Libros for Oregon: Collections Connect Communities A New LSTA Grant to Help More Oregon Libraries Take Advantage of the Guadalajara Book Fair

Acquiring good books in Spanish for our libraries is a perennial challenge. In the fall of 2015, a discussion arose on some Oregon library listservs about the challenge of connecting our patrons with culturally-appropriate, high-quality Spanish books. Author Gitlitz gathered a team to put together an LSTA grant proposal for a project called “Libros for Oregon,” with a goal of increasing access to high-quality Spanish language books for the users of Oregon libraries, particularly smaller, rural libraries. The project has three parts: (1) form an Oregon library book-buying cooperative (with new participants each year) to purchase materials for members at the International Book Fair (FIL) in Guadalajara; (2) help participating libraries to develop and implement outreach plans for connecting their enhanced collections with their Hispanic/Latino communities; and (3) create a “Best of FIL” booklist (annotated to show US availability) for all Oregon libraries to use in collection development. The article explains the grant’s goals and timeline; gives a sense of the immense Guadalajara book fair; and discusses avenues for Oregon libraries to participate in this project in upcoming years. This project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library. Este programa es patrocinado en parte por el Instituto de Museo y Servicios Bibliotecarios a través de la Ley de Servicios Bibliotecarios y Tecnológicos (LSTA), administrado por la Biblioteca Estatal de Oregón

Almost Shortest Paths with Near-Additive Error in Weighted Graphs

Let $G=(V,E,w)$ be a weighted undirected graph with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, and fix a set of $s$ sources $S\subseteq V$. We study the problem of computing {\em almost shortest paths} (ASP) for all pairs in $S \times V$ in both classical centralized and parallel (PRAM) models of computation. Consider the regime of multiplicative approximation of $1+\epsilon$, for an arbitrarily small constant $\epsilon > 0$ . In this regime existing centralized algorithms require $\Omega(\min\{|E|s,n^\omega\})$ time, where $\omega < 2.372$ is the matrix multiplication exponent. Existing PRAM algorithms with polylogarithmic depth (aka time) require work $\Omega(\min\{|E|s,n^\omega\})$. Our centralized algorithm has running time $O((m+ ns)n^\rho)$, and its PRAM counterpart has polylogarithmic depth and work $O((m + ns)n^\rho)$, for an arbitrarily small constant $\rho > 0$. For a pair $(s,v) \in S\times V$, it provides a path of length $\hat{d}(s,v)$ that satisfies $\hat{d}(s,v) \le (1+\epsilon)d_G(s,v) + \beta \cdot W(s,v)$, where $W(s,v)$ is the weight of the heaviest edge on some shortest $s-v$ path. Hence our additive term depends linearly on a {\em local} maximum edge weight, as opposed to the global maximum edge weight in previous works. Finally, our $\beta = (1/\rho)^{O(1/\rho)}$. We also extend a centralized algorithm of Dor et al. \cite{DHZ00}. For a parameter $\kappa = 1,2,\ldots$, this algorithm provides for {\em unweighted} graphs a purely additive approximation of $2(\kappa -1)$ for {\em all pairs shortest paths} (APASP) in time $\tilde{O}(n^{2+1/\kappa})$. Within the same running time, our algorithm for {\em weighted} graphs provides a purely additive error of $2(\kappa - 1) W(u,v)$, for every vertex pair $(u,v) \in {V \choose 2}$, with $W(u,v)$ defined as above. On the way to these results we devise a suit of novel constructions of spanners, emulators and hopsets

Light, Reliable Spanners

A ν-reliable spanner of a metric space (X,d), is a (dominating) graph H, such that for any possible failure set B ⊆ X, there is a set B^+ just slightly larger |B^+| ≤ (1+ν)⋅|B|, and all distances between pairs in X⧵B^+ are (approximately) preserved in H⧵B. Recently, there have been several works on sparse reliable spanners in various settings, but so far, the weight of such spanners has not been analyzed at all. In this work, we initiate the study of light reliable spanners, whose weight is proportional to that of the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) of X. We first observe that unlike sparsity, the lightness of any deterministic reliable spanner is huge, even for the metric of the simple path graph. Therefore, randomness must be used: an oblivious reliable spanner is a distribution over spanners, and the bound on |B^+| holds in expectation. We devise an oblivious ν-reliable (2+2/(k-1))-spanner for any k-HST, whose lightness is ≈ ν^{-2}. We demonstrate a matching Ω(ν^{-2}) lower bound on the lightness (for any finite stretch). We also note that any stretch below 2 must incur linear lightness. For general metrics, doubling metrics, and metrics arising from minor-free graphs, we construct light tree covers, in which every tree is a k-HST of low weight. Combining these covers with our results for k-HSTs, we obtain oblivious reliable light spanners for these metric spaces, with nearly optimal parameters. In particular, for doubling metrics we get an oblivious ν-reliable (1+ε)-spanner with lightness ε^{-O(ddim)} ⋅ Õ(ν^{-2}⋅log n), which is best possible (up to lower order terms)

Improved Weighted Additive Spanners

Graph spanners and emulators are sparse structures that approximately preserve distances of the original graph. While there has been an extensive amount of work on additive spanners, so far little attention was given to weighted graphs. Only very recently [ABSKS20] extended the classical +2 (respectively, +4) spanners for unweighted graphs of size $O(n^{3/2})$ (resp., $O(n^{7/5})$) to the weighted setting, where the additive error is $+2W$ (resp., $+4W$). This means that for every pair $u,v$, the additive stretch is at most $+2W_{u,v}$, where $W_{u,v}$ is the maximal edge weight on the shortest $u-v$ path. In addition, [ABSKS20] showed an algorithm yielding a $+8W_{max}$ spanner of size $O(n^{4/3})$, here $W_{max}$ is the maximum edge weight in the entire graph. In this work we improve the latter result by devising a simple deterministic algorithm for a $+(6+\varepsilon)W$ spanner for weighted graphs with size $O(n^{4/3})$ (for any constant $\varepsilon>0$), thus nearly matching the classical +6 spanner of size $O(n^{4/3})$ for unweighted graphs. Furthermore, we show a $+(2+\varepsilon)W$ subsetwise spanner of size $O(n\cdot\sqrt{|S|})$, improving the $+4W_{max}$ result of [ABSKS20] (that had the same size). We also show a simple randomized algorithm for a $+4W$ emulator of size $\tilde{O}(n^{4/3})$. In addition, we show that our technique is applicable for very sparse additive spanners, that have linear size. For weighted graphs, we use a variant of our simple deterministic algorithm that yields a linear size $+\tilde{O}(\sqrt{n}\cdot W)$ spanner, and we also obtain a tradeoff between size and stretch. Finally, generalizing the technique of [DHZ00] for unweighted graphs, we devise an efficient randomized algorithm producing a $+2W$ spanner for weighted graphs of size $\tilde{O}(n^{3/2})$ in $\tilde{O}(n^2)$ time

Justicia rondera y derechos humanos en Cajamarca : entendiendo la resolución de conflictos en las rondas del norte del Perú

El artículo no presenta resumen

Apalutamide Treatment and Metastasis-free Survival in Prostate Cancer

Background Apalutamide, a competitive inhibitor of the androgen receptor, is under development for the treatment of prostate cancer. We evaluated the efficacy of apalutamide in men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who were at high risk for the development of metastasis. Methods We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial involving men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and a prostate-specific antigen doubling time of 10 months or less. Patients were randomly assigned, in a 2:1 ratio, to receive apalutamide (240 mg per day) or placebo. All the patients continued to receive androgen-deprivation therapy. The primary end point was metastasis-free survival, which was defined as the time from randomization to the first detection of distant metastasis on imaging or death. Results A total of 1207 men underwent randomization (806 to the apalutamide group and 401 to the placebo group). In the planned primary analysis, which was performed after 378 events had occurred, median metastasis-free survival was 40.5 months in the apalutamide group as compared with 16.2 months in the placebo group (hazard ratio for metastasis or death, 0.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23 to 0.35;

Re‐evaluation of stannous chloride (E 512) as food additive

The Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS) provides a scientific opinion re‐evaluating the safety of stannous chloride and stannous chloride dihydrate (E 512) as food additives. The Panel considered that adequate exposure and toxicity data were available. Stannous chloride is only permitted as food additives in one food category and no reply on the actual use level of stannous chloride (E 512) as a food additive and on its concentration in food was provided by any interested party. According to the Mintel's Global New Products Database (GNPD), stannous chloride was not labelled on any products in the EU nor in Norway. The regulatory maximum level exposure assessment scenario is based on the maximum permitted levels (MPLs) for stannous chloride (E 512), which is 25 mg Sn/kg. The mean exposure to stannous chloride (E 512) from its use as a food additive was below 1.3 μg Sn/kg body weight (bw) per day for all age groups. The 95th percentile of exposure to stannous chloride (E 512) ranged from 0.0 μg Sn/kg bw per day in all groups to 11.2 μg Sn/kg bw per day in adults. Absorption of stannous chloride from the gastrointestinal tract is low there is no concern with respect to carcinogenicity and genotoxicity. Gastrointestinal irritation was reported in humans after ingestion of a bolus dose of 40 mg Sn. The Panel concluded that stannous chloride (E 512) is of no safety concern in this current authorised use and use levels

Phase I study of bosutinib, a src/Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor, administered to patients with advanced solid tumors

Purpose: Bosutinib, a potent ATP-competitive, quinolinecarbonitrile Src/Abl kinase inhibitor, was tested in this first-in-human phase I trial in patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies. Patients and Methods: This trial was conducted in 2 parts. In part 1 (dose escalation), increasing oral bosutinib doses were administered using a 3 + 3 design. In part 2 (dose expansion), approximately 30 patients each with refractory colorectal, pancreas, or non–small cell lung cancer were treated at the recommended phase II dose (RP2D). Primary efficacy endpoints for part 2 were median progression-free survival (colorectal and non–small cell lung) and median overall survival (pancreas). Results: In part 1, dose-limiting toxicities of grade 3 diarrhea (two patients) and grade 3 rash occurred with bosutinib 600 mg/day and the maximum tolerated dose identified was 500 mg/day. However, the majority of patients treated with 500 mg/day had grade 2 or greater gastrointestinal toxicity, and 400 mg/day was identified as the RP2D. The most common bosutinib-related adverse events were nausea (60% patients), diarrhea (47%), vomiting (40%), fatigue (38%), and anorexia (36%). Bosutinib had a mean half-life of 19 to 20 hours at the RP2D. A partial response (breast) and unconfirmed complete response (pancreas) were observed; 8 of 112 evaluable patients had stable disease for 22 to 101 weeks. However, the primary efficacy endpoints for part 2 were not met. Conclusions: Bosutinib was generally well tolerated in patients with solid tumors, with the main toxicity being gastrointestinal. The RP2D was 400 mg/day orally. Further study of bosutinib is planned in combination regimens