A critical appraisal of WinEcon and its use in a first‐year undergraduate Economics programme

This is an extended review of WinEcon, a CAL package for introductory economics. Our comments are based on a survey of staff and students involved in the first large‐scale (n = 300+) attempt to integrate WinEcon into a teaching and assessment programme

Morphological and moisture availability controls of the leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio: Analysis of measurements on Australian trees

© 2015 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio (LA:SA) is a key plant trait that links photosynthesis to transpiration. The pipe model theory states that the sapwood cross-sectional area of a stem or branch at any point should scale isometrically with the area of leaves distal to that point. Optimization theory further suggests that LA:SA should decrease toward drier climates. Although acclimation of LA:SA to climate has been reported within species, much less is known about the scaling of this trait with climate among species. We compiled LA:SA measurements from 184 species of Australian evergreen angiosperm trees. The pipe model was broadly confirmed, based on measurements on branches and trunks of trees from one to 27 years old. Despite considerable scatter in LA:SA among species, quantile regression showed strong (0.2 < R1 < 0.65) positive relationships between two climatic moisture indices and the lowermost (5%) and uppermost (5-15%) quantiles of log LA:SA, suggesting that moisture availability constrains the envelope of minimum and maximum values of LA:SA typical for any given climate. Interspecific differences in plant hydraulic conductivity are probably responsible for the large scatter of values in the mid-quantile range and may be an important determinant of tree morphology. We compiled LA:SA measurements from 183 species of Australian evergreen angiosperm trees. The pipe model was broadly confirmed. LA:SA quantile regression showed positive relationships between two climatic moisture indices and the lowermost and uppermost quantiles

Persistent Homology Over Directed Acyclic Graphs

We define persistent homology groups over any set of spaces which have inclusions defined so that the corresponding directed graph between the spaces is acyclic, as well as along any subgraph of this directed graph. This method simultaneously generalizes standard persistent homology, zigzag persistence and multidimensional persistence to arbitrary directed acyclic graphs, and it also allows the study of more general families of topological spaces or point-cloud data. We give an algorithm to compute the persistent homology groups simultaneously for all subgraphs which contain a single source and a single sink in $O(n^4)$ arithmetic operations, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the graph. We then demonstrate as an application of these tools a method to overlay two distinct filtrations of the same underlying space, which allows us to detect the most significant barcodes using considerably fewer points than standard persistence.Comment: Revised versio

Rationale and design of the genotype-blinded trial of torasemide for the treatment of hypertension (BHF UMOD)

Background: There is evidence from genome wide association study that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5' end of the uromodulin gene (UMOD) affect uromodulin excretion and blood pressure (BP). Uromodulin is almost exclusively expressed in the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle (TAL) and its effect on BP appear to be mediated via the TAL sodium transporter, NKCC2. Loop-diuretics block NKCC2 but are not commonly used in hypertension management. As volume overload is considered as one of the primary drivers for uncontrolled hypertension, targeting loop-diuretics to individuals who are more likely to respond to this drug class, using UMOD genotype, could be an efficient precision medicine strategy. Methods: A genotype-blinded, multi-centre trial comparing the BP response to torasemide between individuals possessing the AA genotype of the SNP rs13333226 and those possessing the G allele. 240 participants with uncontrolled BP aged ≥18 years, on ≥1 antihypertensive agent for ≥3 months, will be included. Uncontrolled BP is average systolic BP (SBP) &gt;135mmHg and/or diastolic BP &gt;85mmHg on home monitoring. Torasemide, 5mg daily, is taken for 16 weeks. The primary outcome is the change in 24h ambulatory SBP area under the curve between baseline and end of treatment. Sample size was calculated to detect a 4mmHg difference between groups at 90% power. Approval by West of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 5 (16/WS/0160). Registration at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03354897. Results: The study should conclude August 2021. Conclusions: If hypothesis confirmed, a targeted strategy will improve BP control and could reduce the burden of uncontrolled hypertension

The development and application of bioinformatics core competencies to improve bioinformatics training and education

Bioinformatics is recognized as part of the essential knowledge base of numerous career paths in biomedical research and healthcare. However, there is little agreement in the field over what that knowledge entails or how best to provide it. These disagreements are compounded by the wide range of populations in need of bioinformatics training, with divergent prior backgrounds and intended application areas. The Curriculum Task Force of the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB) Education Committee has sought to provide a framework for training needs and curricula in terms of a set of bioinformatics core competencies that cut across many user personas and training programs. The initial competencies developed based on surveys of employers and training programs have since been refined through a multiyear process of community engagement. This report describes the current status of the competencies and presents a series of use cases illustrating how they are being applied in diverse training contexts. These use cases are intended to demonstrate how others can make use of the competencies and engage in the process of their continuing refinement and application. The report concludes with a consideration of remaining challenges and future plans

An appropriate tool for entrepreneurial learning in SMEs? The case of the 20Twenty Leadership Programme

The 20Twenty Leadership Programme was developed by Cardiff Metropolitan University as an executive education programme to be delivered within South Wales to small businesses. It is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and administered by the Welsh European Funding Office and has the key aim of developing SME’s growth potential via a range of leadership and management skills, including a focus on ‘soft’ skills. The focus of this paper is to place the 20Twenty Leadership Programme within the wider context of entrepreneurship policy and SME training initiatives in particular, and then to examine the rationale and delivery methods of the Programme in relation to these. It also reflects on the Programme’s success (or otherwise) to date where possible. Finally, the paper seeks to suggest fruitful areas of further research both in terms of the 20Twenty Leadership Programme itself, but also with regard to evaluation in relation to other parallel programmes, and to SME training initiatives more generally

Constructing female entrepreneurship policy in the UK : is the US a relevant benchmark?

Successive UK governments have introduced a range of policy initiatives designed to encourage more women to start new firms. Underpinning these policies has been an explicit ambition for the UK to achieve similar participation rates as those in the US where it is widely reported that women own nearly half the stock of businesses. The data underlying these objectives are critically evaluated and it is argued that the definitions and measures of female enterprise used in the UK and the US restrict meaningful comparisons between the two. It is suggested that the expansion of female entrepreneurship in the US is historically and culturally specific to that country. UK policy goals should reflect the national socioeconomic context, while drawing upon good practice examples from a range of other countries. The paper concludes by discussing the economic and social viability of encouraging more women in the UK to enter self-employment without fully recognising the intensely competitive sectors in which they are often located