Some Narrative Alphametics

In an alphametic, letters are substituted for numbers in an arithmetic problem, and the reader is invited to find the solution. If the letters spell out some sort of a message, so much the better; the oldest one known, SEND + MORE = MONEY, was crafted by H.E. Dudeney in 1924. (The term alphametic was coined by J.A.H. Hunter in 1955.

Notes on Contributions to the Science of Rare Earth Element Enrichment in Coal and Coal Combustion Byproducts

Coal and coal combustion byproducts can have significant concentrations of lanthanides (rare earth elements). Rare earths are vital in the production of modern electronics and optics, among other uses. Enrichment in coals may have been a function of a number of processes, with contributions from volcanic ash falls being among the most significant mechanisms. In this paper, we discuss some of the important coal-based deposits in China and the US and critique classification systems used to evaluate the relative value of the rare earth concentrations and the distribution of the elements within the coals and coal combustion byproducts

Overview of the TREC 2022 NeuCLIR Track

This is the first year of the TREC Neural CLIR (NeuCLIR) track, which aims to study the impact of neural approaches to cross-language information retrieval. The main task in this year's track was ad hoc ranked retrieval of Chinese, Persian, or Russian newswire documents using queries expressed in English. Topics were developed using standard TREC processes, except that topics developed by an annotator for one language were assessed by a different annotator when evaluating that topic on a different language. There were 172 total runs submitted by twelve teams.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, 10 tables. Part of the Thirty-First Text REtrieval Conference (TREC 2022) Proceedings. Replace the misplaced Russian result tabl

Diabetes and the socioeconomic and built environment: geovisualization of disease prevalence and potential contextual associations using ring maps

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Efforts to stem the diabetes epidemic in the United States and other countries must take into account a complex array of individual, social, economic, and built environmental factors. Increasingly, scientists use information visualization tools to "make sense" of large multivariate data sets. Recently, ring map visualization has been explored as a means of depicting spatially referenced, multivariate data in a single information graphic. A ring map shows multiple attribute data sets as separate rings of information surrounding a base map of a particular geographic region of interest. In this study, ring maps were used to evaluate diabetes prevalence among adult South Carolina Medicaid recipients. In particular, county-level ring maps were used to evaluate disparities in diabetes prevalence among adult African Americans and Whites and to explore potential county-level associations between diabetes prevalence among adult African Americans and five measures of the socioeconomic and built environment—persistent poverty, unemployment, rurality, number of fast food restaurants per capita, and number of convenience stores per capita. Although Medicaid pays for the health care of approximately 15 percent of all diabetics, few studies have examined diabetes in adult Medicaid recipients at the county level. The present study thus addresses a critical information gap, while illustrating the utility of ring maps in multivariate investigations of population health and environmental context.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ring maps showed substantial racial disparity in diabetes prevalence among adult Medicaid recipients and suggested an association between adult African American diabetes prevalence and rurality. Rurality was significantly positively associated with diabetes prevalence among adult African American Medicaid recipients in a multivariate statistical model.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Efforts to reduce diabetes among adult African American Medicaid recipients must extend to rural African Americans. Ring maps can be used to integrate diverse data sets, explore attribute associations, and achieve insights critical to the promotion of population health.</p

Prevalence of Illicit Use and Abuse of Prescription Stimulants, Alcohol, and Other Drugs Among College Students: Relationship with Age at Initiation of Prescription Stimulants

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90112/1/phco.27.5.666.pd

Comparison of Small-Area Deprivation Measures as Predictors of Chronic Disease Burden in a Low-Income Population

Background: Measures of small-area deprivation may be valuable in geographically targeting limited resources to prevent, diagnose, and effectively manage chronic conditions in vulnerable populations. We developed a census-based small-area socioeconomic deprivation index specifically to predict chronic disease burden among publically insured Medicaid recipients in South Carolina, a relatively poor state in the southern United States. We compared the predictive ability of the new index with that of four other small-area deprivation indicators. Methods: To derive the ZIP Code Tabulation Area-Level Palmetto Small-Area Deprivation Index (Palmetto SADI), we evaluated ten census variables across five socioeconomic deprivation domains, identifying the combination of census indicators most highly correlated with a set of five chronic disease conditions among South Carolina Medicaid enrollees. In separate validation studies, we used both logistic and spatial regression methods to assess the ability of Palmetto SADI to predict chronic disease burden among state Medicaid recipients relative to four alternative small-area socioeconomic deprivation measures: the Townsend index of material deprivation; a single-variable poverty indicator; and two small-area designations of health care resource deprivation, Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area and Medically Underserved Area/Medically Underserved Population. Results: Palmetto SADI was the best predictor of chronic disease burden (presence of at least one condition and presence of two or more conditions) among state Medicaid recipients compared to all alternative deprivation measures tested. Conclusions: A low-cost, regionally optimized socioeconomic deprivation index, Palmetto SADI can be used to identify areas in South Carolina at high risk for chronic disease burden among Medicaid recipients and other low-income Medicaid-eligible populations for targeted prevention, screening, diagnosis, disease self-management, and care coordination activitie