A taxonomy of mammography patterns has a number of potential uses which are discussed in this paper. The paper also presents further details about an organization of the mammography archive that was achieved by means of the SONNET self-organizing neural network. Preliminary results on the possible use of the mammography taxonomy to detect cancerous lesions via asymmetry identification are presented. A SONNET hierarchy capable of classifying parenchyma sub-types which combines with evolutionary computation is proposed which may overcome the challenging problem of the search for multiscale features over a diverse set of mammograms.
3416 Recurrence following radical prostatectomy is higher among African Americans compared to Caucasians. Previous studies have shown that hospital and physician volume, proxies for experience, are associated with improved outcomes and disease-free survival following major surgical procedures. This study investigated racial differences in recurrence following surgery for prostate cancer as they may be associated with hospital and physician volume. Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End-Results (SEER)-Medicare database were examined for 962 African American and 7387 Caucasian men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer during 1993-1999 and received surgery within 6 months of diagnosis. Analysis controlled for age at diagnosis, cancer stage, and Gleason grade. Cox regression models were employed to estimate the relationships between volume, disease-recurrence, and race, grouping hospital and physician volume by quartiles. During 1993-1999, African American men were more likely to experience disease recurrence than Caucasian men (Hazard Ratio (HR)=1.32; 95%CI: 1.15, 1.51). Examination of this disparity revealed that the racial differences in recurrence were greater among high volume hospitals (High HR=1.66; 95%CI: 1.31, 2.09) than low volume hospitals (Low HR=1.24, 95%CI: 0.92, 1.68). The disparity in recurrence was even lower among those receiving care at Medium (Medium HR=1.12, 95%CI: 0.81, 1.53) and Medium High volume hospitals (Medium High HR=1.19, 95%CI: 0.84,1.68). Thus, contrary to expectation, hospitals performing the most surgeries for prostate cancer had larger racial differences in recurrence than hospitals performing the least surgeries. Those hospitals that were in the medium volume categories exhibited little evidence for racial differences in recurrence. Stratification by physician volume revealed an increase in racial differences between Low, Medium, and Medium High Volume physicians (Low HR=1.00; 95%CI: 0.76, 1.33; Medium HR=1.20, 95%CI: 0.91, 1.58; Medium High HR=1.67, 95%CI: 1.25, 2.22). However, patients of the highest volume physicians showed slightly lower racial differences than those of the Medium volume Physicians (High HR=1.11, 95%CI: 0.59, 2.11). In summary, racial differences in recurrence following surgery for prostate cancer did not consistently decrease with increasing hospital and physician volume as expected. Instead, this study suggests that racial differences in recurrence persist among patients of high volume or experienced hospitals, and patients of medium high volume physicians.
Genetic Programming is applied to solve scheduling problems. The resulting tool simulates the PERT method of project control, and Genetic Programming provides multiple acceptable solutions. This tool has a wide application in the management of large and complex projects. It is a bio-inspired means to obtain solution in many disparate areas of activity such as for computer gaming, and when a complex system needs to be understood and executed properly as in many types of security operation.
The recently patented stochastic matrix method of function recovery offers workable alternatives to traditional methods of image analysis. This paper illustrates its application to image compression and its application to image enhancement (image zoom). In the former application, it appears to be competitive with JPEG DCT with respect to file size but with the added advantage that it does not suffer from artifacts of that coder. In the latter application, it appears to be clearly superior to the bi-cubic interpolation that is used by popular commercial graphics packages. An important and characteristic property of the stochastic matrix method (SMM) of function recovery is its free parameter sigma that can be optimized, e.g. by an intelligent system, to change the nature of the image analysis.
Abstract Objective: Studies have reported that minorities are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies have elucidated the lived experiences of African American older adults, and the resiliency displayed in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters. Methods: This study used 4 recorded focus groups with 26 African American older adults who have spent most of their lives living in Houston, Texas to assess safety, economic, and health concerns related to the pandemic and similarities or differences with other types of disasters that are specific to Houston/ the Gulf Region of Texas, such as Hurricane Harvey. Results: Key themes emerged from the thematic analysis: 1) previous disasters provided important coping and preparation skills, although each occurrence was still a major stressor, 2) while telehealth was a significant benefit, regular health maintenance and chronic disease management were not completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, 3) information from the federal and state authorities were inconsistent and spurred fear and anxiety, 4) participants experienced few to no disruptions to their income but were heavily called on to support family members, and 5) participants experienced anxiety and isolation, but many used existing social connections to cope. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate how African American older adults navigate disaster response and recovery through experience and community. Providing unambiguous information to older adults could prove useful in preparing for future disaster events and coping with disasters.
This Genetic Programming based tool simulates activities and resource allocations in the Program (Project) Evaluation and Review Technique method of project control. Users constrain the optimization problem by means of a visual interface and Genetic Programming discovers a umber of acceptable solutions that satisfy the user constraints. It evolves computer programs that, when executed, produce a variable length vector of real numbers. This vector is then interpreted according to the grammar that abides by the user constraints. The tool has a wide application in the management of large and complex projects as it handles the a priori simulation of events that may delay or compromise the project, and enables the project owners and project managers to come up with robust and innovative contingency measures to decrease the likelihood of project failure before project start-up.
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