Parameter estimation for the Euler-Bernoulli-beam

An approximation involving cubic spline functions for parameter estimation problems in the Euler-Bernoulli-beam equation (phrased as an optimization problem with respect to the parameters) is described and convergence is proved. The resulting algorithm was implemented and several of the test examples are documented. It is observed that the use of penalty terms in the cost functional can improve the rate of convergence

Being and Hearing

"How do deaf people in different societies perceive and conceive the world around them? Drawing on three years of anthropological fieldwork in Nepali deaf communities, Being and Hearing shows how questions of cultural difference are profoundly shaped by local habits of perception. Beginning with the premise that philosophy and cultural intuition are separated only by genre and pedigree, Peter Graif argues that Nepali deaf communities—in their social sensibilities, political projects, and aesthetics of expression—present innovative answers to the very old question of what it means to be different. From pranks and protests, to diverse acts of love and resistance, to renewed distinctions between material and immaterial, deaf communities in Nepal have crafted ways to foreground the habits of perception that shape both their own experiences and how they are experienced by the hearing people around them

Spatial Heterogeneity in the Effects of Immigration and Diversity on Neighborhood Homicide Rates

This article examines the connection of immigration and diversity to homicide by advancing a recently developed approach to modeling spatial dynamics—geographically weighted regression (GWR). In contrast to traditional global averaging, we argue on substantive grounds that neighborhood characteristics vary in their effects across neighborhood space, a process of “spatial heterogeneity.” Much like treatment-effect heterogeneity and distinct from spatial spillover, our analysis finds considerable evidence that neighborhood characteristics in Chicago vary significantly in predicting homicide, in some cases showing countervailing effects depending on spatial location. In general, however, immigrant concentration is either unrelated or inversely related to homicide, whereas language diversity is consistently linked to lower homicide. The results shed new light on the immigration-homicide nexus and suggest the pitfalls of global averaging models that hide the reality of a highly diversified and spatially stratified metropolis.Sociolog

Assessing and Building Digital Literacy Skills for Low-skilled Adults: A Practical Approach

Two years ago, the St. Paul Public Library began a community process in collaboration with the St. Paul Community Literacy Consortium to develop basic digital literacy. An inclusive, community wide process over several months led to the development of specific benchmarks in five areas: basic computer use, windows operating system, internet, email, and Word. Please see http://spclc.org/programs/digital-literacy-standards Following completion of the standards, the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library successfully raised funds from the Otto Bremer Foundation and IMLS to develop an online assessment measuring competency in the standards. The concept was that the assessment would initially be used to assess individual skills in terms of digital literacy. The results would be used to inform individualized instruction for adult learners. Once the skills were mastered, the assessment could be taken again. Those who successfully pass the assessment will be awarded a Northstar Certificate of Digital Literacy which will be marketed to employers an entry-level credential. This workshop will provide an overview of the completed assessment modules, which will be available online for anyone to use. The Design team will provide an overview of the challenges, constraints, and successes of the nine-month process leading to conclusion of the Assessment. Included will be standards and best practices developed for organizations approved to proctor the assessment and award certificates, allowing an open but controlled process to maintain the integrity of the Certificate. They will also discuss next stage of the process, which will involve a community-wide marketing campaign. To access the full presentation for this session, click on the Download button to the right

Computer Aided Diagnosis of Clustered Microcalcifications Using Artificial Neural Nets

Objective: Development of a fully automated computer application for detection and classification of clustered microcalcifications using neural nets. Material and Methods: Mammographic films with clustered microcalcifications of known histology were digitized. All clusters were rated by two radiologists on a 3 point scale: benign, indeterminate and malignant. Automated detected clustered microcalcifications were clustered. Features derived from those clusters were used as input to 2 artificial neural nets: one was trained to identify the indeterminate clusters, whereas the second ANN classified the remaining clusters in benign or malignant ones. Performance evaluation followed the patient-based receiver operator characteristic analysis. Results: For identification of patients with indeterminate clusters a an Az-value of 0.8741 could be achieved. For the remaining patients their clusters could be classified as benign or malignant at an Az-value of 0.8749, a sensitivity of 0.977 and specificity of 0.471. Conclusions: A fully automated computer system for detection and classification of clustered microcalcifications was developed. The system is able to identify patients with indeterminate clusters, where additional investigations are recommended, and produces a reliable estimation of the biologic dignity for the remaining ones

Modelling spatially varying coefficients via sparsity priors

© 2020 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. Sparsity inducing priors are widely used in Bayesian regression analysis, and seek dimensionality reduction to avoid unnecessarily complex models. An alternative to sparsity induction are discrete mixtures, such as spike and slab priors. These ideas extend to selection of random effects, either i?i?d or structured (e.g. spatially structured). In contrast to sparsity induction in mixed models with i?i?d random effects, in this paper we apply sparsity priors to spatial regression for area units (lattice data), and to spatial random effects in conditional autoregressive priors. In particular, we consider the use of global-local shrinkage to distinguish areas with average predictor effects from areas where the predictor effect is amplified or diminished because the response-predictor pattern is distinct from that of most areas. The operation and utility of this approach is demonstrated using simulated data, and in a real application to diabetes related deaths in New York counties

Ovarian torsion: Sonographic evaluation

The sonographic and clinical findings of 13 patients with surgically proven ovarian torsion are reported. Sonography demonstrated an abnormal pelvic mass in all patients. The appearance was nonspecific, ranging from solid to cystic, but frequently reflected the commonly associated ovarian pathology present in 69% of patients. The mass was large (mean diameter: 8 cm) and frequently midline (8/13). The clinical findings were variable and nonspecific, leading to a correct preoperative differential diagnosis in only 35% of patients. Preoperative sonography reduced the likelihood of unnecessary appendectomy in patients with ovarian torsion.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/38192/1/1870170504_ftp.pd

Stereological analysis of liver biopsy histology sections as a reference standard for validating non-invasive liver fat fraction measurements by MRI

© 2016 St. Pierre et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background and Aims: Validation of non-invasive methods of liver fat quantification requires a reference standard. However, using standard histopathology assessment of liver biopsies is problematical because of poor repeatability. We aimed to assess a stereological method of measuring volumetric liver fat fraction (VLFF) in liver biopsies and to use the method to validate a magnetic resonance imaging method for measurement of VLFF. Methods: VLFFs were measured in 59 subjects (1) by three independent analysts using a stereological point counting technique combined with the Delesse principle on liver biopsy histological sections and (2) by three independent analysts using the HepaFat-Scan® technique on magnetic resonance images of the liver. Bland Altman statistics and intraclass correlation (IC) were used to assess the repeatability of each method and the bias between the methods of liver fat fraction measurement. Results: Inter-analyst repeatability coefficients for the stereology and HepaFat-Scan® methods were 8.2 (95% CI 7.7-8.8)% and 2.4 (95% CI 2.2-2.5)% VLFF respectively. IC coefficients were 0.86 (95% CI 0.69-0.93) and 0.990 (95% CI 0.985-0.994) respectively. Small biases (=3.4%) were observable between two pairs of analysts using stereology while no significant biases were observable between any of the three pairs of analysts using Hepa-Fat-Scan®. A bias of 1.4±0.5% VLFF was observed between the HepaFat-Scan® method and the stereological method. Conclusions: Repeatability of the stereological method is superior to the previously reported performance of assessment of hepatic steatosis by histopathologists and is a suitable reference standard for validating non-invasive methods of measurement of VLFF