Cruise Report 62-S-2 - California Halibut

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Are you a researcher as well as a medical illustrator?

When we list the areas of practice for medical illustrators we always include research, but how involved in research are we? The aim of this activity is to encourage your professional development not just as a medical illustrator but your involvement with research whether that is undertaking your own research, undertaking evidence based practice (1) , working as part of a research team, advising researchers on the value of medical illustration or supporting a student undertaking a research project for their degree or post-graduate qualification

Properties of estimators of parameters in logistic regression models

Properties of various types of estimators of the regression coefficients in linear logistic regression models are considered. The estimators include those based on maximum likelihood, minimum chi-square and weighted least squares. Theoretical approximations to the biases of the estimators are developed. The results of a large scale simulation investigation evaluating the moment properties of the estimators are presented for the case of a logistic model with a single explanatory variable

State Public-Law Litigation in an Age of Polarization

Public-law litigation by state governments plays an increasingly prominent role in American governance. Although public lawsuits by state governments designed to challenge the validity or shape the content of national policy are not new, such suits have increased in number and salience over the last few decades — especially since the tobacco litigation of the late 1990s. Under the Obama and Trump Administrations, such suits have taken on a particularly partisan cast; “red” states have challenged the Affordable Care Act and President Obama’s immigration orders, for example, and “blue” states have challenged President Trump’s travel bans and attempts to roll back prior environmental policies. As a result, longstanding concerns about state litigation as a form of national policymaking that circumvents ordinary lawmaking processes have been joined by new concerns that state litigation reflects and aggravates partisan polarization. This Article explores the relationship between state litigation and the polarization of American politics. As we explain, our federal system can mitigate the effects of partisan polarization by taking some divisive issues off the national agenda, leaving them to be solved in state jurisdictions where consensus may be more attainable — both because polarization appears to be dampened at the state level, and because political preferences are unevenly distributed geographically. State litigation can both help and hinder this dynamic. The available evidence suggests that state attorneys general (who handle the lion’s share of state litigation) are themselves fairly polarized, as are certain categories of state litigation. We map out the different ways states can use litigation to shape national policy, linking each to concerns about polarization. We thus distinguish between “vertical” conflicts, in which states sue to preserve their autonomy to go their own way on divisive issues, and “horizontal” conflicts, in which different groups of states vie for control of national policy. The latter, we think, will tend to aggravate polarization. But we concede — and illustrate — that it will often be difficult to separate out the vertical and horizontal aspects of particular disputes, and that in some horizontal disputes the polarization costs of state litigation may be worth paying. We argue, moreover, that state litigation cannot be understood in a vacuum, but must be assessed as part of a broader phenomenon in American law: our reliance on entrepreneurial litigation to develop and enforce public norms. In this context, state attorneys general often play roles similar to “private attorneys general” such as class action lawyers or public interest organizations. And states, with their built-in systems of democratic accountability and internal checks and balances, compare well with other entrepreneurial enforcement vehicles in a number of respects. Nevertheless, state litigation efforts may not always account well for divergent preferences and interests within the broad publics that the states represent, and this deficiency becomes particularly important in politically polarized times. Although our account of state litigation is, on the whole, a positive one, we caution that state attorneys general face a significant risk of backlash by other political actors, and by courts, if state litigation is (or is perceived to be) a bitterly partisan affair

Genes and Pathways Regulating Decline in Lung Function and Airway Remodeling in Asthma.

Asthma is a common disorder of the airways characterized by airway inflammation and by decline in lung function and airway remodeling in a subset of asthmatics. Airway remodeling is characterized by structural changes which include airway smooth muscle hypertrophy/hyperplasia, subepithelial fibrosis due to thickening of the reticular basement membrane, mucus metaplasia of the epithelium, and angiogenesis. Epidemiologic studies suggest that both genetic and environmental factors may contribute to decline in lung function and airway remodeling in a subset of asthmatics. Environmental factors include respiratory viral infection-triggered asthma exacerbations, and tobacco smoke. There is also evidence that several asthma candidate genes may contribute to decline in lung function, including ADAM33, PLAUR, VEGF, IL13, CHI3L1, TSLP, GSDMB, TGFB1, POSTN, ESR1 and ARG2. In addition, mediators or cytokines, including cysteinyl leukotrienes, matrix metallopeptidase-9, interleukin-33 and eosinophil expression of transforming growth factor-β, may contribute to airway remodeling in asthma. Although increased airway smooth muscle is associated with reduced lung function (i.e. forced expiratory volume in 1 second) in asthma, there have been few long-term studies to determine how individual pathologic features of airway remodeling contribute to decline in lung function in asthma. Clinical studies with inhibitors of individual gene products, cytokines or mediators are needed in asthmatic patients to identify their individual role in decline in lung function and/or airway remodeling

Skeletal stressing method and apparatus Patent

Method and apparatus for applying compressional forces to skeletal structure of subject to simulate force during ambulatory condition

The extreme residuals in logistic regression models

Goodness of fit tests for logistic regression models using extreme residuals are considered. Moment properties of the Pearson residuals are developed and used to define modified residuals, for the cases when the model fit is made by maximum likelihood, minimum chi-square and weighted least squares. Approximations to the critical values of the extreme statistics based on the ordinary and modified Pearson residuals are developed and assessed for the case when the logistic regression model has a single explanatory variable

Attraction of \u3ci\u3ePedilus Lugubris\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae) to \u3ci\u3eEpicauta Murina\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eEpicauta Fabricii\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and New Food Plant Records for \u3ci\u3eEpicauta\u3c/i\u3e Spp.

Pedilus lugubris was found associated with Epicauta murina feeding on Lathyrus venosus foliage and with E. fabricii feeding on Lupinus perennis flowers. Epicauta cinerea and E. funebris were found feeding on foliage of Anemone canadensis and Physalis heterophylla, respectively. This is the first reported association of P lugubris with any species of Epicauta, and the first reported use of Lathyrus venosus by E. murina, of Lupinus perennis by E. fabricii, of Anemone canadensis by E. cinerea and of Physalis heterophylla by E. funebris

Network-Configurations of Dynamic Friction Patterns

The complex configurations of dynamic friction patterns-regarding real time contact areas- are transformed into appropriate networks. With this transformation of a system to network space, many properties can be inferred about the structure and dynamics of the system. Here, we analyze the dynamics of static friction, i.e. nucleation processes, with respect to "friction networks". We show that networks can successfully capture the crack-like shear ruptures and possible corresponding acoustic features. We found that the fraction of triangles remarkably scales with the detachment fronts. There is a universal power law between nodes' degree and motifs frequency (for triangles, it reads T(k)\proptok{\beta} ({\beta} \approx2\pm0.4)). We confirmed the obtained universality in aperture-based friction networks. Based on the achieved results, we extracted a possible friction law in terms of network parameters and compared it with the rate and state friction laws. In particular, the evolutions of loops are scaled with power law, indicating the aggregation of cycles around hub nodes. Also, the transition to slow rupture is scaled with the fast variation of local heterogeneity. Furthermore, the motif distributions and modularity space of networks -in terms of withinmodule degree and participation coefficient-show non-uniform general trends, indicating a universal aspect of energy flow in shear ruptures