<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Basta,<div><br><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span>I very much appreciate that Owen fixed the searching so the Gompertz b1 can now search among negative values.</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span>Would it be possible to have an option to constrain a search so that it imposes a declining mortality function on the data (as the Siler does in the first part of the bathtub shape)? I realize the fit will be poor if it wasn't the model chosen by the MCMC, but it would interest me greatly to see what the life table looks like under a model requiring declining mortality.</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">        </span>Thank you!<br><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; ">        </span>Cliff Cunningham</div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> Professor</div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; ">        </span>Biology Department</div><div style="font-size: 12px; "> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; ">        </span>Duke University</div><div style="font-size: 12px; "> 130 Science Drive</div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; ">        </span>Durham NC 27708<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; ">        </span>Phone 919-660-7356<br></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><a href="http://www.biology.duke.edu/cunningham">http://www.biology.duke.edu/cunningham</a></div><div style="font-size: 12px; "><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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