Thinking FORTH: a language and philosophy for solving problems

XIV, 313 p. ; 24 cmLibro ElectrónicoThinking Forth is a book about the philosophy of problem solving and programming style, applied to the unique programming language Forth. Published first in 1984, it could be among the timeless classics of computer books, such as Fred Brooks' The Mythical Man-Month and Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming. Many software engineering principles discussed here have been rediscovered in eXtreme Programming, including (re)factoring, modularity, bottom-up and incremental design. Here you'll find all of those and more - such as the value of analysis and design - described in Leo Brodie's down-to-earth, humorous style, with illustrations, code examples, practical real life applications, illustrative cartoons, and interviews with Forth's inventor, Charles H. Moore as well as other Forth thinkers. If you program in Forth, this is a must-read book. If you don't, the fundamental concepts are universal: Thinking Forth is meant for anyone interested in writing software to solve problems. The concepts go beyond Forth, but the simple beauty of Forth throws those concepts into stark relief. So flip open the book, and read all about the philosophy of Forth, analysis, decomposition, problem solving, style and conventions, factoring, handling data, and minimizing control structures. But be prepared: you may not be able to put it down. This book has been scanned, OCR'd, typeset in LaTeX, and brought back to print (and your monitor) by a collaborative effort under a Creative Commons license. http://thinking-forth.sourceforge.net/The Philosophy of Forth An Armchair History of Software Elegance; The Superficiality of Structure; Looking Back, and Forth; Component Programming; Hide From Whom?; Hiding the Construction of Data Structures; But Is It a High-Level Language?; The Language of Design; The Language of Performance; Summary; References Analysis The Nine Phases of the Programming Cycle; The Iterative Approach; The Value of Planning; The Limitations of Planning; The Analysis Phase; Defining the Interfaces; Defining the Rules; Defining the Data Structures; Achieving Simplicity; Budgeting and Scheduling; Reviewing the Conceptual Model; References Preliminary Design/Decomposition Decomposition by Component; Example: A Tiny Editor; Maintaining a Component-based Application; Designing and Maintaining a Traditional Application; The Interface Component; Decomposition by Sequential Complexity; The Limits of Level Thinking; Summary; For Further Thinking; Detailed Design/Problem Solving Problem-Solving Techniques; Interview with a Software Inventor; Detailed Design; Forth Syntax; Algorithms and Data Structures; Calculations vs. Data Structures vs. Logic; Solving a Problem: Computing Roman Numerals; Summary; References; For Further Thinking Implementation: Elements of Forth Style Listing Organization; Screen Layout; Comment Conventions; Vertical Format vs. Horizontal Format; Choosing Names: The Art; Naming Standards: The Science; More Tips for Readability; Summary; References Factoring Factoring Techniques; Factoring Criteria; Compile-Time Factoring; The Iterative Approach in Implementation; References Handling Data: Stacks and States The Stylish Stack; The Stylish Return Stack; The Problem With Variables; Local and Global Variables/Initialization; Saving and Restoring a State; Application Stacks; Sharing Components; The State Table; Vectored Execution; Using DOER/MAKE; Summary; References Minimizing Control Structures What’s So Bad about Control Structures?; How to Eliminate Control Structures; A Note on Tricks; Summary; References; For Further Thinking Forth’s Effect on Thinking Appendix A Overview of Forth (For Newcomers); Appendix B Defining DOER/MAKE; Appendix C Other Utilities Described in This Book; Appendix D Answers to “Further Thinking” Problems; Appendix E Summary of Style Conventions; Inde

Development of a tomographic myelin scan

The principle that myelin can be imaged nonivnvasiely using the emission tomographic distribution of a lipophilic radioactive tracer was investigated. Properties of agents suitable for noninvasive myelin scanning are discussed with specific reference to blood-brain barrier permeability, metabolism, and tracer lipophilicity. The brain distributions of inert tracers are correlated with their partitioning between octanol and saline. A test probe, iodobenzene, was labeled with iodine 125 for preliminary invasive studies in the rabbit. The equilibrium brain distribution, determined either autoradiographically of by regional dissection, corresponded closely to that of myelin. 123 I-labeled iodobenzene, a gamma-emitting analog, was then administered to a monkey, and tomographic reconstruction revealed a pattern of brain uptake corresponding to white matter.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50299/1/410100303_ftp.pd

The ATLAS3D project - XXIX : The new look of early-type galaxies and surrounding fields disclosed by extremely deep optical images

Date of Acceptance: 25/09/2014Galactic archaeology based on star counts is instrumental to reconstruct the past mass assembly of Local Group galaxies. The development of new observing techniques and data reduction, coupled with the use of sensitive large field of view cameras, now allows us to pursue this technique in more distant galaxies exploiting their diffuse low surface brightness (LSB) light. As part of the ATLAS3D project, we have obtained with the MegaCam camera at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope extremely deep, multiband images of nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs). We present here a catalogue of 92 galaxies from the ATLAS3D sample, which are located in low- to medium-density environments. The observing strategy and data reduction pipeline, which achieve a gain of several magnitudes in the limiting surface brightness with respect to classical imaging surveys, are presented. The size and depth of the survey are compared to other recent deep imaging projects. The paper highlights the capability of LSB-optimized surveys at detecting new prominent structures that change the apparent morphology of galaxies. The intrinsic limitations of deep imaging observations are also discussed, among those, the contamination of the stellar haloes of galaxies by extended ghost reflections, and the cirrus emission from Galactic dust. The detection and systematic census of fine structures that trace the present and past mass assembly of ETGs are one of the prime goals of the project. We provide specific examples of each type of observed structures - tidal tails, stellar streams and shells - and explain how they were identified and classified. We give an overview of the initial results. The detailed statistical analysis will be presented in future papers.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Enter Mercury, Sleeping: Delivering Prayers on the Early Modern Stage

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from CUP via the DOI in this recor

Fulvestrant plus anastrozole or placebo versus exemestane alone after progression on non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors in postmenopausal patients with hormone-receptor-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (SoFEA): a composite, multicentre, phase 3 randomised trial

SummaryBackgroundThe optimum endocrine treatment for postmenopausal women with advanced hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer that has progressed on non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors (NSAIs) is unclear. The aim of the SoFEA trial was to assess a maximum double endocrine targeting approach with the steroidal anti-oestrogen fulvestrant in combination with continued oestrogen deprivation.MethodsIn a composite, multicentre, phase 3 randomised controlled trial done in the UK and South Korea, postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer (oestrogen receptor [ER] positive, progesterone receptor [PR] positive, or both) were eligible if they had relapsed or progressed with locally advanced or metastatic disease on an NSAI (given as adjuvant for at least 12 months or as first-line treatment for at least 6 months). Additionally, patients had to have adequate organ function and a WHO performance status of 0–2. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive fulvestrant (500 mg intramuscular injection on day 1, followed by 250 mg doses on days 15 and 29, and then every 28 days) plus daily oral anastrozole (1 mg); fulvestrant plus anastrozole-matched placebo; or daily oral exemestane (25 mg). Randomisation was done with computer-generated permuted blocks, and stratification was by centre and previous use of an NSAI as adjuvant treatment or for locally advanced or metastatic disease. Participants and investigators were aware of assignment to fulvestrant or exemestane, but not of assignment to anastrozole or placebo. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). Analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, numbers NCT00253422 (UK) and NCT00944918 (South Korea).FindingsBetween March 26, 2004, and Aug 6, 2010, 723 patients underwent randomisation: 243 were assigned to receive fulvestrant plus anastrozole, 231 to fulvestrant plus placebo, and 249 to exemestane. Median PFS was 4·4 months (95% CI 3·4–5·4) in patients assigned to fulvestrant plus anastrozole, 4·8 months (3·6–5·5) in those assigned to fulvestrant plus placebo, and 3·4 months (3·0–4·6) in those assigned to exemestane. No difference was recorded between the patients assigned to fulvestrant plus anastrozole and fulvestrant plus placebo (hazard ratio 1·00, 95% CI 0·83–1·21; log-rank p=0·98), or between those assigned to fulvestrant plus placebo and exemestane (0·95, 0·79–1·14; log-rank p=0·56). 87 serious adverse events were reported: 36 in patients assigned to fulvestrant plus anastrozole, 22 in those assigned to fulvestrant plus placebo, and 29 in those assigned to exemestane. Grade 3–4 adverse events were rare; the most frequent were arthralgia (three in the group assigned to fulvestrant plus anastrozole; seven in that assigned to fulvestrant plus placebo; eight in that assigned to exemestane), lethargy (three; 11; 11), and nausea or vomiting (five; two; eight).InterpretationAfter loss of response to NSAIs in postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer, maximum double endocrine treatment with 250 mg fulvestrant combined with oestrogen deprivation is no better than either fulvestrant alone or exemestane.FundingCancer Research UK and AstraZeneca