Targeting the IGF-1R in prostate and colorectal cancer: reasons behind trial failure and future directions

IGF-1Rs enact a significant part in cancer growth and its progress. IGF-1R inhibitors were encouraged in the early trials, but the patients did not benefit due to the unavailability of predictive biomarkers and IGF-1R system complexity. However, the linkage between IGF-1R and cancer was reported three decades ago. This review will shed light on the IGF-1R system, targeting IGF-1R through monoclonal antibodies, reasons behind IGF-1R trial failure and future directions. This study presented that targeting IGF-1R through monoclonal antibodies is still effective in cancer treatment, and there is a need to look for future directions. Cancer patients may benefit from using mAbs that target existing and new cancer targets, evidenced by promising results. It is also essential that the academician, trial experts and pharmaceutical companies play their role in finding a treatment for this deadly disease.

Design of Ultrasonic Synthetic Aperture Imaging Systems Based on a Non-Grid 2D Sparse Array

This work provides a guide to design ultrasonic synthetic aperture systems for non-grid two-dimensional sparse arrays such as spirals or annular segmented arrays. It presents an algorithm that identifies which elements have a more significant impact on the beampattern characteristics and uses this information to reduce the number of signals, the number of emitters and the number of parallel receiver channels involved in the beamforming process. Consequently, we can optimise the 3D synthetic aperture ultrasonic imaging system for a specific sparse array, reducing the computational cost, the hardware requirements and the system complexity. Simulations using a Fermat spiral array and experimental data based on an annular segmented array with 64 elements are used to assess this algorithm.

Cluster control of complex cyber-physical systems

To our minds, the real world appears as a composition of different interacting entitites, which demonstrate complex behavior. In the current paper, we primarly aim to study such networked systems by developing corresponding approaches to modeling them, given a class of tasks. We derive it from the primary concept of information and a system, with corresponding dynamics emerging from interactions between system components. As we progress through the study, we discover three possible levels of certain synchronous pattern composition in complex systems: microscopic (the level of elementary components), mesoscopic (the level of clusters), and macroscopic (the level of the whole system). Above all, we focus on the clusterization phenomenon, which allows to reduce system complexity by regarding only a small number of stable manifolds, corresponding to cluster synchronization of system component states—as opposed to regarding the system as a whole or each elementary component separately. Eventually, we demonstrate how an optimization problem for cluster control synthesis can be formulated for a simple discrete linear system with clusterization.

Reduced breakdown voltage for in-liquid plasma discharges using moveable electrodes

Minimizing the breakdown voltage and discharge current required to initiate direct in-liquid discharges, thus lowering power-source requirements and avoiding electrode ablation, is crucial for industrial applications of in-liquid plasma discharges. Here we demonstrate such considerable reductions by employing movable electrodes, without changing the electrode configuration or increasing the system complexity. The new mechanism is based on electrostatic electrode attraction resulting in a reduction in the discharge spacing by up to 6 times and facilitating a plasma initiation at lower breakdown voltages. The accumulated charges consumed by the discharge revert the electrodes to the initial positions, forming a gliding arc between the enlarged gaps and thus inhibiting current increases and electrode ablation.

Responsibility Assignment in Systems Engineering

The constantly increasing system complexity leads to various challenges in established companies, which can be controlled by using systems engineering processes. INCOSE defines explicit processes with concrete inputs and outputs (artifacts) for this purpose. Systems Engineering roles can be used to organize the tasks of the processes within the company. In this work, the responsibilities of the systems engineering roles on the process artifacts are evaluated by means of the RACI scheme and examined by means of cluster analysis. The work steps are accompanied by discussions and results of a systems engineering transformation project with a large German automotive OEM. The goal of the study is to identify the minimum size of a systems engineering team and prioritize the systems engineering roles. As a result, the (sometimes contradictory) requirements from the methodological perspective of systems engineering and the organizational perspective of project management become manageable in the control and execution of systems engineering projects.

Concept and design of extended hybrid laminar flow control suction panels

Fully laminar aircraft are one step towards reaching eco-efficient aviation. However, high system complexity and significant manufacturing effort prevent the wide usage of existing laminarisation concepts such as laminar flow control, which are rarely found in commercial aircraft. Hybrid laminar flow control concepts reduce the manufacturing effort significantly at the cost of only achieving partial laminar flow. This paper presents extended hybrid laminar flow control concepts for fully laminar wings, with reduced system complexity. A detailed study of structural and aerodynamic requirements provides the foundation for partial design solutions of active suction structures. The authors derive two concepts for active suction panels from the structural design space. While the first concept relies on state of the art manufacturing techniques, the focus of the second concept is on additive manufacturing technologies. Based on these concepts, it is feasible to design fully laminar wings with structurally integrated active suction systems. The authors propose an aerodynamic test strategy for further developing extended hybrid laminar flow control.

Performance Analysis of Different Hybrid Precoding Schemes in 5G mmWave massive MIMO Systems

Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication is most likely to appear as a aspiring technology in the upcoming generation of cellular communication (5G). To confront several challenges (e.g., system complexity, energy consumption etc.), hybrid precoding is largely investigated in mmWave massive MIMO systems due to its low energy consuming nature and reduced system complexity.

Complexity Measure based on Sensitivity Analysis Applied to an Intensive Care Unit system

This work proposes a system complexity metric and its application to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) system. The methodology for applying said complexity metric comprises: (i) parameters sensitivity indices calculation, (ii) mapping connections dynamics between system components, and (iii) system’s complexity calculation. After simulating the ICU computer model and using the proposed methodology, we obtained results regarding: number of admissions, number of patients in queue, length of stay, beds in use, ICU performance, and system complexity values (in regular or overloaded operation). As the number of patients in queue increased, the ICU system complexity also increased, indicating a need for policies to promote system robustness.

The collapse of cooperation: the endogeneity of institutional break-up and its asymmetry with emergence

Decline and break-up of institutionalized cooperation, at all levels, has occurred frequently. Some of its concomitants, such as international migration, have become topical in the globalized world. Aspects of the phenomenon have also become known as failing states. However, the focus in most social sciences has been on institutional emergence and persistence, not collapse. We develop an endogenous explanation of collapsing institutions. Collapse may be an implication of the very economic success of institutionalized cooperation and of increasing system complexity, when cognitive conditions for effective collective decision-making do not proportionately evolve. Moreover, we show that collapse is not a simple logical reverse of emergence. Rather, institutions break up at different factor constellations than the ones prevailing at emergence. We approach endogenous institutional break-up and its asymmetry from various paradigmatic and disciplinary perspectives, employing psychology, anthropology, network analysis, and institutional economics. These perspectives cover individuals, groups, interaction-arenas, populations, and social networks.