A Build System for Benchmarking and Comparison of Competing System Implementations

When developing a hardware or software system, the problem at hand may lend itself to multiple solutions. During the implementation process for such systems, it can be helpful to prototype multiple versions that use distinct paradigms, and determine the efficiency of each according to some metric, such as execution time. This paper presents a portable, lightweight build system designed for easy benchmarking and verification of competing implementations of an algorithm. Also presented is a sample project that uses this system to compare the performance and correctness of CPU, GPU, and FPGA implementations of a signal recovery algorith

A cost-effectiveness analysis of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prophylaxis in infants in the United Kingdom /

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of respiratory infection that is highly prevalent in infants. Severe cases of RSV infection require hospitalisation; this is most likely to occur in infant populations at high risk. The study assesses the cost-effectiveness of palivizumab versus no prophylaxis in infants at high risk of hospitalisation with RSV in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: A decision tree model was developed to reflect the clinical pathway of infants at high risk of severe RSV infection who receive either prophylaxis with palivizumab or no prophylaxis. The main outcome was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the degree of uncertainty surrounding the results. A threshold analysis considered the impact of clinical and environmental risk factors on the cost-effectiveness in the subgroup of preterm infants 33-35 weeks gestational age (wGA). Results: Prophylaxis with palivizumab compared with no prophylaxis is associated with the following ICERs; £33,216 for infants with congenital heart disease; £19,168 for infants with chronic lung disease; £3,845 for preterm infants < 29 wGA; £30,205 for preterm infants 29-32 wGA; and £99,056 for preterm infants 33-35 wGA. One-way sensitivity analysis suggests that these results are highly sensitive to the input data. Threshold analysis in the preterm 33-35 wGA subgroup demonstrates that an adjusted RSV-hospitalisation baseline risk of 17.94% or higher would result in an ICER below the £30,000 per quality-adjusted life-year threshold. Discussion: Palivizumab is cost-effective compared to no prophylaxis in the United Kingdom in many of the subgroups considered, showing that palivizumab would be a cost-effective use of National Health Service resources

Area-level unemployment and perceived job insecurity: evidence from a longitudinal survey conducted in the Australian working-age population

Research significance: Job insecurity, the subjective individual anticipation of involuntary job loss, negatively affects employees&rsquo; health and their engagement. Although the relationship between job insecurity and health has been extensively studied, job insecurity as an &lsquo;exposure&rsquo; has received far less attention, with little known about the upstream determinants of job insecurity in particular. This research sought to identify the relationship between self-rated job insecurity and area-level unemployment using a longitudinal, nationally representative study of Australian households. Methods: Mixed-effect multi-level regression models were used to assess the relationship between area-based unemployment rates and self-reported job insecurity using data from a longitudinal, nationally representative survey running since 2001. Interaction terms were included to test the hypotheses that the relationship between area-level unemployment and job insecurity differed between occupational skill-level groups and by employment arrangement. Marginal effects were computed to visually depict differences in job insecurity across areas with different levels of unemployment. Results: Results indicated that areas with the lowest unemployment rates had significantly lower job insecurity (predicted value 2.74; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.71&ndash;2.78, P &lt; 0.001) than areas with higher unemployment (predicted value 2.81; 95% CI 2.79&ndash;2.84, P &lt; 0.001). There was a stronger relationship between area-level unemployment and job insecurity among precariously and fixed-term employed workers than permanent workers. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the independent influences of prevailing economic conditions, individual- and job-level factors on job insecurity. Persons working on a casual basis or on a fixed-term contract in areas with higher levels of unemployment are more susceptible to feelings of job insecurity than those working permanently

Sickness absence and psychosocial job quality: an analysis from a longitudinal survey of working Australians, 2005-2012

Sickness absence is associated with adverse health, organizational, and societal outcomes. Using data from a longitudinal cohort study of working Australians (the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey), we examined the relationship between changes in individuals' overall psychosocial job quality and variation in sickness absence. The outcome variables were paid sickness absence (yes/no) and number of days of paid sickness absence in the past year (2005-2012). The main exposure variable was psychosocial job quality, measured using a psychosocial job quality index (levels of job control, demands and complexity, insecurity, and perceptions of unfair pay). Analysis was conducted using longitudinal fixed-effects logistic regression models and negative binomial regression models. There was a dose-response relationship between the number of psychosocial job stressors reported by an individual and the odds of paid sickness absence (1 adversity: odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.45 (P = 0.002); 2 adversities: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.51 (P = 0.002); â‰13 adversities: OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.94 (P < 0.001)). The negative binomial regression models also indicated that respondents reported a greater number of days of sickness absence in response to worsening psychosocial job quality. These results suggest that workplace interventions aiming to improve the quality of work could help reduce sickness absence

Paired peers: Moving on up? Project Report

Paired Peers Phase 2 (August 2014 - July 2017)followed up Paired Peers: Class and the Student Experience, also funded by Leverhulme Trust, which ran from September 2010 to August 2013. This project followed a cohort of students from Bristol’s two universities through three years of their degree. The students were drawn from eleven different disciplines (which had to be taught at both universities) and were matched by class: for example, we recruited four Law students from each university, two we identified as working-class and two as middle-class

The rediscovery of the Great Winterberg endemic Lotononis harveyi B.–E.van Wyk after 147 years, and notes on the poorly known Amathole endemic Macowania revoluta Oliv. (southern Great Escarpment, South Africa)

South Africa’s 800 km-long southern Great Escarpment hosts numerous endemic plant species only known from their type specimens or from very few records. This is a legacy of a 100–150 year lag between the pioneer work of 19th century botanists and repeat fieldwork in the 21st century. As a result, population and ecological data are lacking for many local endemic species. Here we report on the rediscovery of Lotononis harveyi B.–E.van Wyk 147 years after its original description, and provide the first detailed ecological notes on the poorly known shrub Macowania revoluta Oliv. Both species are locally endemic to the Great Winterberg–Amatholes (Eastern Cape Province). With only six known individuals, L. harveyi is recommended the conservation status of Critically Endangered, with fire (and potentially grazing) being the main population constraints. Macowania revoluta is locally abundant, and it is surprising that it has been so poorly collected in recent decades. It occupies an important local niche as a keystone montane wetland species, and its narrow distribution range – combined with pressure from woody alien invasive species – suggests that its conservation status should be Rare. The research further highlights the need for continued biodiversity field research along South Africa’s poorly explored Great Escarpment.The research results were part of two post-graduate studies: a PhD (VRC) supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF, grant GUN 2069059), the South African Biosystematics Initiative (SABI, 2006–2009), the National Geographic Society (USA) Committee for Research and Exploration (grant 8521-08), Buk’Indalo Consultancy cc, a Dudley D’Ewes Scholarship from the Cape Tercentenary Foundation; and a M.Sc. (JB) also supported by the NRF (SABI grant 71072 and an NRF Masters bursary). This paper was constructed during a NRF Scarce Skills Post-doctoral Fellowship (VRC, 2014–2016.http://phytokeys.pensoft.netam2016Physiotherap

Mental health following acquisition of disability in adulthood-the impact of wealth

BACKGROUND: Acquisition of a disability in adulthood has been associated with a reduction in mental health. We tested the hypothesis that low wealth prior to disability acquisition is associated with a greater deterioration in mental health than for people with high wealth. METHODS: We assess whether level of wealth prior to disability acquisition modifies this association using 12 waves of data (2001-2012) from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey-a population-based cohort study of working-age Australians. Eligible participants reported at least two consecutive waves of disability preceded by at least two consecutive waves without disability (1977 participants, 13,518 observations). Fixed-effects linear regression was conducted with a product term between wealth prior to disability (in tertiles) and disability acquisition with the mental health component score of the SF-36 as the outcome. RESULTS: In models adjusted for time-varying confounders, there was evidence of negative effect measure modification by prior wealth of the association between disability acquisition and mental health (interaction term for lowest wealth tertile: -2.2 points, 95% CI -3.1 points, -1.2, p&lt;0.001); low wealth was associated with a greater decline in mental health following disability acquisition (-3.3 points, 95% CI -4.0, -2.5) than high wealth (-1.1 points, 95% CI -1.7, -0.5). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that low wealth prior to disability acquisition in adulthood results in a greater deterioration in mental health than among those with high wealth

Gauging U.S. Emergency Medical Services Workers' Willingness to Respond to Pandemic Influenza Using a Threat- and Efficacy-Based Assessment Framework

Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to report to duty in an influenza pandemic is essential to healthcare system surge amidst a global threat. Application of Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) has shown utility for revealing influences of perceived threat and efficacy on non-EMS public health providers' willingness to respond in an influenza pandemic. We thus propose using an EPPM-informed assessment of EMS workers' perspectives toward fulfilling their influenza pandemic response roles.We administered an EPPM-informed snapshot survey about attitudes and beliefs toward pandemic influenza response, to a nationally representative, stratified random sample of 1,537 U.S. EMS workers from May-June 2009 (overall response rate: 49%). Of the 586 respondents who met inclusion criteria (currently active EMS providers in primarily EMS response roles), 12% indicated they would not voluntarily report to duty in a pandemic influenza emergency if asked, 7% if required. A majority (52%) indicated their unwillingness to report to work if risk of disease transmission to family existed. Confidence in personal safety at work (OR = 3.3) and a high threat/high efficacy ("concerned and confident") EPPM profile (OR = 4.7) distinguished those who were more likely to voluntarily report to duty. Although 96% of EMS workers indicated that they would probably or definitely report to work if they were guaranteed a pandemic influenza vaccine, only 59% had received an influenza immunization in the preceding 12 months.EMS workers' response willingness gaps pose a substantial challenge to prehospital surge capacity in an influenza pandemic. "Concerned and confident" EMS workers are more than four times as likely to fulfill pandemic influenza response expectations. Confidence in workplace safety is a positively influential modifier of their response willingness. These findings can inform insights into interventions for enhancing EMS workers' willingness to respond in the face of a global infectious disease threat

Political strategies of external support for democratization

Political strategies of external support to democratization are contrasted and critically examined in respect of the United States and European Union. The analysis begins by defining its terms of reference and addresses the question of what it means to have a strategy. The account briefly notes the goals lying behind democratization support and their relationship with the wider foreign policy process, before considering what a successful strategy would look like and how that relates to the selection of candidates. The literature's attempts to identify strategy and its recommendations for better strategies are compared and assessed. Overall, the article argues that the question of political strategies of external support for democratization raises several distinct but related issues including the who?, what?, why?, and how? On one level, strategic choices can be expected to echo the comparative advantage of the "supporter." On a different level, the strategies cannot be divorced from the larger foreign policy framework. While it is correct to say that any sound strategy for support should be grounded in a theoretical understanding of democratization, the literature on strategies reveals something even more fundamental: divergent views about the nature of politics itself. The recommendations there certainly pinpoint weaknesses in the actual strategies of the United States and Europe but they have their own limitations too. In particular, in a world of increasing multi-level governance strategies for supporting democratization should go beyond preoccupation with just an "outside-in" approach