Gromov-Hausdorff convergence of discrete transportation metrics

This paper continues the investigation of `Wasserstein-like' transportation distances for probability measures on discrete sets. We prove that the discrete transportation metrics on the d-dimensional discrete torus with mesh size 1/N converge, when $N\to\infty$, to the standard 2-Wasserstein distance W_2 on the continuous torus in the sense of Gromov-Hausdorff. This is the first convergence result for the recently developed discrete transportation metrics. The result shows the compatibility between these metrics and the well-established 2-Wasserstein metric.Comment: 22 pages, to appear in SIAM J. Math. Ana

The complementary role of imaging and tumor biomarkers in gynecological cancers: an update of the literature

Gynecological tumors, including endometrial, cervical and ovarian cancer, have increased in incidence over time. The widespread introduction of screening programs and advances in diagnostic imaging methods has lead to a progressive increase in gynecological cancer detection. Accurate diagnosis and proper monitoring of disease remain the primary target for a successful treatment. In the last years, knowledge about cancer biomarkers has considerably increased providing great opportunities for improving cancer detection and treatment. In addition, in the last few years there has been an important development of imaging techniques. Nowadays, a multimodal approach including the evaluation of serum tumor biomarkers combined with imaging techniques, seems to be the best strategy for assessing tumor presence, spread, recurrence, and/or the response to treatment in female cancer patients In this review we provide an overview of the application of biomarkers combined with novel imaging methods and highlight their roles in female cancer diagnosis and follow-up

Urticaria and Arthralgias as Manifestations of Necrotizing Angiitis (Vasculitis)**From the Departments of Dermatology and Medicine. Harvard Medical School, and the Division of Dermatology, Departments of Medicine, Peter Bent Brigham and Robert B. Brigham Hospitals. Boston, Massachusetts. (Reprint requests to: Dr. Soter, Robert B. Brigham Hospital, 125 Parker Hill Avenue, Boston, Mass. 02120.)

Although necrotizing angiitis (vasculitis) of the superficial venules and capillaries of the skin is usually appreciated visually as a purpuric papule, a group of patients has been defined in whom all of the skin lesions were urticarial. Microscopic examination of skin biopsy specimens showed fibrinoid necrosis of the blood-vessel walls, an infiltrate containing polymorphonuclear leukocytes, fragmentation of cell nuclei, and extravasation of erythrocytes. Arthralgias were present in 7 of the 8 patients and arthritis in 3 of these. Two of the patients experienced episodes of abdominal pain. A syndrome of chronic refractory urticaria accompanied by arthralgias and occasionally arthritis or abdominal pain and an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate was recognized in nonatopic female patients and appears to be a manifestation of an underlying necrotizing angiitis

The Abresch-Gromoll inequality in a non-smooth setting

We prove that the Abresch-Gromoll inequality holds on infinitesimally Hilbertian CD(K,N) spaces in the same form as the one available on smooth Riemannian manifolds

Modeling the ferroelectric phase transition in barium titanate with DFT accuracy and converged sampling

The accurate description of the structural and thermodynamic properties of ferroelectrics has been one of the most remarkable achievements of Density Functional Theory (DFT). However, running large simulation cells with DFT is computationally demanding, while simulations of small cells are often plagued with non-physical effects that are a consequence of the system's finite size. Therefore, one is often forced to use empirical models that describe the physics of the material in terms of effective interaction terms, that are fitted using the results from DFT, to perform simulations that do not suffer from finite size effects. In this study we use a machine-learning (ML) potential trained on DFT, in combination with accelerated sampling techniques, to converge the thermodynamic properties of Barium Titanate (BTO) with first-principles accuracy and a full atomistic description. Our results indicate that the predicted Curie temperature depends strongly on the choice of DFT functional and system size, due to the presence of emergent long-range directional correlations in the local dipole fluctuations. Our findings demonstrate how the combination of ML models and traditional bottom-up modeling allow one to investigate emergent phenomena with the accuracy of first-principles calculations and the large size and time scales afforded by empirical models.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

Accident data analysis and on-field inspections. Do they lead to similar conclusions?

Network Safety Ranking and Road Assessment Programme (RAP) are two procedures used in road infrastructure safety management to rank the road sections of a network according to estimated road safety performance. The former uses indicators based on road accidents and their consequences while the latter method is based primarily on inspections of the road infrastructure. The aim of this study was to verify whether there is a relationship between the indicators used within these methods, in order to evaluate if and under which conditions RAP scores contribute to the prediction of accident numbers. The adopted approach is based on the calibration and analysis of a wide array of models in order to reproduce the observed events-injury road accidents, fatalities and injuries-with reference to different aggregations of the original data and in the two reference situations: with and without EuroRAP (European Road Assessment Programme) indicators. From the obtained results, the introduction of the EuroRAP indicators ends up making the models that explain the frequency of accidents more convincing from a statistical point of view. These indicators, which summarise the road safety performance of a road section, could prove useful in replacing the covariates (e.g. presence of intersections, geometrical and functional features of roads) that are used in the calibration of accident prediction models. However, it should be stressed that not all types of accident are addressed by the EuroRAP approach, and this may represent a limitation for those roadways where such kind of accidents are frequently observed, like rear-end collisions on motorways. Probably, by including these accident types, the explanatory power of the EuroRAP variables would increase, at least on motorways

Advancing the science of cancer cost measurement: challenges and opportunities

Cancer accounts for a major proportion of national health expenditures, which are expected to increase in the future. This paper aims to identify major challenges with estimating cancer related costs, and discuss international comparisons, and recommendations for future research. Methods. It starts from the experience of an international workshop aimed at comparing cancer burden evaluation methods, improving results comparability, discussing strengths and criticisms of different approaches. Results. Three methodological themes necessary to inform the analysis are identified and discussed: data availability; costs definition; epidemiological measures. Conclusions. Cost evaluation is applied to cancer control interventions and is relevant for public health planners. Despite their complexity, international comparisons are fundamental to improve, generalize and extend cost evaluation to different contexts

Emozioni in campo. Una ricerca su genitori e sport

L\u2019indagine riguarda alcuni elementi chiave circa lo sguardo dei genitori verso l\u2019attivit\ue0 sportiva, scolastica ed extrascolastica, intesa come esperienza di crescita dei propri figli; in particolare gli obiettivi dell\u2019indagine sono stati definiti in due diverse direttrici: una scolastica (attivit\ue0 motoria nella scuola primaria condotta da un istruttore del CVV) e l\u2019altra extrascolastica. Il focus \ue8 sulle proiezioni e sulle rappresentazioni dei genitori circa: la relazione genitore-figlio nell\u2019ambito sportivo in particolare la gestione dell'autonomia; la gestione dei vissuti emotivi riguardanti le prestazioni, il successo/insuccesso; le aspettative dei genitori di trovare nell\u2019istruttore/allenatore un supporto educativo all\u2019esperienza di crescita dei figli; l'elaborazione dei successi e degli insuccessi; gli aspetti motivazionali legati alle scelte dei genitori ad avviare i figli all\u2019attivit\ue0 sportiva; l\u2019opinione dei genitori sulla valenza educativa dell\u2019attivit\ue0 motoria a scuola per il singolo bambino e per il gruppo classe. Lo strumento utilizzato per la raccolta dei dati \ue8 un questionario compilato, in forma anonima, da 384 genitori di bambini che frequentano le scuole primarie coinvolte nei progetti di educazione motoria a scuola del Consorzio Vero Volley sul territorio lombardo