Stakeholder Experiences with Conceptual Modeling: An Empirical Investigation

During the design of an information system, a significant task that is sometimes undertaken is conceptual modeling. It involves designers building a representation called a conceptual schema that captures application domain features to be included in the information system. For five reasons, conceptual modeling has become increasingly important: (1) conceptual schemas help clarify different assumptions that stakeholders hold about the domain being modeled; (2) integrating conceptual schemas is critical to organizations effectively re-engineering their business processes; (3) the quality of conceptual schemas affects the quality of database schemas that can be generated automatically; (4) the quality of conceptual schemas affects the usability of databases; and (5) stakeholders working with distributed, heterogeneous databases cannot effectively transcend boundaries without high-quality conceptual schemas. While researchers have expended substantial effort on developing conceptual modeling methodologies, little empirical work has been done on stakeholder experiences with conceptual modeling. The meager results obtained suggest that organizations have found few benefits from conceptual modeling and that often it has fallen into disuse. Laboratory work indicates, however, that improved design outcomes occur when conceptual modeling is undertaken. For two reasons, we expect that stakeholders will experience problems with using conceptual modeling in practice. First, we believe that many designers approach conceptual modeling with a functionalist view of the world. We believe that a social relativist view more accurately describes how stakeholders conceive the world. Second, many conceptual modeling tools provide only incomplete representations of the application domain to be modeled. We are currently undertaking case-study research to document the conceptual modeling practices engaged in by a large public-sector organization. We are also seeking to identify the problems that stakeholders experi- ence when they participate in conceptual modeling exercises. Our goal is to provide a taxonomy of problems that the stakeholders face and ultimately to develop theory to account for why these problems occur

Considerations for the consumption of vitamin and mineral supplements in athlete populations

Vitamins and minerals are of fundamental importance to numerous human functions that are essential to optimise athlete performance. Athletes incur a high turnover of key vitamins and minerals and are therefore dependent on sufficient energy intake to replenish nutrient stores. However, many athletes are poor at servicing their energy replenishment needs, especially female athletes, and although a ‘food first approach’ to meeting nutrient requirements is the primary goal, it may be important for some athletes to consider a vitamin and/or mineral supplement to meet their daily needs. When working to determine if an athlete requires vitamin or mineral supplements, practitioners should use a robust framework to assess the overall energy requirements, current dietary practices and the biological and clinical status of their athletes. Of note, any supplementation plan should account for the various factors that may impact the efficacy of the approach (e.g. athlete sex, the nutrient recommended dietary intake, supplement dose/timing, co-consumption of other foods and any food–drug interactions). Importantly, there are numerous vitamins and minerals of key importance to athletes, each having specific relevance to certain situations (e.g. iron and B vitamins are significant contributors to haematological adaptation, calcium and vitamin D are important to bone health and folate is important in the female athlete); therefore, the appropriate supplement for a given situation should be carefully considered and consumed with the goal to augment an athlete’s diet

Type Ia Supernovae and Accretion Induced Collapse

Using the population synthesis binary evolution code StarTrack, we present theoretical rates and delay times of Type Ia supernovae arising from various formation channels. These channels include binaries in which the exploding white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass limit (DDS, SDS, and helium-rich donor scenario) as well as the sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario, in which a white dwarf accretes from a helium-rich companion and explodes as a SN Ia before reaching the Chandrasekhar mass limit. We find that using a common envelope parameterization employing energy balance with alpha=1 and lambda=1, the supernova rates per unit mass (born in stars) of sub-Chandrasekhar mass SNe Ia exceed those of all other progenitor channels at epochs t=0.7 - 4 Gyr for a burst of star formation at t=0. Additionally, the delay time distribution of the sub-Chandrasekhar model can be divided in to two distinct evolutionary channels: the `prompt' helium-star channel with delay times < 500 Myr, and the `delayed' double white dwarf channel with delay times > 800 Myr spanning up to a Hubble time. These findings are in agreement with recent observationally-derived delay time distributions which predict that a large number of SNe Ia have delay times < 1 Gyr, with a significant fraction having delay times < 500 Myr. We find that the DDS channel is also able to account for the observed rates of SNe Ia. However, detailed simulations of white dwarf mergers have shown that most of these mergers will not lead to SNe Ia but rather to the formation of a neutron star via accretion-induced collapse. If this is true, our standard population synthesis model predicts that the only progenitor channel which can account for the rates of SNe Ia is the sub-Chandrasekhar mass scenario, and none of the other progenitors considered can fully account for the observed rates.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, to appear in proceedings for "Binary Star Evolution: Mass Loss, Accretion and Mergers

NAT Gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease: identification of a novel NAT1 allelic variant

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease is multifactorial, having environmental, toxicological and genetic risk factors. Impaired folate and homocysteine metabolism has been hypothesised to increase risk. In addition to its xenobiotic-metabolising capacity, human arylamine N-acetyltransferase type-1 (NAT1) acetylates the folate catabolite para-aminobenzoylglutamate and is implicated in folate metabolism. The purpose of this study was to determine whether polymorphisms in the human NAT genes influence susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: Elderly individuals with and without Alzheimer's disease were genotyped at the polymorphic NAT1 (147 cases; 111 controls) and NAT2 (45 cases; 63 controls) loci by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, and the genotype and allele frequencies were compared using the chi-squared test. RESULTS: Although a trend towards fast NAT2 acetylator-associated Alzheimer's disease susceptibility was indicated and the NAT1*10/1*10 genotype was observed only in cases of Alzheimer's disease (6/147, 4.1%), no significant difference in the frequency of NAT2 (p = 0.835) or NAT1 (p = 0.371) genotypes was observed between cases and controls. In addition, a novel NAT1 variant, NAT1*11B, was identified. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that genetic polymorphisms in NAT1 and NAT2 do not influence susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease, although the increase in frequency of the NAT1*10 allele in Alzheimer's disease is worthy of further investigation. Due to its similarity with the NAT1*11A allele, NAT1*11B is likely to encode an enzyme with reduced NAT1 activity

Low vitamin D status is associated with impaired bone quality and increased risk of fracture-related hospitalization in older Australian women

The vitamin D debate relates in part to ideal public health population levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) to maintain bone structure and reduce fracture. In a secondary analysis of 1,348 women aged 70-85 years at baseline (1998) from the Perth Longitudinal Study of Aging in Women (PLSAW, a five-year calcium supplementation trial followed by two five-year extensions), we examined the dose-response relations of baseline plasma 25OHD with hip DXA BMD at year 1, lumbar spine BMD and trabecular bone score (TBS) at year 5, and fracture-related hospitalizations over 14.5 years obtained by health record linkage. Mean baseline plasma 25OHD was 66.9±28.2 nmol/L and 28.5%, 36.4% and 35.1% of women had levels50 nmol/L are a minimum public health target and 25OHD levels beyond 75 nmol/L may not have additional benefit to reduce fracture risk

Lower-limb injury in elite Australian football: A narrative review of kinanthropometric and physical risk factors

Objective This review aims to provide a succinct and critical analysis of the current physical and mechanical demands of elite Australian football while examining lower-limb injury and the associated physical and kinanthropometric risk factors. Methods MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science and SPORTSDiscus electronic databases were searched for studies that investigated the playing demands, injury trends, and physical and kinanthropometric injury risk factors of elite Australian football. Articles from similar team sports including soccer and rugby (union and league) were also included. Results While the physical demands of elite AF have steadied over the past decade, injury rates continue to rise with more than two-thirds of all injuries affecting the lower-limbs. Body composition and musculoskeletal morphological assessments are regularly adopted in many sporting settings with current research suggesting high and low body mass are both associated with heightened injury risk. However, more extensive investigations are required to determine whether the proportions of muscle and fat are linked. Repeated assessment of musculoskeletal morphology may also provide further insight into stress fracture rates. Conclusions While kinanthropometric and physical attributes are highly valued within elite sporting environments, establishing a deeper connection with injury may provide practitioners with more insight into current injury trends

Association between preseason training and performance in elite Australian football

Purpose: To examine the association between preseason training variables and subsequent in-season performance in an elite Australian football team. Methods: Data from 41 elite male Australian footballers (mean [SD] age = 23.4 [3.1] y, height =188.4 [7.1] cm, and mass = 86.7 [7.9] kg) were collected from 1 Australian Football League (AFL) club. Preseason training data (external load, internal load, fitness testing, and session participation) were collected across the 17-wk preseason phase (6 and 11 wk post-Christmas). Champion Data© Player Rank (CDPR), coaches’ ratings, and round 1 selection were used as in-season performance measures. CDPR and coaches’ ratings were examined over the entire season, first half of the season, and the first 4 games. Both Pearson and partial (controlling for AFL age) correlations were calculated to assess if any associations existed between preseason training variables and in-season performance measures. A median split was also employed to differentiate between higher- and lower-performing players for each performance measure. Results: Preseason training activities appeared to have almost no association with performance measured across the entire season and the first half of the season. However, many preseason training variables were significantly linked with performance measured across the first 4 games. Preseason training variables that were measured post-Christmas were the most strongly associated with in-season performance measures. Specifically, total on-field session rating of perceived exertion post-Christmas, a measurement of internal load, displayed the greatest association with performance. Conclusion: Late preseason training (especially on-field match-specific training) is associated with better performance in the early season

Timing is everything, but does it really matter? Impact of 8-weeks morning versus evening iron supplementation in ballet and contemporary dancers

The effectiveness of a morning versus evening oral iron supplement strategy to increase iron stores was explored. Ballet and contemporary dancers with serum ferritin (sFer) \u3c 50 g/L (n = 14), were supplemented daily with 105 mg elemental oral iron in either the morning (FeAM) or evening (FePM) for 8 weeks. A control group (n = 6) with sFer \u3e 50 g/L were given no supplement over the same period. Dancers’ sFer were measured at baseline and post-intervention. Assessment of daily training load, dietary intake, and menstruation were made. A significant interaction (p \u3c 0.001) showed the within group sFer change over the 8-week intervention in FeAM (+25.9 ± 10.5 g/L) and FePM, (+22.3 ± 13.6 g/L) was significantly different to CON (−30.17 ± 28.7 g/L; both p = 0.001). This change was not different between FeAM and FePM (p = 0.778). sFer levels within FeAM and FePM significantly increased over the 8-weeks; however, they significantly decreased in the CON group (all p \u3c 0.05). Post-intervention sFer levels were no longer different between the three groups (p \u3e 0.05). Training load, dietary intake, and number of menstrual cycles incurred were similar between FeAM and FePM (p \u3e 0.05). Oral iron supplementation in either the morning or evening appears equally effective in increasing sFer levels in dancers with sub-optimal iron status

Characterising lower-body musculoskeletal morphology and whole-body composition of elite female and male Australian Football players

Background: Physical demands and injury rates differ between elite female and male Australian Football (AF) players. To improve understanding of contributing physical factors to these differences, the purpose of this study was to investigate lower-body morphology and whole-body composition of elite footballers competing in the Australian Football League (AFL) and Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW). Methods: Lower-body morphology and whole-body composition of 23 AFL players and 23 AFLW players were assessed using peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography and Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry at the beginning of pre-season. Differences between cohorts, with sub-analyses of kicking vs. support limbs, and experienced vs. inexperienced player status were assessed using two-sample independent t-tests. Magnitude of differences were assessed using Cohen’s d effect sizes. Results: AFL players had greater absolute (p \u3c 0.001; ES = 3.28) and relative (p \u3c 0.001; ES = 2.29) whole body lean soft-tissue mass, with less absolute (p = 0.004; ES = 0.91) and relative (p \u3c 0.001; ES = 2.29) fat mass than AFLW players. For AFLW players, no significant differences existed between kicking and support limbs with few differences observed between experienced and inexperienced players. Conclusions: Greater emphasis on physical development in AFLW players may be required to enable increases in muscle mass and skeletal robustness, to ensure they can tolerate the loads of elite competition

Pre-season body composition has minimal influence on in-season match availability, and match performance in female Australian Football League (AFLW) players

This study examined the relationship between pre-season body composition, in-season match performance, and match availability in female players competing in the Australian Football League Women\u27s (AFLW) competition. With the outlawing of body composition assessments as part of pre-draft player evaluations in the AFLW, this study seeks to examine whether this is justified. Twenty-two (n = 22) players had body composition assessed with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at the beginning of the 2021 AFLW pre-season (whole-body and regional fat mass and lean soft-tissue mass [LSTM]). In-season match availability and match performance data (Coaches Score [CS], Champion Data Player Rank, average disposals, disposal and kicking efficiency) were collected throughout the 2021 competition. Pearson correlations were performed to assess if associations existed between body composition and in-season match performance and availability. A median split was performed to divide players into higher and lower performing groups for match performance variables. Two-sample independent t-tests were then used to assess differences between groups. No body composition characteristics could differentiate between in-season match availability groups (100 % availability vs. \u3c 100 % availability) or higher and lower performing groups for all match performance variables. Total leg LSTM asymmetry shared a moderate negative association with CS. Body composition may not be important for determining in-season match availability and performance in female AFLW players. Thus, the repercussions following the removal of pre-draft body composition assessments across the league may not be as significant as is currently perceived. Other physiological, biomechanical, or performance qualities are more variable and may mask the effect of body composition in these players. AFLW practitioners should prioritize the development of other important attributes, such as aerobic fitness, muscular strength and power, and technical skill