Estimating the age of renal tumors

We present a Bayesian method for estimating the age of a renal tumor given its size. We use a model of tumor growth based on published data from observations of untreated tumors. We find, for example, that the median age of a 5 cm tumor is 20 years, with interquartile range 16-23 and 90% confidence interval 11-30 years.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Levitation-melting technique for metals and alloys

Experimentation resulted in an improved levitation-melting technique for metals and alloys which quickly produces a completly homogeneous melt. Also developed were two levitation coils that permit a wide variety of metals to be levitated in the molten state and a helium quenching method which minimizes contamination and segregation

Transformative Criminal Defense Practice: Truth, Love, and Individual Rights- The Innovative Approach of the Georgia Justice Project

Georgia Justice Project has a unique approach to criminal defense and rehabilitation which is based on a relationship and community-oriented ethic. Focused on only accepting clients who are willing to make a serious commitment to changing their lives, the GJP ensures that the client moves beyond social, emotional and personal challenges that contributed to their legal problems. This article describes the unique factors of the GJP that have contributed to its continued success

Against Amnesia: Re-Imagining Central Banking

The purpose of the present paper is to identify and challenge contemporary adherence to the core of the prevailing monetary policy consensus. This consensus consists of what we call the holy trinity of the inflation targeting paradigm: price stability as the primary goal of the central bank; central bank independence as the institutional arrangement; and the short-term interest rate as the operational target. Drawing on the literature on the history and political economy of central banking, we argue that the inability to think beyond this holy trinity stems from a severe case of collective institutional amnesia and comes at a heavy cost. We highlight that monetary policy can be deployed towards social purposes other than controlling inflation, in institutional configurations other than isolation from the rest of the government and with instruments other than interest rate manipulation. One central message is that whereas central banks are commonly portrayed as commanding only one instrument, in reality they have a battery of instruments at their disposal. We should think of central banking not as a hammer – a tool to hit inflation where it rears its ugly head – but as a Swiss army knife – a multi-purpose tool with many instruments. Doing so will help overcome the collective amnesia that stands in the way of an enlightened debate about how the power of central banking can – and perhaps should – be harnessed in the pursuit of collective social goals.1 Introduction 2 The Holy Trinity 3 Historical Specificity 3.1 Pre-War 3.2 Post-War, Pre-Inflation 3.3 Holy Trinity 3.4 Shoring up the Holy Trinity: The Tinbergen Rule 4 Beyond the Tinbergen Rule: A Swiss Army Knife Theory of Central Banking 4.1 Lender of Last Resort 4.2 Financial Market-Shaping I: Monetary Policy Implementation 4.3 Financial Market-Shaping II: Monetary Policy Transmission 5 Conclusion Reference

Kolmogorov Complexity and Solovay Functions

Solovay proved that there exists a computable upper bound f of the prefix-free Kolmogorov complexity function K such that f (x) = K(x) for infinitely many x. In this paper, we consider the class of computable functions f such that K(x) <= f (x)+O(1) for all x and f (x) <= K(x) + O(1) for infinitely many x, which we call Solovay functions. We show that Solovay functions present interesting connections with randomness notions such as Martin-L\"of randomness and K-triviality

Heat-shrink plastic tubing seals joints in glass tubing

Small units of standard glass apparatus held together by short lengths of transparent heat-shrinkable polyolefin tubing. The tubing is shrunk over glass O-ring type connectors having O-rings but no lubricant