Does aspirin detract from the benefits of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in patients with heart failure and a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction? Probably!

No abstract available

Teaching Chang-rae Lee’s _Aloft_: Exploring the Limits of Race and Ethnicity

Chang-rae Lees 2004 novel Aloft may not be his most famous work, but it is a highly effective classroom text. In its contemporary, multicultural, suburban setting, it portrays a world that students recognize; simultaneously, however, it can effectively challenge their assumptions about ethnic American literature. The novel centers on Jerry Battle, an amateur pilot who distances himself from his problems in his private jet, and explores the problems of four generations of his multi-ethnic family. The Battles, with both Italian and Korean heritage, are representative of the current landscape of race and ethnicity in America; mixed-race identities have become accepted and popularized through the election of Barack Obama, the visibility of celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Salma Hayek, and Shakira (to name just a few), and the changes to the U.S. Census in 2000 that allowed respondents to select more than one race when describing themselves. In its portrayal of contemporary demographics, Aloft contrasts with earlier classics of ethnic American literature. Commonly autobiographical or based closely on the authors life, such works have typically relied on factuality and personal identity to combat racism, educate outsiders, articulate the challenges of belonging to a minority group in the United States, and express pride in personal heritage and community. Aloft, however, is narrated by an Italian American character, rather than a Korean American like the author, causing students to question their expectations of ethnic writing. Furthermore, Jerrys identity provides a framework for discussing whiteness, so often an invisible category. As Jerry recounts his familys history, from impoverished immigrants to business owners, it is apparent that this upward mobility is bound up in the eventual acceptance of Italians as white rather than racially other (although the novel also helps to clarify continuing stereotypical attitudes toward Italian Americans). The Battle familys transition into whiteness also raises issues of class. Aloft highlights the ways that race and class are linked, and questions whether the American Dream is really achievable or sustainable. Finally, the novel features characters and situations that students are interested in; they enjoy discussing the characters decisions and exploring the books themes and symbolism. The appeal of the story itself helps the class to rethink their expectations about race, class, and ethnicity

Reinforcement Learning for Racecar Control

This thesis investigates the use of reinforcement learning to learn to drive a racecar in the simulated environment of the Robot Automobile Racing Simulator. Real-life race driving is known to be difficult for humans, and expert human drivers use complex sequences of actions. There are a large number of variables, some of which change stochastically and all of which may affect the outcome. This makes driving a promising domain for testing and developing Machine Learning techniques that have the potential to be robust enough to work in the real world. Therefore the principles of the algorithms from this work may be applicable to a range of problems. The investigation starts by finding a suitable data structure to represent the information learnt. This is tested using supervised learning. Reinforcement learning is added and roughly tuned, and the supervised learning is then removed. A simple tabular representation is found satisfactory, and this avoids difficulties with more complex methods and allows the investigation to concentrate on the essentials of learning. Various reward sources are tested and a combination of three are found to produce the best performance. Exploration of the problem space is investigated. Results show exploration is essential but controlling how much is done is also important. It turns out the learning episodes need to be very long and because of this the task needs to be treated as continuous by using discounting to limit the size of the variables stored. Eligibility traces are used with success to make the learning more efficient. The tabular representation is made more compact by hashing and more accurate by using smaller buckets. This slows the learning but produces better driving. The improvement given by a rough form of generalisation indicates the replacement of the tabular method by a function approximator is warranted. These results show reinforcement learning can work within the Robot Automobile Racing Simulator, and lay the foundations for building a more efficient and competitive agent

Extent of sexual coercion among young female migrant carpet and garment factory workers in Nepal

This paper explores sexual coercion of young female migrant workers in the carpet and garment factories in the Kathmandu Valley. Information is drawn from 12 in-depth case histories and a sample survey of 550 respondents aged 14-19 years. The survey found that one in ten young women had ever experienced sexual harassment or coercion in their lifetime. Perpetrators included co-workers, boyfriends, employers and relatives. In-depth interviews revealed that the inability of young working women to communicate effectively with their peers and sex partners, lack of self esteem, job insecurity and other socio-economic problems made them vulnerable to these abuses. The results suggest the need for a range of factory-based interventions

Computational Studies of Protein Folding

Proteins are known to fold into tertiary structures that determine their functionality in living organisms. The goal of our research is to better understand the protein folding process. Using MATLAB, we created an algorithm that models the folding process via a Monte Carlo time step approach. Specifically, amino acids in the chain at each time step are allowed to fold to certain locations according to a set of rules. These rules are based on two main criteria: folds must maintain bond length and should be thermally and energetically favorable. One central goal of our research is to examine whether the folding process can be viewed through the lens of self-organized criticality. In particular we are interested in whether there are features of the folding process that are independent of the size of the protein

Gas diffusion liquid storage bag and method of use for storing blood

The shelf life of stored whole blood may be doubled by adding a buffer which maintains a desired pH level. However, this buffer causes the generation of CO2 which, if not removed at a controlled rate, causes the pH value of the blood to decrease, which shortens the useful life of the blood. A blood storage bag is described which permits the CO2 to be diffused out at a controlled rate into the atmosphere, thereby maintaining the desired pH value and providing a bag strong enough to permit handling

What can we learn from SOCRATES: more questions than answers?

This editorial refers to ‘Vericiguat in patients with worsening chronic heart failure and preserved ejection fraction: results of the SOluble guanylate Cyclase stimulatoR in heArT failurE patientS with PRESERVED EF (SOCRATES-PRESERVED) Study’, by B. Pieske et al., on page 1119

Monthly economic review: September 2015

Latest data and events Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent on 10 September, returning the OCR to April 2014 levels. The Bank’s 90-day bank bill rate projections point towards a further cut in the OCR, with the ASB Bank expecting another rate cut in October. The BNZ thinks there is a 65 percent chance of a rate cut in October. The ANZ Bank believes that the Reserve Bank is not in a hurry to cut again, while Westpac Bank reckons an October cut is “a close call”. Regional economic activity rose by 0.3 percent in the June quarter according to ANZ Regional Trends, with economic activity increasing in the North Island but falling in the South Island. The Northland region experienced a rise in economic activity of 1.6 percent, while the Southland and Taranaki regions contracted by 1.6 percent over the quarter. New Zealand’s merchandise terms of trade rose unexpectedly in the June quarter, up 1.3 percent. Over the quarter, exported goods prices rose by 2.1 percent while imported goods prices rose by 0.7 percent. Dairy product prices rose by six percent, reflecting the higher prices experienced earlier in the year. A bank economist noted that trade data reflects auction price data after about a three month lag. &nbsp