Development of the ASQoL: a quality of life instrument specific to ankylosing spondylitis

Background: Although disease-specific health status measures are available for ankylosing spondylitis (AS), no instrument exists for assessing quality of life (QoL) in the condition. Objective: To produce an AS-specific QoL measure that would be relevant and acceptable to respondents, valid, and reliable. Methods: The ASQoL employs the needs-based model of QoL and was developed in parallel in the UK and the Netherlands (NL). Content was derived from interviews with patients in each country. Face and content validity were assessed through patient field test interviews (UK and NL). A postal survey in the UK produced a more efficient version of the ASQoL, which was tested for scaling properties, reliability, internal consistency, and validity in a further postal survey in each country. Results: A 41 item questionnaire was derived from interview transcripts. Field testing interviews confirmed acceptability. Rasch analysis of data from the first survey (n=121) produced a 26 item questionnaire. Rasch analysis of data from the second survey (UK: n=164; NL: n=154) showed some item misfit, but showed that items formed a hierarchical order and were stable over time. Problematic items were removed giving an 18 item scale. Both language versions had excellent internal consistency (α=0.89–0.91), test-retest reliability (r(s)=0.92 UK and r(s)=0.91 NL), and validity. Conclusions: The ASQoL provides a valuable tool for assessing the impact of interventions for AS and for evaluating models of service delivery. It is well accepted by patients, taking about four minutes to complete, and has excellent scaling and psychometric properties

Ranking Templates for Linear Loops

We present a new method for the constraint-based synthesis of termination arguments for linear loop programs based on linear ranking templates. Linear ranking templates are parametrized, well-founded relations such that an assignment to the parameters gives rise to a ranking function. This approach generalizes existing methods and enables us to use templates for many different ranking functions with affine-linear components. We discuss templates for multiphase, piecewise, and lexicographic ranking functions. Because these ranking templates require both strict and non-strict inequalities, we use Motzkin's Transposition Theorem instead of Farkas Lemma to transform the generated $\exists\forall$-constraint into an $\exists$-constraint.Comment: TACAS 201

A higher order control volume based finite element method to prodict the deformation of heterogeneous materials

Materials with obvious internal structure can exhibit behaviour, under loading, that cannot be described by classical elasticity. It is therefore important to develop computational tools incorporating appropriate constitutive theories that can capture their unconventional behaviour. One such theory is micropolar elasticity. This paper presents a linear strain control volume finite element formulation incorporating micropolar elasticity. Verification results from a micropolar element patch test as well as convergence results for a stress concentration problem are included. The element will be shown to pass the patch test and also exhibit accuracy that is at least equivalent to its finite element counterpart

A Proposed Master of Social Work Based in Indigenous Knowledges Program in Manitoba

This article focuses on an innovative proposed Master of Social Work based in Indigenous Knowledges program developed by an Indigenous Caucus within the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba in Canada. This culturally based program intends to ground students with a solid foundation in traditional Indigenous teachings and perspectives, and contemporary Indigenous philosophies, knowledges, concepts, critiques, and ways of being that stem from these traditions. The proposed Master of Social Work based in Indigenous Knowledges was developed as a lived program that builds community and social supports, and reclaims and re-energizes a sense of self, responsibility, self-sufficiency, self-determination, and self-government. The program’s aim is to deconstruct oppressive and colonialist structures and reconstruct, in a contemporary sense, what has been previously destroyed. An overview of the visions, objectives, program design, foundational themes and description of courses is provided, along with reflections on what teachings its development has provided

Effect of New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract on Cycling Performance and Substrate Oxidation in Normobaric Hypoxia in Trained Cyclists

This study explored New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract for enhanced exercise-induced fat oxidation and 16.1 km cycling time trial (TT) performance in normobaric normoxia. The effect of NZBC extract on physiological and metabolic responses was examined during steady state cycling and a 16.1 km TT in normobaric hypoxia. This study used a randomized, double-blind, crossover design. Eleven healthy male cyclists (age: 38 ± 11 y, height: 179 ± 4 cm, body mass: 76 ± 8 kg, V ˙ O2max: 47 ± 5 mL·kg−1·min−1, mean ± SD) ingested NZBC extract (600 mg·day−1 CurraNZ® containing 210 mg anthocyanins) or a placebo (600 mg microcrystalline cellulose M102) for seven days (washout 14 days) and performed a steady state cycling test (3 × 10 min at 45%, 55% and 65% V ˙ O2max) followed by a 16.1 km TT at a simulated altitude of ~2500 meters (~15% of O2). Indirect calorimetry was used to measure substrate oxidation during steady state cycling. Intake of NZBC extract had no effect on blood glucose and lactate, heart rate, substrate oxidation, and respiratory exchange ratio during steady state cycling at 45%, 55% and 65% V ˙ O2max, and on 16.1 km TT performance (placebo: 1685 ± 92 s, NZBC extract: 1685 ± 99 s, P = 0.97). Seven days intake of New Zealand blackcurrant extract does not change exercise-induced metabolic responses and 16.1 km cycling time trial performance for moderately endurance-trained men in normobaric hypoxia

Directed polymers in high dimensions

We study directed polymers subject to a quenched random potential in d transversal dimensions. This system is closely related to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation of nonlinear stochastic growth. By a careful analysis of the perturbation theory we show that physical quantities develop singular behavior for d to 4. For example, the universal finite size amplitude of the free energy at the roughening transition is proportional to (4-d)^(1/2). This shows that the dimension d=4 plays a special role for this system and points towards d=4 as the upper critical dimension of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang problem.Comment: 37 pages REVTEX including 4 PostScript figure

Impact of densitized lapse slicings on evolutions of a wobbling black hole

We present long-term stable and second-order convergent evolutions of an excised wobbling black hole. Our results clearly demonstrate that the use of a densitized lapse function extends the lifetime of simulations dramatically. We also show the improvement in the stability of single static black holes when an algebraic densitized lapse condition is applied. In addition, we introduce a computationally inexpensive approach for tracking the location of the singularity suitable for mildly distorted black holes. The method is based on investigating the fall-off behavior and asymmetry of appropriate grid variables. This simple tracking method allows one to adjust the location of the excision region to follow the coordinate motion of the singularity.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Wave packet revivals and the energy eigenvalue spectrum of the quantum pendulum

The rigid pendulum, both as a classical and as a quantum problem, is an interesting system as it has the exactly soluble harmonic oscillator and the rigid rotor systems as limiting cases in the low- and high-energy limits respectively. The energy variation of the classical periodicity ($\tau$) is also dramatic, having the special limiting case of $\tau \to \infty$ at the 'top' of the classical motion (i.e. the separatrix.) We study the time-dependence of the quantum pendulum problem, focusing on the behavior of both the (approximate) classical periodicity and especially the quantum revival and superrevival times, as encoded in the energy eigenvalue spectrum of the system. We provide approximate expressions for the energy eigenvalues in both the small and large quantum number limits, up to 4th order in perturbation theory, comparing these to existing handbook expansions for the characteristic values of the related Mathieu equation, obtained by other methods. We then use these approximations to probe the classical periodicity, as well as to extract information on the quantum revival and superrevival times. We find that while both the classical and quantum periodicities increase monotonically as one approaches the 'top' in energy, from either above or below, the revival times decrease from their low- and high-energy values until very near the separatrix where they increase to a large, but finite value.Comment: 27 pages, 8 embedded .eps figures; to appear, Annals of Physic