A new certificate for copositivity

In this article, we introduce a new method of certifying any copositive matrix to be copositive. This is done through the use of a theorem by Hadeler and the Farkas Lemma. For a given copositive matrix this certificate is constructed by solving finitely many linear systems, and can be subsequently checked by checking finitely many linear inequalities. In some cases, this certificate can be relatively small, even when the matrix generates an extreme ray of the copositive cone which is not positive semidefinite plus nonnegative. This certificate can also be used to generate the set of minimal zeros of a copositive matrix. In the final section of this paper we introduce a set of newly discovered extremal copositive matrices

Interwoven Curriculum Design for First Year Learning

The diverse range of pre-existing skills and knowledge that students bring to the first year of an architecture program is a challenge to pedagogical design. The traditional model for first year teaching at the University of Queensland was a series of short, stimulating projects and assignments offering an introductory smorgasbord of concepts, skills and techniques across a broad range of architectural issues. In 2004 a more integrated curriculum model was trialled that retained a breadth of skills and concepts, but sought to encourage a deeper engagement with the integrative design act by weaving project-work through developmental iterations across three different courses. The curriculum model sought to create conceptual linkages between design, theory, technology and communication courses in a manner that facilitated genuinely rich and reflective learning. The model adopted was not a singular, monolithically integrated project, but the sequenced weaving of students earlier design projects through successive modes of enquiry in three discrete courses, encouraging conceptual connection between the different sub-disciplinary paradigms. The inter-related curriculum required careful sequencing of project work across the year and clearly differentiated assessment criteria. Peter Skinner devised and taught the interrelated courses in 2004, and Clair Hughes evaluated the student experience through survey and focus group analysis in 2005. The evaluation probed five key learning objectives of the interwoven curriculum: - acquisition of broad and diverse skills, knowledge and understanding; - authentic engagement with, and ownership of, the processes of design; - participation in genuinely deep, rich and reflective modes of thinking and learning; - identification with the processes and values of the architectural profession; and - satisfaction from authentic accomplishment within the first year experience. Positive student response encourages the consideration of further development of this strategy of interwoven curricula in architectural education

Bioactive Peptide-Based Probes

A method for preparing a site-specific peptide probe, wherein the peptide is specific to a receptor, includes modifying a marker to include a tether molecule and covalently binding the tether molecule to the peptide. The present invention also provides a labeled probe, comprising a peptide specific for a receptor and a marker. The marker is modified to include a tether molecule capable of covalently binding to the peptide. The peptide is typically derived from a bacteriophage or is a synthetic analog or derivative of the peptide. The receptor will typically be found on a surface of a bacterial cell. The method and probe of the invention are suitable for a rapid assay for a bacteria in a complex mixture

Two Tales of Entrepreneurship: Barbados, Jamaica, and the 1973 Oil Price Shock

From 1961 to 2011, Barbados’s GDP per capita grew roughly two times faster than Jamaica’s. As a result, the income gap between Barbados and Jamaica is now more than three times larger than at the time of independence. Qualitative historical analysis, exploiting the interplay between public policy and entrepreneurship before and after the 1973 oil price shock, demonstrates that pro-entrepreneurial policies in Barbados versus anti-business policies in Jamaica explain in part the economic divergence of these two islands

Occupational stress, coping and wellbeing among registered psychologists working with people with intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

Objectives: To characterise the changes at work experienced by psychologists working with people with intellectual disabilities during the pandemic and whether these changes, stressors and aspects of working life were associated with mental wellbeing and occupational stress. Methods: Ninety-seven psychologists completed an online survey. Free text comments were analysed using thematic analysis and triangulated with our quantitative findings. Results: Occupational stress, learning new roles, demands at home, and changes due to COVID-19 were associated with poorer mental wellbeing, while uncertainty about the role, a shortage of personal protective equipment, and poorer mental wellbeing were associated with occupational stress. Two main themes emerged during the thematic analysis: being human and being an employee, and triangulation revealed agreement. Conclusions: The wellbeing and occupational stress of psychologists working with people with intellectual disabilities have been affected during the pandemic. It is of note that almost a quarter of our sample reported having been redeployed

Editorial: From Pedagogic Research to Embedded E-Learning

This Special Issue of Reflecting Education arises from the work of the PREEL project (From Pedagogic Research to Embedded e-Learning) at the Institute of Education from 2006-2008. This project was one of nine HEA/JISC (Higher Education Academy and Joint Information Systems Committee) Pilot Pathfinder Projects and followed on from our involvement in the Pilot Benchmarking of e-Learning Programme. In the benchmarking exercise we identified a lack of coordination between research and practice in e-learning at the IoE as one of our crucial weaknesses, and so our Pilot Pathfinder project concentrated on this theme of building links between e-learning research and practice

Evaluation of RGM Medium for Isolation of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria from Respiratory Samples from Patients with Cystic Fibrosis in the United States

ABSTRACT A novel selective agar (RGM medium) has been advocated for the isolation of rapidly growing mycobacteria from the sputa of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The aim of this study was to compare RGM medium to Burkholderia cepacia selective agar (BCSA) and a standard acid-fast bacillus (AFB) culture method for the isolation of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from patients with CF. The applicability of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for the identification of NTM isolated on RGM medium was also assessed. Respiratory samples ( n = 869) were collected from 487 CF patients and inoculated directly onto RGM medium and BCSA. Cultures were incubated at 30°C and examined for up to 28 days. A subset of 212 samples (from 172 patients) was also cultured by using a mycobacterial growth indicator tube (MGIT) and on Lowenstein-Jensen medium following dual decontamination. By using a combination of all methods, 98 mycobacteria were isolated from 869 samples (11.3%). The sensitivity of RGM medium (96.9%) was significantly higher than that of BCSA (35.7%) for the isolation of mycobacteria ( P < 0.0001). The sensitivity of RGM medium was also superior to that of standard AFB culture for the isolation of mycobacteria (92.2% versus 47.1%; P < 0.0001). MALDI-TOF MS was effective for the identification of mycobacteria in RGM medium. RGM medium offers a simple and highly effective tool for the isolation of NTM from patients with CF. Extended incubation of RGM medium for 28 days facilitates the isolation of slow-growing species, including members of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAVC)

Tailored health care for chronic disease in primary care: minimising the risks and maximising the benefits - An application of policy simulation

The policy of interest is Diabetes Coordinated Care Initiative (DCCI) and DCC Pilot (DCCP). The DCC policy and pilot are intended to improve care for patients whose outcomes, as a group, are suboptimal under mainstream primary care financing (MBS). There is uncertainty as to: how many and which GPs and patients will enrol; the expected benefit to enrolled patients; and potential risks for unenrolled patients. A literature review can inform decision makers about the value of the relevant parameters prior to policy implementation, but gaps in evidence remain. How can these gaps be identified? When do they matter? How can risk management strategies be put in place even if the value of parameters is unknown? Policy simulation is a tool that complements Evidence-Based Medicine. It provides strategies to identify "the known unknowns" and the "what ifs" of policy. Its starting point is: in the absence of evidence, what are we implicitly assuming; does it matter what we assume; and if it does matter, what are the options available to minimise any risks associated with the "known unknowns".The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy

Childhood adversity subtypes and depressive symptoms in early and late adolescence

depressive symptoms between 14 and 17 years of age. The cohort was classified into four empirically determined adversity subtypes for two age periods in childhood (0–5 and 6–11 years). One subtype reflects normative/optimal family environments (n ¼ 692, 69%), while the other three subtypes reflect differential suboptimal family environments (aberrant parenting: n ¼ 71, 7%; discordant: n ¼ 185, 18%; and hazardous: n ¼ 57, 6%). Parent-rated child temperament at 14 years and adolescent self-reported recent negative life events in early and late adolescence were included in models implementing path analysis. There were gender-differentiated associations between childhood adversity subtypes and adolescent depressive symptoms. The discordant and hazardous subtypes were associated with elevated depressive symptoms in both genders but the aberrant parenting subtype only so in girls. Across adolescence the associations between early childhood adversity and depressive symptoms diminished for boys but remained for girls. Emotional temperament was also associated with depressive symptoms in both genders, while proximal negative life events related to depressive symptoms in girls only. There may be neurodevelopmental factors that emerge in adolescence that reduce depressogenic symptoms in boys but increase such formation in girls.This is the final published version. It was originally published by CUP in Development and Psychopathology here: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9308912&fileId=S0954579414000625

Childhood adversity subtypes and depressive symptoms in early and late adolescence.

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Cambridge University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579414000625Within a longitudinal study of 1,005 adolescents, we investigated how exposure to childhood psychosocial adversities was associated with the emergence of depressive symptoms between 14 and 17 years of age. The cohort was classified into four empirically determined adversity subtypes for two age periods in childhood (0-5 and 6-11 years). One subtype reflects normative/optimal family environments (n = 692, 69%), while the other three subtypes reflect differential suboptimal family environments (aberrant parenting: n = 71, 7%; discordant: n = 185, 18%; and hazardous: n = 57, 6%). Parent-rated child temperament at 14 years and adolescent self-reported recent negative life events in early and late adolescence were included in models implementing path analysis. There were gender-differentiated associations between childhood adversity subtypes and adolescent depressive symptoms. The discordant and hazardous subtypes were associated with elevated depressive symptoms in both genders but the aberrant parenting subtype only so in girls. Across adolescence the associations between early childhood adversity and depressive symptoms diminished for boys but remained for girls. Emotional temperament was also associated with depressive symptoms in both genders, while proximal negative life events related to depressive symptoms in girls only. There may be neurodevelopmental factors that emerge in adolescence that reduce depressogenic symptoms in boys but increase such formation in girls.This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust programme grant (Grant 74296) for the ROOTS data collection, and the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC; Grant RNAG/186) for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for data analysis and manuscript preparation. The second author's (T.C.) contribution was partially supported by a Department of Health Career Scientist Award (Public Mental Health). We thank Matthew Owens, Rosie Abbott, Paul Wilkinson, and Jenny Gibson for informative discussions and suggestions throughout manuscript preparation