Using eSkel to Implement the Multiple Baseline Stereo Application

We give an overview of the Edinburgh Skeleton Library eSkel, a structured parallel programming library which offers a range of skeletal parallel programming constructs to the C/MPI programmer. Then we illustrate the efficacy of such a high level approach through an application of multiple baseline stereo. We describe the application and show different ways to introduce parallelism using algorithmic skeletons. Some performance results will be reported

Change, Principal Trust and Enabling School Structures: An Analysis of Relationships in Southern Alberta Schools

Improved student learning continues to be a pressing issue compelling schools and districts to undergo change. Schools are complex organizations and there are a number of interrelated factors that contribute to the success or failure of change into a new model. In Alberta, organizational change was mandated in 2003 through government acceptance of a Commission’s recommendation that all schools operate as a professional learning community. The context of mandated change provided a unique opportunity to examine large scale change with factors that may have a relationship to successful change. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship among three variables: (a) change into a professional learning community, (b) faculty trust in the principal, and (c) enabling school structures. Data collected through questionnaires was obtained from teachers of 45 schools in southern Alberta. The questionnaire contained a demographic data form and three previously developed instruments to measure the variables. Descriptive and correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship among the variables. The correlations among the variables were both strong and significant. It was concluded that schools imbued with high levels of trust in the principal were more successful in implementing change into a professional learning community, and more likely to possess enabling school structures. It was also concluded that schools perceived as having high levels of enabling bureaucratic structures were more successful in implementing change as a professional learning community. Overall, the variables of faculty trust in the principal and enabling school structures can be described as conditions related to successful change into a learning organization structure. The results have implications for educational stakeholders charged with instituting change in the context of reform. The conclusions implied that it is imperative for principals to recognize the importance of relationships and the foundation of trust, and attend to behaviors and processes required to build trust and relationships. There is a need for principals to understand the attributes of enabling bureaucracies and learning organizations in order to assess current capacity. Implications for system leaders include giving attention to leadership development, enabling structures at a system level, and modeling relational behaviors that foster trust

The elderly at home: A longitudinal study

The 20th century has been a major change in the age structure in most countries of the western world. Due to improved medical care the consequent decrease in mortality rates has resulted in and increase in the population in general, and in the aged in particular. The recent unprecedented interest in the health and welfare of the elderly at home is due in part to the realization that the medical and social care of elderly unfit people will continue to make ever-increasing demands on our resources of money, time and professional skill. The present work reports on a survey (1969-1971) and its follow-up three years later (1972-1974) of 300 elderly people aged sixty-five years and over, living in their own homes. It was intended that this investigation would complement and supplement information from previous studies; that this survey would provide details of the psychiatric tests and that the follow-up survey would indicate which characteristics of the subjects at first survey were associated with mortality within a three year period. Six general practices were chosen at random from two adjacent postal areas in Glasgow which were in socio-economic contrast to each other. From the lists maitained by the Executive Council, Glasgow of names and addresses of elderly National Health Service patients, a stratified random sample was drawn at three monthly intervals until 300 subjects had co-operated in the survey. Medical, psychiatric and social histories were taken during semi-structured interviews conducted by the author in the subjects own homes and complete physical examinations and assessments of nutritional intake status were made in the course of the parent survey by survey colleagues. The author's psychistric assessment of each of the 300 subjects was made in the consideration of all available data. This data was manually analysed. The semi-structured interview technique was used in the collection of data in the follow-up survey. The data from this part of the study was analysed by the assistance of a computer. The results suggested that there a high prevalence rate of conspicuous psychiatric illness in the elderly, with an increase in the prevalence of these diseases with increasing age. Those subjects mildly affected by organic brain syndrome were able to cope with their affairs whereas those moderately affected were in various stages of dependency. Severe intellectual impairment was rarely encountered since the accompanying deterioration in behavior is less tolerated by a household and more easily recognized by medical practitioners. Normative data are given for the performance scores on the psychometric tests of the Coloured Progressive Matrices (Raven 1965), the Mill Hill Vocabulary (Shprt Version) (Raven 1958) and a simple Memory and Information test. These data are displayed in quinquennial are groups. It was found that self-report inventories such as the Maudsley Personality Inventory require some adaptation in the wording for the elderly in order to avoid ambiguity in interpretation. Those subjects currently married at the time of interview provided information with regard to their attitudes to marriage, their sleeping arrangements and frequenciyes of coition. It was found at the follow-up that 194 subjects were available for re-interview at home and of these 1:1 (93%) were re-visited by the suthor. No difference in the proportion of those subjects surviving and those subjects not surviving after three years was found when allowing for age, sex, marital status, social class, the presence of inadequacies in dietary intake of calories acid, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and folate deficiency, but significant differences were found in the proportion of those subjects not surviving after three years when the following characteristics were considered: smoking habits, limitation of mobility, the presence of physical disability, arteriosclerotic, nervous systemic or psychiatric disease, and low sores on the short term and calculation items on the Memory and Information test. The common factor in these significant characteristics appears to be arteriosclerotic in origin. Family doctors are known to be aware of about 50 per cent of the psychiatric disorders in their elderly patients and very few of the milder cases receive any form of treatment or support, which means that elderly patients tend to be sent for specialist care only late in their illness with requests for in-patient care rather than curative treatment. This survey supports those findings. The fact that the health of the elderly person concerns not only the immediate circle of relations and close acquaintances but also the wider community has important consequences for our medical and social services. Lines of enquiry such as follow-up studies may provide some guidance in delineating the conditions under which the slow, subtle change from normality to abnormality takes place

A critique of the modus operandi of the congregationof the doctrine of the faith when investigating 'dissident' Catholics

The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith occupy the role of the judicial branch of the Catholic Church. Their function is to denounce and expel those whose teachings or actions threaten the faithful members of the Catholic Church. It is, of course, vital that an organisation should have the mechanism to protect itself from internal or external threat, but it is also vital that this mechanism is constantly reviewed to ensure that it is fit for purpose and has not become a malign force within the organisation. This dissertation aims to show, by reference to both the judicial praxis and the theological methodology utilised by the CDF when investigating dissident Catholics, that the CDF is indeed no longer fit for purpose and has a great potential to become a malign influence, by comparing their Investigative Process to the tenets of natural law as proposed by John Finnis as well as engaging in a theological critique of the documents that the CDF produced during their investigation of Professor Hans Kling. Special reference is also made to the cases of Fr Tony Flannery and Sr Elizabeth Johnson

High-Oleic Ground Beef, Exercise, and Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in Men and Postmenopausal Women

Sixty-six percent of the ground beef consumed in the U.S. contains 16-30 percent fat by weight, and at the retail level, ground beef fat varies widely with regards to saturated, monounsaturated and trans-fatty acid content. Through two independent studies the effect of fatty acid composition of ground beef on selected cardiovascular disease risk indicators was evaluated. In the first study, 27 free-living normocholesterolemic men completed a three-way crossover dietary intervention. Subjects consumed five, 114-g ground beef patties per week for 5 wk with intervening 4-wk washout periods. Patties contained 24 percent total fat with monounsaturated fatty acid:saturated fatty acid (MUFA:SFA) of either 0.71 (low-MUFA, pasture-fed), 0.83 (mid-MUFA, short-term corn-fed), or 1.10 (high-MUFA, long-term corn-fed). Blood was collected from each subject before and at the end of each diet period. Overall, the ground beef interventions decreased plasma insulin, HDL2, and HDL3 particle diameter and α-linolenic acid (18:2 (n-3)), and increased plasma arachidonic (20:4(n-6)). The greatest increase in HDL cholesterol from baseline (0.07 mmol/L) was after the high-MUFA ground beef intervention. An increase from baseline in LDL particle diameter (0.5 nm) occurred after the mid- and high-MUFA interventions.We concluded that low-MUFA ground beef from pasture/hay-fed cattle was no more “heart healthy” than high-MUFA ground beef from corn-fed cattle as judged by common clinical criteria. In the second study, 19 of 29 post menopausal women completed a two-way crossover design. Subjects consumed five, 114-g ground beef patties per week for 6 wk periods separated by a 4 wk washout period. The low-MUFA patties contained 19.4 percent fat with MUFA:SFA of 0.9. The high-MUFA patties contained 22.5 percent fat with a MUFA:SFA ratio of 1.3. In addition to patty consumption, the subjects completed a bout of exercise during the last week of each phase. Blood was taken before, each diet phase (24 hr before exercise) and 24 hr post exercise. Total cholesterol was increased by the high-MUFA patties with the most significant increase seen in HDL cholesterol, mainly HDL2b subfraction. Lipid-rich lipoprotein fractions were increased with the low-MUFA diet, but not by the high-MUFA diet. Very long chain fatty acids were depressed by low MUFA patty consumption. When unadjusted for plasma volume shifts (raw), exercise decreased triglycerides in all three phases. Raw VLDL cholesterol was reduced after exercise during the intervention phases. Raw RLP and IDL cholesterol were reduced after exercise during the high-MUFA intervention. HDL2b was reduced after exercise during the high-MUFA phase. LDL mean size increased and LDL mean density decreased after exercise during the low-MUFA intervention. HDL mean density increased after exercise during both ground beef interventions. The data indicate that high-oleic ground beef can reduce some cardiovascular disease risk factors and can be a part of a healthful diet. Exercise can have a beneficial impact on cardiovascular disease risk factors independent and in conjunction with ground beef consumption

Exposure of fibrinogen and thrombin to nitric oxide donor ProliNONOate affects fibrin clot properties

Fibrin fibers form the structural backbone of blood clots. The structural properties of fibrin clots are highly dependent on formation kinetics. Environmental factors such as protein concentration, pH, salt, and protein modification, to name a few, can affect fiber kinetics through altered fibrinopeptide release, monomer association, and/or lateral aggregation. The objective of our study was to determine the effect of thrombin and fibrinogen exposed to nitric oxide on fibrin clot properties. ProliNONOate (5 [mu]mol/l) was added to fibrinogen and thrombin before clot initiation and immediately following the addition of thrombin to the fibrinogen solution. Resulting fibrin fibers were probed with an atomic force microscope to determine their diameter and extensibility and fibrin clots were analyzed for clot density using confocal microscopy. Fiber diameters were also determined by confocal microscopy and the rate of clot formation was recorded using UV-vis spectrophotometry. Protein oxidation and S-nitrosation was determined by UV-vis, ELISA, and chemiluminescence. The addition of ProliNONOate to fibrinogen or thrombin resulted in a change in clot structure. ProliNONOate exposure produced clots with lower fiber density, thicker fibers, and increased time to maximum turbidity. The effect of the exposure of nitric oxide to thrombin and fibrinogen were measured independently and indicated that each plays a role in altering clot properties. We detected thrombin S-nitrosation and protein carbonyl formation after nitric oxide exposure. Our study reveals a regulation of fibrin clot properties by nitric oxide exposure and suggests a role of peroxynitrite in oxidative modifications of the proteins. These results relate nitric oxide bioavailability and oxidative stress to altered clot properties

Student voice in work integrated learning scholarship: a review of teacher education and geographical sciences

Work integrated learning is an umbrella term that refers to the opportunities provided to university students to integrate knowledge of theory and practice as part of their degree program. As the role of students in higher education is evolving, we sought to develop our understanding of the role of students in the work integrated learning (WIL) space through exploring current literature on student voice. In this paper, we consider what has been reported about WIL in relation to student voice, how it has been represented, and how this has influenced practice. We undertook a systematic literature review for two different disciplines, one which represented an example of a professionally accredited undergraduate degree program (teacher education), and the other an example of a program with no professional accreditation (geographical sciences). The teacher education literature demonstrated more clearly the use of student voice to inform WIL within curriculum design. However, the geographical sciences literature did include examples of student voice being incorporated within the design of collaborative community-based forms of WIL. A role for students as researchers, who lead research and initiate curriculum change into WIL, was noticeably absent in both disciplinary sets of literature. The lack of evidence of the inclusion of students in the design, conduct, and analysis of WIL provides an invitation for SoTL scholars to redefine the role of students in this space

Flexible Skeletal Programming with eSkel

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Health status of Medicare-enrolled autistic older adults with and without co-occurring intellectual disability: An analysis of inpatient and institutional outpatient medical claims

Little is known about the extent to which the healthcare needs of autistic older adults with intellectual disability differ from autistic older adults without intellectual disability. We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective cohort study of Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2017 to compare the prevalence of physical and mental health conditions among autistic older adults (age 65+ years) with intellectual disability (N=2054) to autistic older adults without intellectual disability (N=2631). Medicare claims data consisted of records from inpatient hospitalizations and institutional outpatient visits (i.e. visits to hospital outpatient departments, rural health clinics, renal dialysis facilities, outpatient rehabilitation facilities, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and community mental health centers). Examination of the largest between-group differences revealed that autistic older adults with intellectual disability had 350% greater odds of epilepsy (odds ratio=4.5, 95% confidence interval=3.9–5.2), 170% greater odds of osteoporosis (odds ratio=2.7, 95% confidence interval=2.3–3.2), and 100% greater odds of gastrointestinal conditions (odds ratio=2.0, 95% confidence interval = 1.8–2.2) but 80% lower odds of attention deficit disorders (odds ratio = 0.2, 95% confidence interval = 0.1–0.3), 70% lower odds of substance use disorders (odds ratio=0.3, 95% confidence interval=0.2–0.4), and 60% lower odds of suicidal ideation or intentional self-injury (odds ratio = 0.4, 95% confidence interval = 0.3–0.6). These findings highlight the importance of developing tailored health management strategies for the autistic older adult population as a function of intellectual disability status.Title page, Scientific abstract, Lay abstract, Manuscript, References, Tables, Supplemental Table