italiana de 1968, sino los más cautos cuidados del vel. Hegel sive Spinoza. Esa alternativa es la fórmula de la identidad, pero es también la de la equivalencia entre dos términos cuyo sentido último se encuentra a medio camino, en la intersección de ambos dominios intelectuales, como una verdad suspendida, aunque captada entre la continuidad, la contestación y el conflicto, y cuya relevancia no dispone de la contundencia de una tesis, sino diseña el movimiento de una figura, de un argumento que estimule la diferencia y el debate. En los años de la redemocratización, como sabemos, fue fuerte el paradigma de Raymond Williams, la tensión campo versus ciudad. Pero creo que el pensamiento de Jitrik se pautaba más por la bipolaridad de un proceso histórico, según el cual la cultura argentina se capta en la dinámica ciudad vel campo, tradición sive ruptura, es decir, un esfuerzo por comprender el fenómeno cultural en toda su complejidad, aunque también en todo el dinamismo de su bipolaridad inmanente. 1

The increasing complexity and mass production of software has made manual security testing unfeasible. Although numerous automated security testing tools exist, their adoption and recognition are controversial. This paper presents the state of the art of existing security testing tools and techniques, identifying their limitations and exploring their untapped potential. Furthermore, we delve into the future trajectory of security testing tools, discussing emerging trends and opportunities. We introduce SATriage, a novel tool under development, and detail its unique approach in static analysis for better vulnerability detection. SATriage leverages innovative weighting algorithms and defect relationship data to effectively reduce false positives, accurately identify high-risk software defects, and prioritize security concerns based on user preference. This platform brings a distinct shift from possibility to probability, ranking defects based on the likelihood of severe consequences, thereby offering developers more granular and actionable insights. Our discussion provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in software security.

SummaryRemote sensing of plant traits and their environment facilitates non‐invasive, high‐throughput monitoring of the plant's physiological characteristics. However, voluminous observational data generated by such autonomous sensor networks overwhelms scientific users when they have to analyze the data. In order to provide a scalable and effective analysis environment, there is a need for storage and analytics that support high‐throughput data ingestion while preserving spatiotemporal and sensor‐specific characteristics. Also, the framework should enable modelers and scientists to run their analytics while coping with the fast and continuously evolving nature of the dataset. In this paper, we presentRadix+, a high‐throughput distributed data storage system for supporting scalable georeferencing, and interactive query‐based spatiotemporal analytics with trackable data integrity. We include empirical evaluations performed on a commodity machine cluster with up to 1 TB of data. Our benchmarks demonstrate subsecond latency for majority of our evaluated queries and improvement in data ingestion rate over systems such as Geomesa.

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and Global Methane Pledge formalized agreement for countries to report and reduce methane emissions to mitigate near-term climate change. Emission inventories generated through surface activity measurements are reported annually or bi-annually and evaluated periodically through a “Global Stocktake”. Emissions inverted from atmospheric data support evaluation of reported inventories, but their systematic use is stifled by spatially variable biases from prior errors combined with limited sensitivity of observations to emissions (smoothing error), as-well-as poorly characterized information content. Here, we demonstrate a Bayesian, optimal estimation (OE) algorithm for evaluating a state-of-the-art inventory (EDGAR v6.0) using satellite-based emissions from 2009 to 2018. The OE algorithm quantifies the information content (uncertainty reduction, sectoral attribution, spatial resolution) of the satellite-based emissions and disentangles the effect of smoothing error when comparing to an inventory. We find robust differences between satellite and EDGAR for total livestock, rice, and coal emissions: 14 ± 9, 12 ± 8, -11 ± 6 Tg CH4/yr respectively. EDGAR and satellite agree that livestock emissions are increasing (0.25 to 1.3 Tg CH4/ yr / yr), primarily in the Indo-Pakistan region, sub-tropical Africa, and the Brazilian arc of deforestation; East Asia rice emissions are also increasing, highlighting the importance of agriculture on the atmospheric methane growth rate. In contrast, low information content for the waste and fossil emission trends confounds comparison between EDGAR and satellite; increased sampling and spatial resolution of satellite observations are therefore needed to evaluate reported changes to emissions in these sectors.

Además de realizar una labor determinada de forma eficiente, los servicios&#13;\ninformáticos deben ser capaces de evitar los ataques y de detectar&#13;\nlos que haya. Una técnica de defensa consiste en convertirse en un objetivo&#13;\nmóvil, que varíe el perfil de forma que los atacantes no lo reconozcan.&#13;\nMediante algoritmos evolutivos trataremos de configurar diferentes servicios&#13;\nde forma que se maximice la diversidad, a la vez que se optimice la&#13;\nseguridad y las prestaciones.