Gaining Insight into Transition and Progression of Students on the Autism Spectrum - DISCOVER a Transition Programme with a Difference

Autism is a neurodevelopment condition that is ‘characterised by qualitative impairments in social communication and social interaction across contexts and a repetitive or restricted pattern of interest, behaviour and activity’ (Lambe, 2019:1531). According to the autistic rights movement, ‘autistic people are not disconnected from the world around them, they are differently connected to it’ (Leveto, 2018 :3). Over the last number of years, there has been a move away from defining autism as a ‘disorder’ and towards redefining it as a ‘difference’ (Ring et al, 2018). In this paper, the terms ‘autism’ or ‘on the spectrum’ will be used. The Moving to Further and Higher Education Report (Guckin et al, 2013) recommended the development of targeted access initiatives to support the academic and social needs of students with a disability in transition and progressing through further education. Targeted orientation programmes are used to allow students from under-represented groups to meet other students, visit the campus, tour the library and get essential information that will support the student’s transition to higher education. Disability Support Services (DSS) are keenly aware of the importance of the transition from second-level education into third level education. Year on year there is an increase in the number of students with disabilities who are accessing third-level education. Students with disabilities now make up approximately 6.2% of the total student population (AHEAD, 2019). Since 2016, there has been a 25% increase in the number of students accessing higher education who are on the spectrum

Equivalent qubit dynamics under classical and quantum noise

We study the dynamics of quantum systems under classical and quantum noise, focusing on decoherence in qubit systems. Classical noise is described by a random process leading to a stochastic temporal evolution of a closed quantum system, whereas quantum noise originates from the coupling of the microscopic quantum system to its macroscopic environment. We derive deterministic master equations describing the average evolution of the quantum system under classical continuous-time Markovian noise and two sets of master equations under quantum noise. Strikingly, these three equations of motion are shown to be equivalent in the case of classical random telegraph noise and proper quantum environments. Hence fully quantum-mechanical models within the Born approximation can be mapped to a quantum system under classical noise. Furthermore, we apply the derived equations together with pulse optimization techniques to achieve high-fidelity one-qubit operations under random telegraph noise, and hence fight decoherence in these systems of great practical interest.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; converted to PRA format, added Fig. 2, corrected typo

Dynamics of silver elution from functionalised antimicrobial nanofiltration membranes

In an effort to mitigate biofouling on thin film composite membranes such as nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, a myriad of different surface modification strategies has been published. The use of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) has emerged as being particularly promising. Nevertheless, the stability of these surface modifications is still poorly understood, particularly under permeate flux conditions. Leaching or elution of Ag-NPs from the membrane surface can not only affect the antimicrobial characteristics of the membrane, but could also potentially present an environmental liability when applied in industrial-scale systems. This study sought to investigate the dynamics of silver elution and the bactericidal effect of an Ag-NP functionalised NF270 membrane. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy was used to show that the bulk of leached silver occurred at the start of experimental runs, and was found to be independent of salt or permeate conditions used. Cumulative amounts of leached silver did, however, stabilise following the initial release, and were shown to have maintained the biocidal characteristics of the modified membrane, as observed by a higher fraction of structurally damaged Pseudomonas fluorescens cells. These results highlight the need to comprehensively assess the time-dependent nature of bactericidal membranes

Clinical Risk Factors for Osteoporosis in Ireland and the UK: A Comparison of FRAX and QFractureScores

Recently two algorithms have become available to estimate the 10-year probability of fracture in patients suspected to have osteoporosis on the basis of clinical risk factors: the FRAX algorithm and QFractureScores algorithm (QFracture). The aim of this study was to compare the performance of these algorithms in a study of fracture patients and controls recruited from six centers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. A total of 246 postmenopausal women aged 50-85 years who had recently suffered a low-trauma fracture were enrolled and their characteristics were compared with 338 female controls who had never suffered a fracture. Femoral bone mineral density was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and fracture risk was calculated using the FRAX and QFracture algorithms. The FRAX algorithm yielded higher scores for fracture risk than the QFracture algorithm. Accordingly, the risk of major fracture in the overall study group was 9.5% for QFracture compared with 15.2% for FRAX. For hip fracture risk the values were 2.9% and 4.7%, respectively. The correlation between FRAX and QFracture was R = 0.803 for major fracture and R = 0.857 for hip fracture (P ≤ 0.0001). Both algorithms yielded high specificity but poor sensitivity for prediction of osteoporosis. We conclude that the FRAX and QFracture algorithms yield similar results in the estimation of fracture risk. Both of these tools could be of value in primary care to identify patients in the community at risk of osteoporosis and fragility fractures for further investigation and therapeutic intervention. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

A Constraint to Automatically Regulate Document-Length Normalisation

ABSTRACT Retrieval functions in information retrieval (IR) are fundamental to the effectiveness of search systems. However, considerable parameter tuning is often needed to increase the effectiveness of the retrieval. Document length normalisation is one such aspect that requires tuning on a per-query and per-collection basis for many retrieval functions. In this paper, we develop an approach that regularises the level of normalisation to apply on a per-query basis. We formally describe the interaction between query-terms and document length normalisation using a constraint. We then develop a general pre-retrieval approach to adapt a number of state-of-the-art ranking functions so that they adhere to the constraint. Finally, we empirically demonstrate that the adapted retrieval functions outperform default versions of the original retrieval functions, and perform at least comparably to tuned versions of the original functions, on a number of datasets. Essentially this regulates the normalisation parameter in a number of retrieval functions on a per-query basis in a principled manner

Assessment of a new undergraduate module in musculoskeletal medicine.

BACKGROUND: Despite the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders seen by primary care physicians, numerous studies have demonstrated deficiencies in the adequacy of musculoskeletal education at multiple stages of medical education. The aim of this study was to assess a newly developed module in musculoskeletal medicine for use at European undergraduate level (i.e., the medical-school level). METHODS: A two-week module in musculoskeletal medicine was designed to cover common musculoskeletal disorders that are typically seen in primary care. The module incorporated an integrated approach, including core lectures, bedside clinical examination, and demonstration of basic practical procedures. A previously validated examination in musculoskeletal medicine was used to assess the cognitive knowledge of ninety-two students on completion of the module. A historical control group (seventy-two students) from a prior course was used for comparison. RESULTS: The new module group (2009) performed significantly better than the historical (2006) control group in terms of score (62.3% versus 54.3%, respectively; p \u3c 0.001) and pass rate (38.4% versus 12.5%, respectively; p = 0.0002). In a subgroup analysis of the new module group, students who enrolled in the graduate entry program (an accelerated four-year curriculum consisting of students who have already completed an undergraduate university degree) were more likely to perform better in terms of average score (72.2% versus 57%, respectively; p \u3c 0.001) and pass rates (70.9% versus 21.4%, respectively; p \u3c 0.001) compared with students who had enrolled via the traditional undergraduate route. In terms of satisfaction rates, the new module group reported a significantly higher satisfaction rate than that reported by the historical control group (63% versus 15%, respectively; p \u3c 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the musculoskeletal module described in this paper represents an educational advance at undergraduate (i.e., medical-school) level as demonstrated by the improvement in scores in a validated examination. As pressure on medical curricula grows to accommodate advancing medical knowledge, it is important to continue to improve, assess, and consolidate the position of musculoskeletal medicine in contemporary medical education

Raman Spectral Variation for Human Fingernails of Postmenopausal Women is Dependent on Fracture Risk and Osteoporosis Status

Patients diagnosed with osteoporosis have reported loss of fingernail resilience as the disease progresses. Keratin is the predominant protein in human nail tissue, and its structure has been postulated to be different in fingernails clipped from subjects who have sustained fragility fractures and those who have not, which may offer a window into the donor\u27s bone health. This study was designed to qualify these differences, which may lead to the development of a novel screening tool for fracture risk. Raman spectroscopy was used to measure the fingernails of 633 postmenopausal women who presented at six fracture clinics located across the UK and Ireland. The Raman signals from donor\u27s fingernails were compared between (1) fracture and nonfracture and (2) osteoporotic versus non-osteoporotic donors The data presented show differences in the protein changes observed for pervasive osteoporosis compared to a general increased risk of fragility fracture. For fracture risk, compositional changes falling into broad classes of amino acid residue (aliphatic, aromatic, acidic, amide and sulphurous) were observed, while a difference in disulphide bonding levels was reaffirmed. For pervasive osteoporosis, the disulphide mode suggested increasing disorder in disulphide bonding orientation. Fractures were associated with a transition from alpha helical secondary structure to random, while the pervasive osteoporosis cases were associated with a transition to beta sheet structure. General fracture risk is associated with a change in the structure and composition of the keratin protein. Osteoporosis is associated with different protein structural changes and an increase in free acid groups. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Using alternatives to the car and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality

Abstract: Objective: To investigate the associations between using alternatives to the car which are more active for commuting and non-commuting purposes and morbidity and mortality Methods: We conducted a prospective study using 358799 participants aged 37-73 from UK Biobank. Commute and non-commute travel were assessed at baseline in 2006-2010. We classified participants according to whether they relied exclusively on the car, or used alternative modes of transport that were more active at least some of the time. Main outcome measures were incident CVD and cancer, and CVD, cancer and all-cause mortality. We excluded events in the first two years and conducted analyses separately for those who regularly commuted and those who did not. Results: In maximally-adjusted models, regular commuters with more active patterns of travel on the commute had a lower risk of incident (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.00) and fatal CVD (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.95). Those regular commuters who also had more active patterns of non-commute travel had an even lower risk of fatal CVD (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.85). Among those who were not regular commuters, more active patterns of travel were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86 to 0.99). Conclusions: More active patterns of travel are associated with a reduced risk of incident and fatal CVD and all-cause mortality in adults. This is an important message for clinicians advising people about how to be physically active and reduce their risk of disease.JP, DO, SB and SS are supported by the Medical Research Council (Unit Programme Nos MC_UU_12015/1, MC_UU_12015/3 and MC_UU_12015/6) and KW is also supported by the British Heart Foundation (Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship grant No FS/12/58/29709). AAL is funded by the NIHR (RP 014-04-032), and the Public Health Policy Evaluation Unit are grateful for the support of the NIHR School of Public Health Research. This research was conducted using the UK Biobank resource (application No 20684). The work was also supported under the auspices of the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Cambridge, for which funding from the British Heart Foundation, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged

An Analysis of Learned Proximity Functions

ABSTRACT A lot of recent work has shown that the proximity of terms can be exploited to improve the performance of information retrieval systems. We review a recent approach that uses an intuitive framework to incorporate proximity functions into vector based information retrieval systems. More importantly, we present several proximity functions that were learned within this framework and show that they adhere to previously developed constraints regarding the shape of a good proximity function. Finally, we include results of all of the learned functions on unseen test data that shows the consistency of the learning approach used