The small business assistance dilemma: is the disparity between the offerings of support agencies and the needs of business irreconcilable?

There is a wide range of service providers who have varying motives for supplying assistance to small businesses in Australia. Despite the sizeable numbers of both suppliers and consumers of assistance it is believed that the marketplace for small business assistance operates inefficiently. This inefficiency is described as a disparity or misfit between the learning opportunities offered by service providers to small business and the learning needs of small business owner / operators. This paper provides an analysis of the learning activity that currently exists in the small enterprise sector. The role of communication in bringing supply and demand closer together is discussed and a proposition is developed to alleviate the learning disparity via a more proactive approach to communication by service providers. Two small enterprise projects are used to test the proposition. The findings provide guidance for the more effective functioning of organisations that serve and support small businesses

The construction and evaluation of a survey group test in elementary sight-singing

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University, 1949. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Regulation in Early Parkinson Disease

Importance: Sleep disturbances are recognized as a common nonmotor complaint in Parkinson disease but their etiology is poorly understood. Objective: To define the sleep and circadian phenotype of patients with early-stage Parkinson disease. Design, Setting, and Participants: Initial assessment of sleep characteristics in a large population-representative incident Parkinson disease cohort (N=239) at the University of Cambridge, England, followed by further comprehensive case-control sleep assessments in a subgroup of these patients (n=30) and matched controls (n=15). Main Outcomes and Measures: Sleep diagnoses and sleep architecture based on polysomnography studies, actigraphy assessment, and 24-hour analyses of serum cortisol, melatonin, and peripheral clock gene expression (Bmal1, Per2, and Rev-Erbα). Results: Subjective sleep complaints were present in almost half of newly diagnosed patients and correlated significantly with poorer quality of life. Patients with Parkinson disease exhibited increased sleep latency (P = .04), reduced sleep efficiency (P = .008), and reduced rapid eye movement sleep (P = .02). In addition, there was a sustained elevation of serum cortisol levels, reduced circulating melatonin levels, and altered Bmal1 expression in patients with Parkinson disease compared with controls. Conclusions and Relevance: Sleep dysfunction seen in early Parkinson disease may reflect a more fundamental pathology in the molecular clock underlying circadian rhythms

Estimating survival in patients with gastrointestinal cancers and brain metastases: An update of the graded prognostic assessment for gastrointestinal cancers (GI-GPA).

BackgroundPatients with gastrointestinal cancers and brain metastases (BM) represent a unique and heterogeneous population. Our group previously published the Diagnosis-Specific Graded Prognostic Assessment (DS-GPA) for patients with GI cancers (GI-GPA) (1985-2007, n = 209). The purpose of this study is to update the GI-GPA based on a larger contemporary database.MethodsAn IRB-approved consortium database analysis was performed using a multi-institutional (18), multi-national (3) cohort of 792 patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, with newly-diagnosed BM diagnosed between 1/1/2006 and 12/31/2017. Survival was measured from date of first treatment for BM. Multiple Cox regression was used to select and weight prognostic factors in proportion to their hazard ratios. These factors were incorporated into the updated GI-GPA.ResultsMedian survival (MS) varied widely by primary site and other prognostic factors. Four significant factors (KPS, age, extracranial metastases and number of BM) were used to formulate the updated GI-GPA. Overall MS for this cohort remains poor; 8 months. MS by GPA was 3, 7, 11 and 17 months for GPA 0-1, 1.5-2, 2.5-3.0 and 3.5-4.0, respectively. >30% present in the worst prognostic group (GI-GPA of ≤1.0).ConclusionsBrain metastases are not uncommon in GI cancer patients and MS varies widely among them. This updated GI-GPA index improves our ability to estimate survival for these patients and will be useful for therapy selection, end-of-life decision-making and stratification for future clinical trials. A user-friendly, free, on-line app to calculate the GPA score and estimate survival for an individual patient is available at brainmetgpa.com

An Invitation to Higher Gauge Theory

In this easy introduction to higher gauge theory, we describe parallel transport for particles and strings in terms of 2-connections on 2-bundles. Just as ordinary gauge theory involves a gauge group, this generalization involves a gauge '2-group'. We focus on 6 examples. First, every abelian Lie group gives a Lie 2-group; the case of U(1) yields the theory of U(1) gerbes, which play an important role in string theory and multisymplectic geometry. Second, every group representation gives a Lie 2-group; the representation of the Lorentz group on 4d Minkowski spacetime gives the Poincar\'e 2-group, which leads to a spin foam model for Minkowski spacetime. Third, taking the adjoint representation of any Lie group on its own Lie algebra gives a 'tangent 2-group', which serves as a gauge 2-group in 4d BF theory, which has topological gravity as a special case. Fourth, every Lie group has an 'inner automorphism 2-group', which serves as the gauge group in 4d BF theory with cosmological constant term. Fifth, every Lie group has an 'automorphism 2-group', which plays an important role in the theory of nonabelian gerbes. And sixth, every compact simple Lie group gives a 'string 2-group'. We also touch upon higher structures such as the 'gravity 3-group' and the Lie 3-superalgebra that governs 11-dimensional supergravity.Comment: 60 pages, based on lectures at the 2nd School and Workshop on Quantum Gravity and Quantum Geometry at the 2009 Corfu Summer Institut

Genome-wide association study using family-based cohorts identifies the WLS and CCDC170/ESR1 loci as associated with bone mineral density.

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a common and debilitating bone disease that is characterised by a low bone mineral density (BMD), a highly heritable trait. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proven to be very successful in identifying common genetic variants associated with BMD adjusted for age, gender and weight, however a large portion of the genetic variance for this trait remains unexplained. There is evidence to suggest significant genetic correlation between body size traits and BMD. It has also recently been suggested that unintended bias can be introduced as a result of adjusting a phenotype for a correlated trait. We performed a GWAS meta-analysis in two populations (total n = 6,696) using BMD data adjusted for only age and gender, in an attempt to identify genetic variants associated with BMD including those that may have potential pleiotropic effects on BMD and body size traits. RESULTS: We observed a single variant, rs2566752, associated with spine BMD at the genome-wide significance level in the meta-analysis (P = 3.36 × 10(-09)). Logistic regression analysis also revealed an association between rs2566752 and fracture rate in one of our study cohorts (P = 0.017, n = 5,654). This is an intronic variant located in the wntless Wnt ligand secretion mediator (WLS) gene (1p31.3), a known BMD locus which encodes an integral component of the Wnt ligand secretion pathway. Bioinformatics analyses of variants in moderate LD with rs2566752 produced strong evidence for a regulatory role for the variants rs72670452, rs17130567 and rs1430738. Expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis suggested that the variants rs12568456 and rs17130567 are associated with expression of the WLS gene in whole blood, cerebellum and temporal cortex brain tissue (P = 0.034-1.19 × 10(-23)). Gene-wide association testing using the VErsatile Gene-based Association Study 2 (VEGAS2) software revealed associations between the coiled-coil domain containing 170 (CCDC170) gene, located adjacent to the oestrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene, and BMD at the spine, femoral neck and total hip sites (P = 1.0 × 10(-06), 2.0 × 10(-06) and 2.0 × 10(-06) respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Genetic variation at the WLS and CCDC170/ESR1 loci were found to be significantly associated with BMD adjusted for only age and gender at the genome-wide level in this meta-analysis

Cognitive decline and quality of life in incident Parkinson's disease: The role of attention.

INTRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) is associated with poorer quality of life (QoL). Prior to the onset of PDD, many patients experience progressive cognitive impairment. There is a paucity of longitudinal studies investigating the effects of cognitive decline on QoL. This study aimed to determine the longitudinal impact of cognitive change on QoL in an incident PD cohort. METHODS: Recently diagnosed patients with PD (n = 212) completed a schedule of neuropsychological assessments and QoL measures; these were repeated after 18 (n = 190) and 36 months (n = 158). Mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) was classified with reference to the Movement Disorder Society criteria. Principal component analysis was used to reduce 10 neuropsychological tests to three cognitive factors: attention, memory/executive function, and global cognition. RESULTS: Baseline PD-MCI was a significant contributor to QoL (β = 0.2, p < 0.01). For those subjects (9%) who developed dementia, cognitive function had a much greater impact on QoL (β = 10.3, p < 0.05). Multivariate modelling showed attentional deficits had the strongest predictive power (β = -2.3, p < 0.01); brief global tests only modestly predicted decline in QoL (β = -0.4, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: PD-MCI was associated with poorer QoL over three years follow up. Cognitive impairment had a greater impact on QoL in individuals who developed dementia over follow-up. Impaired attention was a significant determinant of QoL in PD. Interventions which improve concentration and attention in those with PD could potentially improve QoL

A comparative framework: how broadly applicable is a 'rigorous' critical junctures framework?

The paper tests Hogan and Doyle's (2007, 2008) framework for examining critical junctures. This framework sought to incorporate the concept of ideational change in understanding critical junctures. Until its development, frameworks utilized in identifying critical junctures were subjective, seeking only to identify crisis, and subsequent policy changes, arguing that one invariably led to the other, as both occurred around the same time. Hogan and Doyle (2007, 2008) hypothesized ideational change as an intermediating variable in their framework, determining if, and when, a crisis leads to radical policy change. Here we test this framework on cases similar to, but different from, those employed in developing the exemplar. This will enable us determine whether the framework's relegation of ideational change to a condition of crisis holds, or, if ideational change has more importance than is ascribed to it by this framework. This will also enable us determined if the framework itself is robust, and fit for the purposes it was designed to perform — identifying the nature of policy change

Effects of Experimental Sarcocystis neurona

Sarcocystis neurona is the most common cause of Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM), affecting 0.5–1% horses in the United States during their lifetimes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the equine immune responses in an experimentally induced Sarcocystis neurona infection model. Neurologic parameters were recorded prior to and throughout the 70-day study by blinded investigators. Recombinant SnSAG1 ELISA for serum and CSF were used to confirm and track disease progression. All experimentally infected horses displayed neurologic signs after infection. Neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes from infected horses displayed significantly delayed apoptosis at some time points. Cell proliferation was significantly increased in S. neurona-infected horses when stimulated nonspecifically with PMA/I but significantly decreased when stimulated with S. neurona compared to controls. Collectively, our results suggest that horses experimentally infected with S. neurona manifest impaired antigen specific response to S. neurona, which could be a function of altered antigen presentation, lack of antigen recognition, or both

GASKAP -- The Galactic ASKAP Survey

A survey of the Milky Way disk and the Magellanic System at the wavelengths of the 21-cm atomic hydrogen (HI) line and three 18-cm lines of the OH molecule will be carried out with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. The survey will study the distribution of HI emission and absorption with unprecedented angular and velocity resolution, as well as molecular line thermal emission, absorption, and maser lines. The area to be covered includes the Galactic plane (|b|< 10deg) at all declinations south of delta = +40deg, spanning longitudes 167deg through 360deg to 79deg at b=0deg, plus the entire area of the Magellanic Stream and Clouds, a total of 13,020 square degrees. The brightness temperature sensitivity will be very good, typically sigma_T ~ 1 K at resolution 30arcsec and 1 km/s. The survey has a wide spectrum of scientific goals, from studies of galaxy evolution to star formation, with particular contributions to understanding stellar wind kinematics, the thermal phases of the interstellar medium, the interaction between gas in the disk and halo, and the dynamical and thermal states of gas at various positions along the Magellanic Stream.Comment: 45 pages, 8 figures, Pub. Astron. Soc. Australia (in press