Upregulated Expression of Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase in Ocular Adnexal Marginal Zone Lymphoma with IgG4-Positive Cells

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a systemic disorder characterized by tissue fibrosis and intense lymphoplasmacytic infiltration, causing progressive organ dysfunction. Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), a deaminase normally expressed in activated B-cells in germinal centers, edits ribonucleotides to induce somatic hypermutation and class switching of immunoglobulin. While AID expression is strictly controlled under physiological conditions, chronic inflammation has been noted to induce its upregulation to propel oncogenesis. We examined AID expression in IgG4-related ophthalmic disease (IgG4-ROD; n = 16), marginal zone lymphoma with IgG4-positive cells (IgG4+ MZL; n = 11), and marginal zone lymphoma without IgG4-positive cells (IgG4- MZL; n = 12) of ocular adnexa using immunohistochemical staining. Immunohistochemistry revealed significantly higher AID-intensity index in IgG4-ROD and IgG4+ MZL than IgG4- MZL (p < 0.001 and = 0.001, respectively). The present results suggest that IgG4-RD has several specific causes of AID up-regulation in addition to inflammation, and AID may be a driver of oncogenesis in IgG4-ROD to IgG4+ MZL.     

Domestic demand-side response with heat pumps: controls and tariffs

ABSTRACT

Electric heat pumps feature prominently in projected energy transitions in the UK and elsewhere. Owing to their high electricity consumption, heat pumps are viewed as important targets for demand-side response (DSR). Findings are presented from a field trial of a new control system that aims to optimize heat pump performance, including under time-varying tariff conditions. The trial involved monitoring 76 properties with heat pumps, but without dedicated heat storage; 31 of these received the control system. Interviews were conducted with a subsample of 12 participants. The controller successfully evened out electricity demand over the day (reducing the evening peak), but this was associated with increased late night and daytime temperatures. Interview participants reported some disturbance owing to overnight heating and noise, as well as usability issues with the controller interface and hardware. These issues present risks to the future acceptability of such systems. While the system delivered short-term demand reductions successfully, longer-term demand shifting risked causing unacceptable disturbance to occupants. Future control systems could overcome some of the issues identified in this pioneering trial through more effective zoning, using temperature caps or installing dedicated heat storage, but these may either limit the available flexibility or be challenging to achieve.     

Pellucid marginal degeneration: Detection,discrimination from other corneal ectatic disorders and progression

Pellucid marginal degeneration (PMD) is a non-inflammatory ectatic corneal disease characterized by a narrow band of corneal thinning separated from the limbus by a relatively uninvolved area 1–2 mm in width. It is a rare corneal disorder that shares many clinical characteristics with other corneal ectasias, such as keratoconus, keratoglobus or Terrien marginal degeneration. PMD usually starts later in life than keratoconus and progresses slower than keratoconus. Slit-lamp examination is very useful to distinguish PMD from other corneal ectatic disorders with inflammatory nature. Corneal topographic indices and the classical crab-claw topographic pattern cannot be used as the main tool to distinguish between PMD and keratoconus. New Scheimpflug imaging-based devices have shown the importance and usefulness of the pachymetric map for an appropriate diagnosis of PMD. In addition, biomechanical and densitometric properties have been studied as complementary techniques to help in the diagnosis of PMD.     

Full AC analysis of value of DER to the grid and optimal DER scheduling

This paper presents part of the work ComEd and Quanta Technology have performed to quantify the locational and temporal value of DER to avoid distribution grid upgrade investments. It focuses on the formulation of a robust and efficient algorithm for DER optimal dispatch on a distribution feeder to mitigate the violation of current and voltage limits using the allocated cost of capacity and locational marginal value of real and reactive DER injection/withdrawal.     

Testing the oil price efficiency using various measures of long-range dependence

In this paper, we empirically examine the application of a host of techniques employed to measure price efficiency through long-range dependence using prices of monthly oil contracts. Using a series of methods, we analyse the volatility (daily absolute returns) of WTI and Brent oil prices for nine different contracts with maturity, ranging from 1 to 9 months, during the sample period of 1990-2017. We use bootstrapping to compute the confidence interval of the parameter of long-range dependence. Our results indicate that on an average, there is no long-range dependence in the volatility of oil price contracts at least at the 10-percent level of significance. Moreover, our results of rolling estimates suggest that the normality assumption does not affect the results considerably, and the results are robust to different rolling window sizes. While the results of the efficiency index suggest that the efficiency of oil returns vary with time, the futures contracts for Brent oil are found to be less efficient compared to WTI oil. The long-term futures contracts are more efficient than short-term contracts.     

Malaysia’s electricity market structure in transition

The Malaysian electricity industry evolved from a vertically integrated utility into a single-buyer model, which considered a precursor to deregulation and a competitive market. This study considers electricity sector reform in Malaysia and proposes a market structure for the industry. We focus on the single-buyer model and the pool model for the analysis with the recommendation on reform stages required to ensure a smooth and successful market transition. A smooth transition from regulated market into deregulated market will ensure market stability and sustainability of the energy market. It will also provide enough time for the market participants to adapt and transit from regulated to deregulated energy market.     

俄罗斯天然气在东北地区的利用发展分析

中俄东线天然气即将引入中国,将对东北地区的天然气利用项目产生有力的推动作用,同时也将面临各种问题。为建立长期可持续发展资源供应体系,结合能源供需实际,讨论了俄气到来后,东北地区天然气未来的发展方向,并分析了存在的主要问题:①天然气自产不足,域外依存度高;②地域特点决定替代能源可有多种选择;③调峰困难且富余天然气难以处理;④天然气替代经济性差,价高难以承受。并针对矛盾点进行了总结,指出来源多元化和资源多样化才能可持续发展。明确东北地区宜以天然气作为过渡能源,并提出了适宜地区经济发展的天然气利用建议。     

我国两部制电价制度对天然气发电企业盈利能力的影响

上海、浙江和江苏等地陆续出台了两部制电价制度,以期解决天然气发电(以下简称气电)企业成本高、经营困难等问题。为了研究该电价制度对气电企业盈利能力的影响,在对比分析上述三地电价政策和实施效果的基础上,基于不同类型机组的三大经营指标(项目财务内部收益率、经济净现值、动态投资回收期),采用项目经济性分析模型探究了不同类型燃气电厂的经济性。研究结果表明:①现行两部制电价与单一制电价相比,电价水平小幅度下降,给企业经营带来了一定的冲击,但从长远看,则有利于形成可持续的发展机制;②两部制电价是各地政府经过充分调研和测算后根据该区具体情况制定的,在该政策下多数企业处于盈亏平衡点附近,综合条件优、管理水平高的企业能取得一定的盈利,反之则亏损;③当电量电价一定且大于盈亏平衡点时,企业效益随年利用小时数的增加而提升,反之则随年利用小时数的增加而降低。结论认为:①两部制电价能起到促进企业管理和技术水平提升,引导和鼓励电力投资的作用,符合我国电力体制改革的方向;②政策制定时应针对不同时期建成的项目加以区别对待,实现上网电价、天然气价格和供热蒸气价格的"三个联动";③应建立大数据平台,实行气网、电网联合调度;④发电企业应创新管理,降低电厂建设及维护成本,提升机组效率,降低气耗。     

The Marginal Density of a TMA(1) Process

This note reconsiders the marginal density of a threshold moving average process and proposes a simple yet effective numerical algorithm to implement that by solving an associated integral equation. This algorithm can also be applied to calculate stationary probability density or distribution functions of a few other types of nonlinear stationary stochastic processes numerically.     

A closed loop supply chain under retail price and product quality dependent demand

The importance of remanufacturing of used products, maintaining the same quality as new ones has been widely recognized in practice. In this paper, we address a closed loop supply chain where the manufacturer manufactures a product with a decent quality acceptable to customers, and sells it through a retailer in the market. A third party collects the used products from consumers and sends to the manufacturer. The manufacturer re-manufactures the used product and the quality of remanufactured product is the same as that of the manufactured one. For such a closed loop supply chain, we construct five different scenarios – centralized, decentralized or Nash game and three different Stackelberg games, led by the manufacturer, retailer and third party respectively. We compare the optimal results to find out the best decentralized scenario out of the four mentioned. A numerical example is taken to study the impacts of product quality on demand as well as optimal decisions and investigate sensitivity of some key model-parameters.