Report on using the GPPS to assess trends in EQ-5D scores for people with long-term conditions

Background: Estimating the extent to which NHS services are contributing to improving the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people with long-term conditions is an important (if challenging) objective. Its importance is reflected in domain 2 of the NHS Outcomes Framework. Understanding whether this goal is being achieved requires methods which help the interpretation of the role of services on observed trends in HRQoL. Controlling for the influence of external factors, such as the severity of the underlying condition – or ‘need’ – on quality of life, is particularly crucial because NHS and care activity levels increase with need-related factors (NRFs), but otherwise NRFs are strongly associated with worse HRQoL. Failing to control for NRFs makes it therefore very difficult to interpret observed changes in quality of life, and in particular to appraise the role that NHS and care services might play in improving the well-being of people with long-term conditions. This report aims to develop a methodology which is easy to implement and which standardises for changes in NRFs when investigating changes through time in the HRQoL of people with long-term conditions

Prediction of Ship Unsteady Maneuvering in Calm Water by a Fully Nonlinear Ship Motion Model

This is the continuation of our research on development of a fully nonlinear, dynamically consistent, numerical ship motion model (DiSSEL). In this study we will report our results in predicting ship motions in unsteady maneuvering in calm water. During the unsteady maneuvering, both the rudder angle, and ship forward speed vary with time. Therefore, not only surge, sway, and yaw motions occur, but roll, pitch and heave motions will also occur even in calm water as heel, trim, and sinkage, respectively. When the rudder angles and ship forward speed vary rapidly with time, the six degrees-of-freedom ship motions and their interactions become strong. To accurately predict the six degrees-of-freedom ship motions in unsteady maneuvering, a universal method for arbitrary ship hull requires physics-based fully-nonlinear models for ship motion and for rudder forces and moments. The numerical simulations will be benchmarked by experimental data of the Pre-Contract DDG51 design and an Experimental Hull Form. The benchmarking shows a good agreement between numerical simulations by the enhancement DiSSEL and experimental data. No empirical parameterization is used, except for the influence of the propeller slipstream on the rudder, which is included using a flow acceleration factor

Hydra-Multi: Collaborative Online Construction of 3D Scene Graphs with Multi-Robot Teams

3D scene graphs have recently emerged as an expressive high-level map representation that describes a 3D environment as a layered graph where nodes represent spatial concepts at multiple levels of abstraction (e.g., objects, rooms, buildings) and edges represent relations between concepts (e.g., inclusion, adjacency). This paper describes Hydra-Multi, the first multi-robot spatial perception system capable of constructing a multi-robot 3D scene graph online from sensor data collected by robots in a team. In particular, we develop a centralized system capable of constructing a joint 3D scene graph by taking incremental inputs from multiple robots, effectively finding the relative transforms between the robots' frames, and incorporating loop closure detections to correctly reconcile the scene graph nodes from different robots. We evaluate Hydra-Multi on simulated and real scenarios and show it is able to reconstruct accurate 3D scene graphs online. We also demonstrate Hydra-Multi's capability of supporting heterogeneous teams by fusing different map representations built by robots with different sensor suites.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Kinesin-II is required for axonal transport of choline acetyltransferase in Drosophila

KLP64D and KLP68D are members of the kinesin-II family of proteins in Drosophila. Immunostaining for KLP68D and ribonucleic acid in situ hybridization for KLP64D demonstrated their preferential expression in cholinergic neurons. KLP68D was also found to accumulate in cholinergic neurons in axonal obstructions caused by the loss of kinesin light chain. Mutations in the KLP64D gene cause uncoordinated sluggish movement and death, and reduce transport of choline acetyltransferase from cell bodies to the synapse. The inviability of KLP64D mutations can be rescued by expression of mammalian KIF3A. Together, these data suggest that kinesin-II is required for the axonal transport of a soluble enzyme, choline acetyltransferase. in a specific subset of neurons in Drosophila. Furthermore, the data lead to the conclusion that the cargo transport requirements of different classes of neurons may lead to upregulation of specific pathways of axonal transport

Strengths-based Programming for First Nations Youth in Schools: Building Engagement Through Healthy Relationships and Leadership Skills

FirstNationsyouthinCanadademonstratedisproportionatelyhighratesofnegative behaviors such as violence, substance abuse, and leaving school early. An understanding of historical context and current environment helps explain these patterns. Providing culturally relevant opportunities for youth to build healthy relationships and leadership skills has the potential to increase youth engagement. Over the past four years our multidisciplinary team of researchers, educators, program developers, and community leaders have worked together to develop a number of school-based initiatives that focus on increasing youth engagement through building on strengths and the promotion of healthy relationships. Specific strategies include peer mentoring, a credit-based academic course, and transition conferences for grade 8 students. This article describes these initiatives and some of the early successes and challenges we have faced in the design and implementation of them. Preliminary evidence is presented to support the contention that these initiatives increase youth engagement

Study of Vocational-technical Computer-aided Drafting Programs in Oklahoma Vocational-technical Schools During 1988-1989

Trade and Industrial Educatio

Estimating Costs and Benefits Associated with Evidence-Based Violence Prevention: Four case studies based on the Fourth R program

Teen violence in dating and peer relationships has huge costs to society in numerous areas including health care, social services, the workforce and the justice system. Physical, psychological, and sexual abuse have long-lasting ramifications for the perpetrators as well as the victims, and for the families involved on both sides of that equation. An effective violence prevention program that is part of a school’s curriculum is beneficial not only for teaching teenagers what is appropriate behaviour in a relationship, but also for helping them break the cycle of violence which may have begun at home with their own maltreatment as children. The Fourth R program is an efficacious violence prevention program that was developed in Ontario and has been implemented in schools throughout Canada and the U.S. Covering relationship dynamics common to dating violence as well as substance abuse, peer violence and unsafe sex, the program can be adapted to different cultures and to same-sex relationships. The program, which gets its name from the traditional 3Rs — reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic — offers schools the opportunity to provide effective programming for teens to reduce the likelihood of them using relationship for violence as they move into adulthood. The federal government has estimated that the societal costs of relationship violence amount to more than $7 billion. These costs can continue to be incurred through the legal and health-care systems as the ripple effects of violence play out over the years, even after a relationship has ended. Other types of violence are also costly to society and not just in terms of dollars, but in young lives diverted into criminal activity. Up to 15 per cent of youth who become involved with the justice system grow into serious adult offenders who develop lengthy criminal careers. Yet, research shows that if prevention programs such as the Fourth R can deter just one 14-year-old high-risk juvenile from a life of crime, up to$5 million can be saved in costs to society

Does an Evidence-Based Healthy Relationships Program for 9th Graders Show Similar Effects for 7th and 8th Graders? Results from 57 Schools Randomized to Intervention

Integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) programming throughout curricula to support the development of healthy behaviors and prevent violence is critical for a comprehensive approach to school health. This study used a post-test comparison design to evaluate a healthy relationships program for eighth grade students that applies a SEL approach. The program was adapted from the Fourth R, an evidence-based program for ninth graders, but matches the curriculum and developmental context for eighth graders. Surveys were collected post-intervention from 1012 students within 57 schools randomized to intervention or control conditions. Multivariate multilevel analysis accounted for the nested nature of students within schools. There were significant group differences on three of four outcomes following intervention, including improved knowledge about violence, critical thinking around the impact of violence, and identification of more successful coping strategies. There was no group difference on general acceptance of violence. Overall, students learned relevant information and strategies and were able to apply that knowledge to demonstrate critical thinking, suggesting that adapting an evidence-based approach for use with younger students provided similar benefits. These findings build a case for 2 years of consecutive evidence-based healthy relationships programming in grades 8 and 9, consistent with best practice guidelines

Functional cis-regulatory modules encoded by mouse-specific endogenous retrovirus

Cis-regulatory modules contain multiple transcription factor (TF)-binding sites and integrate the effects of each TF to control gene expression in specific cellular contexts. Transposable elements (TEs) are uniquely equipped to deposit their regulatory sequences across a genome, which could also contain cis-regulatory modules that coordinate the control of multiple genes with the same regulatory logic. We provide the first evidence of mouse-specific TEs that encode a module of TF-binding sites in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). The majority (77%) of the individual TEs tested exhibited enhancer activity in mouse ESCs. By mutating individual TF-binding sites within the TE, we identified a module of TF-binding motifs that cooperatively enhanced gene expression. Interestingly, we also observed the same motif module in the in silico constructed ancestral TE that also acted cooperatively to enhance gene expression. Our results suggest that ancestral TE insertions might have brought in cis-regulatory modules into the mouse genome

Variationally Mimetic Operator Networks

In recent years operator networks have emerged as promising deep learning tools for approximating the solution to partial differential equations (PDEs). These networks map input functions that describe material properties, forcing functions and boundary data to the solution of a PDE. This work describes a new architecture for operator networks that mimics the form of the numerical solution obtained from an approximate variational or weak formulation of the problem. The application of these ideas to a generic elliptic PDE leads to a variationally mimetic operator network (VarMiON). Like the conventional Deep Operator Network (DeepONet) the VarMiON is also composed of a sub-network that constructs the basis functions for the output and another that constructs the coefficients for these basis functions. However, in contrast to the DeepONet, the architecture of these sub-networks in the VarMiON is precisely determined. An analysis of the error in the VarMiON solution reveals that it contains contributions from the error in the training data, the training error, the quadrature error in sampling input and output functions, and a "covering error" that measures the distance between the test input functions and the nearest functions in the training dataset. It also depends on the stability constants for the exact solution operator and its VarMiON approximation. The application of the VarMiON to a canonical elliptic PDE and a nonlinear PDE reveals that for approximately the same number of network parameters, on average the VarMiON incurs smaller errors than a standard DeepONet and a recently proposed multiple-input operator network (MIONet). Further, its performance is more robust to variations in input functions, the techniques used to sample the input and output functions, the techniques used to construct the basis functions, and the number of input functions.Comment: 49 pages, 18 figures, 1 Appendi