Reusable User Interface Behaviors

User interfaces often account for a majority of application code and defects. High quality user interfaces come with equally high development costs – lower than the cost of multitudes of users coping with low quality user interfaces, but higher than the mild frustration experienced by any individual user. Thus, the economics of software lead to a situation where barely passable user interfaces abound. That most user interface code comes from bespoke attempts to implement vague human interface guidelines is a leading cause of high cost and low quality. This thesis introduces a novel formalism for user interfaces based on ordered constraint systems. Using explicit models for the values and relationships in a user interface, several reusable algorithms are defined for rich user interface behaviors, including value propagation, dataflow visualization, pinning, scripting, command activation, widget enablement, and context-sensitive help. Developers can leverage provably correct implementations of such desirable features for free, raising the quality of user interfaces while lowering their production cost. Some of these behaviors have been implemented in a JavaScript framework, Hot-Drink, for web user interfaces, and a C++ framework, Adam, for desktop user interfaces. Experiments have demonstrated higher developer productivity, fewer lines of code, fewer defects, and fewer components when compared to conventional user interface frameworks

Consensus Recommendations for Advancing Breast Cancer: Risk Identification and Screening in Ethnically Diverse Younger Women

A need exists for a breast cancer risk identification paradigm that utilizes relevant demographic, clinical, and other readily obtainable patient-specific data in order to provide individualized cancer risk assessment, direct screening efforts, and detect breast cancer at an early disease stage in historically underserved populations, such as younger women (under age 40) and minority populations, who represent a disproportionate number of military beneficiaries. Recognizing this unique need for military beneficiaries, a consensus panel was convened by the USA TATRC to review available evidence for individualized breast cancer risk assessment and screening in young (< 40), ethnically diverse women with an overall goal of improving care for military beneficiaries. In the process of review and discussion, it was determined to publish our findings as the panel believes that our recommendations have the potential to reduce health disparities in risk assessment, health promotion, disease prevention, and early cancer detection within and in other underserved populations outside of the military. This paper aims to provide clinicians with an overview of the clinical factors, evidence and recommendations that are being used to advance risk assessment and screening for breast cancer in the military

Vibrational excitations in systems with correlated disorder

We investigate a $d$-dimensional model ($d$ = 2,3) for sound waves in a disordered environment, in which the local fluctuations of the elastic modulus are spatially correlated with a certain correlation length. The model is solved analytically by means of a field-theoretical effective-medium theory (self-consistent Born approximation) and numerically on a square lattice. As in the uncorrelated case the theory predicts an enhancement of the density of states over Debye's $\omega^{d-1}$ law (``boson peak'') as a result of disorder. This anomay becomes reinforced for increasing correlation length $\xi$. The theory predicts that $\xi$ times the width of the Brillouin line should be a universal function of $\xi$ times the wavenumber. Such a scaling is found in the 2d simulation data, so that they can be represented in a universal plot. In the low-wavenumber regime, where the lattice structure is irrelevant there is excellent agreement between the simulation at small disorder. At larger disorder the continuum theory deviates from the lattice simulation data. It is argued that this is due to an instability of the model with stronger disorder.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in physica status solidi (c) March 200

Sex Differences in Mortality After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement for Severe Aortic Stenosis

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to examine sex differences in outcome after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with real-world data from 2 large centers in Canada.BackgroundTranscatheter aortic valve replacement is an effective alternative to surgical valve replacement in symptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis, but the impact of sex on outcomes remains unclear. The PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) 1A trial demonstrated greater benefit of TAVR over surgery in women, but whether this was due to the poorer surgical outcome of women or better TAVR outcome, compared with men, is unknown.MethodsConsecutive patients (n = 641) undergoing TAVR in Vancouver and Quebec City, Canada, were evaluated. Differences in all-cause mortality were examined with Kaplan-Meier estimates, adjusted logistic regression, and proportional hazards models.ResultsWomen comprised 51.3% of the cohort. Balloon-expandable valves were used in 97% of cases, with transapical approach in 51.7 % women and 38.1% men. Women had more major vascular complications (12.4% vs. 5.4%, p = 0.003) and borderline significantly more major/life-threatening bleeds (21.6% vs. 15.8%, p = 0.08). At baseline, women had higher aortic gradients and worse renal function but better ejection fractions. Men had more comorbidities: prior myocardial infarction, prior revascularization, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The adjusted odds ratio for 30-day all-cause mortality favored women, 0.39 (95% confidence interval: 0.19 to 0.80; p = 0.01), and this benefit persisted for 2 years, hazard ratio 0.60 (95% confidence interval: 0.41 to 0.88; p = 0.008).ConclusionsFemale sex is associated with better short- and long-term survival after TAVR. Added to the PARTNER 1A findings, these results suggest TAVR might be the preferred treatment option for elderly women with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis

Schema therapy for emotional dysregulation: Theoretical implication and clinical applications

The term emotional dysregulation refers to an impaired ability to regulate unwanted emotional states. Scientific evidence supports the idea that emotional dysregulation underlies several psychological disorders as, for example: personality disorders, bipolar disorder type II, interpersonal trauma, anxiety disorders, mood disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder. Emotional dysregulation may derive from early interpersonal traumas in childhood. These early traumatic events create a persistent sensitization of the central nervous system in relation to early life stressing events. For this reason, some authors suggest a common endophenotypical origin across psychopathologies. In the last 20 years, cognitive behavioral therapy has increasingly adopted an interactiveontogenetic view to explain the development of disorders associated to emotional dysregulation. Unfortunately, standard Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) methods are not useful in treating emotional dysregulation. A CBT-derived new approach called Schema Therapy (ST), that integrates theory and techniques from psychodynamic and emotion focused therapy, holds the promise to fill this gap in cognitive literature. In this model, psychopathology is viewed as the interaction between the innate temperament of the child and the early experiences of deprivation or frustration of the subject\u2019s basic needs. This deprivation may lead to develop early maladaptive schemas (EMS), and maladaptive Modes. In the present paper we point out that EMSs and Modes are associated with either dysregulated emotions or with dysregulatory strategies that produce and maintain problematic emotional responses. Thanks to a special focus on the therapeutic relationship and emotion focused-experiential techniques, this approach successfully treats severe emotional dysregulation. In this paper, we make several comparisons between the main ideas of ST and the science of emotion regulation, and we present how to conceptualize pathological phenomena in terms of failed regulation and some of the ST strategies and techniques to foster successful regulation in patients

Cancer cell CCL5 mediates bone marrow independent angiogenesis in breast cancer

It has recently been suggested that the chemokine receptor (CCR5) is required for bone marrow (BM) derived endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) mediated angiogenesis. Here we show that suppression of either cancer cell produced CCL5, or host CCR5 leads to distinctive vascular and tumor growth defects in breast cancer. Surprisingly, CCR5 restoration in the BM alone was not sufficient to rescue the wild type phenotype, suggesting that impaired tumor growth associated with inhibiting CCL5/CCR5 is not due to defects in EPC biology. Instead, to promote angiogenesis cancer cell CCL5 may signal directly to endothelium in the tumor-stroma. In support of this hypothesis, we have also shown: (i) that endothelial cell CCR5 levels increases in response to tumor-conditioned media; (ii) that the amount of CCR5+ tumor vasculature correlates with invasive grade; and (iii) that inhibition of CCL5/CCR5 signaling impairs endothelial cell migration, associated with a decrease in activation of mTOR/AKT pathway members. Finally, we show that treatment with CCR5 antagonist results in less vasculature, impaired tumor growth, reduced metastases and improved survival. Taken as a whole, this work demonstrates that directly inhibiting CCR5 expressing vasculature constitutes a novel strategy for inhibiting angiogenesis and blocking metastatic progression in breast cancer

Thirty Years After Michael E. Porter: What Do We Know About Business Exit?

Although a business exit is an important corporate change initiative, the buyer’s side seems to be more appealing to management researchers than the seller’s because acquisitions imply growth, i.e., success. Yet from an optimistic viewpoint, business exit can effectively create value for the selling company. In this paper we attempt to bring the relevance of the seller’s side back into our consciousness by asking: What do we know about business exit? We start our exploration with Porter (1976), focusing on literature that investigates the antecedents of, barriers to, and outcomes of business exit. We also include studies from related fields such as finance and economics.1 Through this research we determine three clusters of findings: factors promoting business exit, exit barriers, and exit outcomes. Overall, it is the intention of this paper to highlight the importance of business exit for research and practice. Knowing what we know about business exits and their high financial value we should bear in mind that exit need not mean failure but a new beginning for a corporation

SABRE: a multicentre randomised control trial of nebulised hypertonic saline in infants hospitalised with acute bronchiolitis

Aim Acute bronchiolitis is the commonest cause for hospitalisation in infancy. Supportive care remains the cornerstone of current management and no other therapy has been shown to influence the course of the disease. It has been suggested that adding nebulised hypertonic saline to usual care may shorten the duration of hospitalisation. To determine whether hypertonic saline does have beneficial effects we undertook an open, multi-centre parallel-group, pragmatic RCT in ten UK hospitals. Methods Infants admitted to hospital with a clinical diagnosis of acute bronchiolitis and requiring oxygen therapy were randomised to receive usual care alone or nebulised 3% hypertonic saline (HS) administered 6-hourly. Randomisation was within 4 h of admission. The primary outcome was time to being assessed as ‘fit’ for discharge with secondary outcomes including time to discharge, incidence of adverse events together with follow up to 28 days assessing patient centred health related outcomes. Results A total of 317 infants were recruited to the study. 158 infants were randomised to HS (141 analysed) and 159 to standard care (149 analysed). There was no difference between the two arms in time to being declared fit for discharge (hazard ratio: 0−95, 95% CI: 0.75−1.20) nor to actual discharge (hazard ratio: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.76−1.23). There was no difference in adverse events. One infant in the HS group developed bradycardia with desaturation. Conclusion This study does not support the use of nebulised HS in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis over usual care with minimal handlings. ClinicalTrials.gov registration number NCT01469845