Early stopping by using stochastic curtailment in a three-arm sequential trial

Summary. Interim analysis is important in a large clinical trial for ethical and cost considerations. Sometimes, an interim analysis needs to be performed at an earlier than planned time point. In that case, methods using stochastic curtailment are useful in examining the data for early stopping while controlling the inflation of type I and type II errors. We consider a three-arm randomized study of treatments to reduce perioperative blood loss following major surgery. Owing to slow accrual, an unplanned interim analysis was required by the study team to determine whether the study should be continued. We distinguish two different cases: when all treatments are under direct comparison and when one of the treatments is a control. We used simulations to study the operating characteristics of five different stochastic curtailment methods. We also considered the influence of timing of the interim analyses on the type I error and power of the test. We found that the type I error and power between the different methods can be quite different. The analysis for the perioperative blood loss trial was carried out at approximately a quarter of the planned sample size. We found that there is little evidence that the active treatments are better than a placebo and recommended closure of the trial.

Small-amplitude cyclic voltammetry: Part I. A simple fourier synthesis approach

Current-potential relationships are derived for small-amplitude periodic inputs for linear electrochemical systems using a Fourier synthesis procedure. Specific results have been obtained for a triangular potential waveform for two simple model systems.

Èto i to v povesti Staruha Daniila Harmsa

This dissertation focuses on the short story Starukha (The Old Woman), one of the last works of the Russian writer Daniil Kharms (1905-1942). The story, written in 1939, is analysed using the Kharmsian concepts èto and to (this and that) as a heuristic interpretative model. The first chapter gives a detailed analysis of this model, as well as a survey of the critical work done to date on Kharms and Starukha. In the second chapter the model is applied to study the different states of consciousness of the male protagonist. This is significant, because he is the "I" of the work, from whose point of view everything is being told. The third chapter takes a closer look at the reality of the world that exists independently of the consciousness of the protagonist. Physical objects can be said to bear - besides their everyday meaning - a hidden symbolic meaning. Similarly, the characters can be considered as representatives of everyday reality and otherworldliness. The fourth chapter deals with the narrative devices of Starukha. The problematics of the relation between fact and fiction plays an essential role in the story. Kharms's use of Ich-Erzählung and different tenses, which contributes to achieving a complicated elaboration of this kind of problematics, is examined in detail. The fifth chapter provides an intertextual reading of Starukha, based on its allusions to the Bible and the Christian tradition. As a result, the whole story can be seen as a kind of meditation on the Passion of Christ. The final chapter examines how the important Kharmsian concepts of the grotesque and the absurd manifest themselves in Starukha. The old woman represents in a grotesque way two opposite systems: the religious and the totalitarian. The absurdity of Starukha can be claimed to be illusory. Therefore, it is better to speak about paradoxicality. Starukha itself is a kind of paradox, in the sense that it tries to say something of the ultimate truth of reality, which inevitably remains ineffable.

Andegraund : Istorija i mify leningradskoj neoficial'noj literatury

The history of the Leningrad underground is one of the key themes of late socialism. Samizdat, "black humour", religious syncretism, dissidence, apolitical bohemianism, the pathos of freedom of individuality and the mechanics of literature are closely interlinked with the cultural mythology of this passed epoch. Describing conceptions that, when taken together, form the contemporary understanding of unofficial culture, the author creates a historical portrait of this environment. Amongst the central figures here, there are well-known writers (Bitov, Brodsky, Dovlatov, Khvostenko, Krivulin) and literary activists who still await recognition. The analysis of works, many of which were only distributed in typewritten publications in the 1960s-1980s, gives a preliminary definition of the key factors that united the authors of the unofficial community. The book begins with a critique of the identification of the Soviet underground with political dissidence or with a society living in autonomous independence with regard to the state. Describing the historical development of the various names for this environment (the underground, samizdat, unofficial culture, podpolie and others), the author follows the genesis of the community from its appearance, in the years of "the Thaw", through to perestroika, when it dissolved. Taking the history of the publication of Bitov's "The Pushkin House" as an example, the concept of the unofficial is interpreted as a risky interaction with the authorities. Unofficial culture is then viewed as a late Soviet reflection of the Western underground in the 1950s-1960s. Unlike the radical-utopian-anarchistic source, it proclaimed a liberalist and democratic ideology in the context of the destruction of the socialist utopia. The historical portrait of the community is built up from the perceptions of its members regarding literature practice and rhetorical approaches, with the aid of which these perceptions are expressed. Taking typewritten publications as source material, four main representations are given: privacy, deviancy, criticism and irrationality. An understanding of literature as a private affair, neo-avant-garde deviancy in social and literary behaviour and the pathos of the critical relationship with officialdom and irrational message of literary work, comprise the basis for the worldview of unofficial authors, as well as the poetic system, genre preferences and dictums. An analysis of irrationality, based on the texts of Khvostenko and Bogdanov, leads to a review of the cultural mythologies that were crucial to the unofficial conception of the absurd. Absurd is an homonym. It contains ideas that are important for the worldview of unofficial authors and the poetics of their works. The irrationality of the Soviet order is reflected in the documentary nature of the satirical prose of Dovlatov. The existential absurd of Camus is perceived here as the pointlessness of social realities and the ontological alienation of man, while existentialist practices for consciousness in the "atmosphere of absurd" remain bracketed off. The third homonym of absurd - the conception of reality as an illusion - is a clear demonstration of religious syncretism, where neo-Christian ideas are interweaved with a modernized version of Hinduism, as taken from Rolland s books on Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The unofficial community was influenced by the ideology of westernization. Even "the East" arrived here via French retellings and accounts. As a whole, unofficial Leningrad culture can be understood as a neo-modernist phenomenon which, unlike the western neo-modernism of the 1940s and 1950s, arose in the years of the Thaw and ended its existence in the mid-1980s.

Recipient v russkom razgovore : o raspredelenii funkcij mezhdu otvetami da, nu i tak

The study investigates actions by recipients in spontaneous Russian conversations by focusing on DA, NU and TAK, when they are used as responses to the main speaker's larger on-going turn. The database for the study consists of some 7 hours of spontaneous conversations. The participants of the conversations come from different parts of Russia. The use of DA, NU and TAK was analyzed by applying the method of ethnomethodological conversation analysis from the point of view of the type of the context, the sequential placement of the response and its manner of production. The particles were analyzed both in contexts in which they responded to an informing and in affective contexts. The particles NU and TAK were used by the speakers almost exclusively in informing contexts, whereas DA was the central response type in affective contexts. DA was also the most common response to information with affective implications. The information, to which the particle NU provided as response, was often unspesific and projected a spesification or explanation by its speaker as the next action. DA and TAK, by contrast, treated the information as one that could be followed and was sufficient in its local context. As a response to parenthetical information NU responded to information that was only loosely connected with the mainline of talk. The particle DA, by contrast, was used as a response to such parenthetical information, which was more crucial for the larger on-going activity. Only NU was used as a response that invited the main speaker to continue a turn that she or he had offered as possibly complete. NU was also used by the recipient after her or his own contribution as a continuer. In affective contexts, DA expressed, depending on its more spesific context, not only agreement but also other functions, such as giving up arguing or prior knowledge on the topic being discussed. In addition DA responses were used to display empathy and identification with the state of affairs expressed by the co-participant. NU, by contrast, was seldom used as a response to a turn that expressed affect. When it was used in affective contexts, it displayed agreement with the co-participant or just registered an assessment by her or him.

Ivanov-mistik : Okkul'tnye motivy v poèzii i proze Vjačeslava Ivanova (1907-1919)

The subject of this work is the mysticism of Russian poet, critic and philosopher Vjacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949). The approach adopted involves the textual and discourse analysis and findings of the history of ideas. The subject has been considered important because of Ivanov's visions of his dead wife, writer Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal, which were combined with audible messages ("automatic writings"). Several automatic writings and descriptions of the visions from Ivanov's archive collections in St.Petersburg and Moscow are presented in this work. Right after the beginning of his hallucinations in the autumn of 1907, Ivanov was totally captivated by the theosophical ideas of Anna Mintslova, the background figure for this work. Anna Mintslova, a disciple of Rudolf Steiner's Esoteric School, offered Ivanov the theosophical concept of initiation to interpret paranormal phenomena in his intimate life. The work is divided into three main chapters, an introduction and aconclusion. The first chapter is called The Mystical Person: Anthropology of Ivanov and describes the role of the inner "Higher Self" in Ivanov's views on the nature of human consciousness. The political implications of the concepts, "mystical anarchism" and "sobornost" (religious unity) are also examined. The acquaintance and contacts with Anna Mintslova during 1906-1907 gave a framework to Ivanov's search for an organic society and personal religious experience. The second part, Mystics of Initiation and Visionary Aesthetics describes the influence of the initiation concept on Ivanov's aesthetic views (mainly "realistic symbolism"). On the other hand, some connections between the imagery of his visions and symbols in his verses of that period are established. Since Mintslova represented the ideas of Rudolf Steiner in Russia, several symbols shared by Steiner and Ivanov ("rose", "rose and cross") have been another subject of investigation. The preference for strict verse form in the lyrics of Ivanov's visionary period is interpreted as an attempt to place his own poetic creation within two traditions, a mystical and literary one. The third part of this work, Mystics of Hope and Terror, examines Ivanov's conception of Russia in connection with Mintslova's ideas of occult danger from the East. Ivanov's view of the "Russian idea" and his nationalistic idea during World War I are considered as a representation of the fear of the danger. Ivanov's interpretation of the October revolution is influenced by the theosophical concept of the "keeper of the threshold" which occurs in the context of the discourse of occult danger.

Photoelastic parametric studies of mode I stress intensity factors

Results of photoelastic investigations on single edge-notch tension specimens of varying notch angle and crack length are reported. The experimental results of Mode I stress intensity factors are compared with analytical results.

Englanniksiko maailmanmaineeseen? : Suomalaisen proosakaunokirjallisuuden kääntäminen englanniksi Isossa-Britanniassa vuosina 1945 2003

This doctoral thesis focuses on the translation of Finnish prose literature into English in the United Kingdom between 1945 and 2003. The subject is approached using translation archaeology, interviews, archival material, detailed text analysis and reception material. The main theoretical framework is Descriptive Translation Studies, and certain sociological theories (Bourdieu s field theory, actor-network theory) are also used. After charting the published translations, two periods of time are selected for closer analysis: an earlier period from 1955 to 1959, involving eight translations, and a later one from 1990 to 2003, with a total of six translations. While these translation numbers may appear low, they are actually rather high in proportion to the total number of 28 one-author literary prose translations published in the UK over the approximately 60 years being studied. The two periods of time, the 1950s and 1990s, are compared in terms of the sociological context of translation activity, the reception of translations and their textual features. The comparisons show that the main changes in translation practice between these two periods are increased completeness (translations in the 1950s group often being shortened by hundreds of pages) and lesser use of indirect translation via an intermediary language (about half of the 1950s translations having been translated via Swedish). Otherwise, translation practices have not changed much: except for large omissions, which are far more frequent in the 1950s, variation within each group is larger than between groups. As to the sociological context, the main changes are an increase in long-term institution-level contacts and an increase in the promotion of foreign translation rights by Finnish publishing houses. This is in contrast to the 1950s when translation rights were mainly sold through personal contacts by individual authors and translators. The reception of translations is difficult to study because of scarce material. However, the 1950s translations were aggressively marketed and therefore obtained far more reviews and reprints than the 1990s translations. Several of the 1950s books, mostly historical novels by Mika Waltari, were mainstream bestsellers at the time, while current translations are frequently made for niche markets. The thesis introduces ample new material on the translation of Finnish prose literature into English in the UK. The results are also relevant to translation from a minority literature into a majority one. As to translation theory, they lead us to question the social nature of translation norms and the assumption of a static target culture. The translations analysed here are located in a very fragmented interculture and gain a stronger position in the Finnish culture than in the British one.

Isotonic designs for phase I trials

The purpose of a phase I trial in cancer is to determine the level (dose) of the treatment under study that has an acceptable level of adverse effects. Although substantial progress has recently been made in this area using parametric approaches, the method that is widely used is based on treating small cohorts of patients at escalating doses until the frequency of toxicities seen at a dose exceeds a predefined tolerable toxicity rate. This method is popular because of its simplicity and freedom from parametric assumptions. In this payer, we consider cases in which it is undesirable to assume a parametric dose-toxicity relationship. We propose a simple model-free approach by modifying the method that is in common use. The approach assumes toxicity is nondecreasing with dose and fits an isotonic regression to accumulated data. At any point in a trial, the dose given is that with estimated toxicity deemed closest to the maximum tolerable toxicity. Simulations indicate that this approach performs substantially better than the commonly used method and it compares favorably with other phase I designs.

Push-pull ethylenes: the structures of 3-(2-imidazolidinylidene)-2,4-pentanedione (I), C8H12N2O2, and 3-(1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinylidene)-2,4-pentanedione trihydrate (II), C10H16N2O2.3H2O

(I): Mr= 168, triclinic, P1, Z=2, a= 5.596 (2), b = 6.938 (3), c = 10.852 (4) A, ~t= 75.64 (3), fl= 93.44 (3), ),= 95.47 (3) °, V= 406.0A 3, Din= 1.35 (by flotation using carbon tetrachloride and n-hexane), D x= 1.374 Mg m -3, g(Mo Kct, 2 = 0.7107 A) = 1.08 cm -l, _F(000) = 180, T= 293 K. (II): Mr= 250, triclinic, P1, Z= 2, a = 7.731(2), b=8.580(2), c=11.033(3)A, a= 97-66 (2), fl= 98.86 (2), y= 101.78 (2) °, V= 697.5 A 3, D m = 1.18 (by flotation using KI solution), Dx= 1.190Mgm -3, g(MoKa, 2=0.7107A)= 1.02 cm -1, F(000) = 272, T= 293 K. Both structures were solved by direct methods and refined to R = 4.4% for 901 reflexions for (I) and 5.7% for 2001 reflexions for (II). The C=C bond distances are 1.451 (3) A in (I) and 1.468 (3)A in (II), quite significantly longer than the C=C bond in ethylene [1.336 (2).~; Bartell, Roth, Hollowell, Kuchitsu & Young (1965). J. Chem. Phys. 42, 2683-2686]. The twist angle about the C=C bond in (II) is 72.9 (5) ° but molecule (I) is essentially planar, the twist angle being only 4.9 (5) ° .

Synthesis and Reactions of Binuclear Diolefin Rhodium(I) Compounds bridged by Nitrogen Heterocycles, Crystal Structure of Dichloro-Di-1,5-Cyclooctadiene(Mu-Pyrazine)-Dirhodium(I) [[Rh(1,5-C8h12)Cl]2(Mu-C4h4n2)]

Binuclear complexes of rhodium(I) of the type [(dien)(X)Rh(μ-N-N)Rh(X)(dien)] (dien = 1,5-cyclooctadiene or norbornadiene; N-N = pyrazine, 4,4′-bipyridine or Phenazine and X = Cl or Br) with bridging heterocycles have been isolated and their reactions with carbon monoxide, 2,2′-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline investigated. The crystal structure of [(COD)(Cl)Rh(μ-pyrazine)Rh(Cl)(COD)] has been determined.

Analiz obraza ženščiny na osnove jazykovogo materiala ”Krest’janka” 1985, 1995 i 2005 gg.

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tutkia Venäjällä ilmestyvän ”Krest’janka”-lehden välittämää naiskuvaa. Tutkimukseen on valittu lehden vuosikerrat 1985, 1995 ja 2005, koska suuret muutokset Venäjällä ajoittuvat tälle aikavälille. Haluamme selvittää, miten naiskuva on muuttunut tänä aikana ja miten se välittyy lehden sivuilta. Tutkimukseemme olemme käyttäneet A.V. Kirilinan työssään käyttämiä metodeja. Keräsimme lehdistä kaikki verbilausekkeet, joiden subjektina on naista tarkoittava sana ja jaoimme ne luokkiin merkityksen mukaan. Jaottelun jälkeen analysoimme kerättyä aineistoa ja pyrimme löytämään kullekin vuosikerralle tyypillisiä verbilausekkeita. Tämän lisäksi keräsimme lehdistä kaikki naista kuvaavat adjektiivit ja vertailimme niiden käyttöä eri vuosina. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että vuoden 1985 lehdissä vaikuttaa vielä voimakkaasti sosialismin ihanteet. Nainen kuvataan työnsä kautta aktiivisena ja tavoitteensa ylittävänä kansalaisena. Yksityiselämään ei juuri kiinnitetä huomiota. Vuoden 1995 ja 2005 lehtien naiset ovat keskenään hyvinkin samanlaisia. Naisen elämästä puhutaan nyt jo laajemmin. Työn lisäksi yksityiselämä ja tunteet ovat keskeisiä aiheita. Kun 1985 lehdissä ei puhuttu naisesta negatiiviseen sävyyn, niin 1995 ja 2005 vuosien lehdissä naista kuvataan myös negatiivisessa valossa. Myös yhteiskunnan epäkohtiin kiinnitetään huomiota naisen näkökulmasta.

CLXXX. Vegetable Proteins. I. The Proteins of Dolichos Lab Lab

The field bean (Dolichos lab lab ; Tamil name, Mochai ; Kanarese, Avarai) is a legume which is widely cultivated in South India often as a mixed crop with cereals. The kernel of the seed enters into the diet of may South Indian households, and in the Mysore State the seed are used as a delicacy when they are green for over four months in the year. The haulm, husk and pods are commonly used a fodder. As the kernel which is widely used as an article of food and considered to be very nutritious, contains about 24% of protein hitherto uninvestigated and as the quality of protein plays an important role in nutrition, the present work was undertaken.