Trauma Informed Community Building Evaluation: A Formative Evaluation of the TICB Model and its Implementation in Potrero Hill

This formative evaluation of the TICB model and its implementation in the PTA public housing community was conducted between September 2014 and July 2015 by an evaluation team from the HOPE SF Learning Center. This evaluation was designed to support the further development of the TICB model as well as inform efforts to implement the model in Potrero Terrace and Annex and other communities. This evaluation seeks to examine the implementation and impact of the TICB model at PTA in order to: * Understand the impact of ongoing TICB-informed programming through analysis of outputs and outcomes prioritized by stakeholder partners [see Appendix A]. * Identify facilitators and barriers to implementation of the TICB model in community-building work within PTA and the surrounding Potrero Hill neighborhood. * Inform BRIDGE Housing's work to improve programming, and guide future program priorities and structures. * Generate information to better understand the impact of the financial investment in helping to build community with and between public housing residents and residents of the surrounding neighborhood. * Assess implications for replicability/reproducibility at other public housing communities, including the additional HOPE SF sites, and beyond

Low Cost Vehicular Autonomy Using RADAR and GPS

This presentation describes a subset of the systems devised for this year\u27s autonomous golf cart senior design project. Our goal is to explore the possibilities of low cost autonomy using only radar and GPS for environmental sensing and navigation. Although autonomous and semi-autonomous ground vehicles are a relatively new reality, prototypes have been a subject of engineering research for decades, often utilizing an array of sensors and sensor fusion techniques. State of the art autonomous ground vehicle prototypes typically use a combination of LIDAR and other distance sensors (such as radar or sonar) as well as cameras and GPS, sometimes also including functionality for inter-vehicle connectivity. We believe that a low cost solution can be achieved using only radar and GPS. Such a system requires more creativity and robustness in software design, but would maintain the essential capabilities of self-localization, path navigation, and obstacle avoidance. Compared to the specified alternatives, GPS and radar are substantially cheaper to implement and still retain baseline navigational requirements. Additionally, these sensors do not necessitate specific lighting or visibility conditions to operate effectively, making them viable candidates for a wide variety of environmental situations. Our low cost autonomous ground vehicle project progressed significantly on these objectives during its first year. The team\u27s achievements include a robust data communication system spanning software and hardware needs, integrated peripheral sensors, and a system-wide interface methodology which simplifies the process of adding additional sensors / data acquisition units (such as LIDAR or computer vision)

Prelude to a Systematic Review of Activity-based Funding of Hospitals: Potential Effects on Cost, Quality, Access, Efficiency, and Equity

Until recently, hospital funding in Canada has been based predominantly on global budgets, but health care system decision-makers throughout the country are now seriously considering an alternative funding model referred to as activity-based funding (ABF). Under this system, hospital services are classified prospectively into clinically meaningful "bundles" of care that use similar levels of resources. Opinion is divided as to whether ABF would help the Canadian health care system to achieve any of the putative benefits originally achieved by ABF in other countries, or whether the risks would outweigh the benefits. As yet, there has been no systematic review of the evidence. In March 2012 our research team launched a systematic review to inform Canadian policy-makers about how this funding model affects health care systems around the world. Of the more than 16 000 potentially eligible titles and abstracts screened, 261 studies, representing 64 countries (either singly or in aggregate), provide data on at least one of the cost, quality, access, efficiency, and equity outcomes of interest to our research team. We are now in the process of analyzing data from the eligible studies most germane to the Canadian context. This commentary is intended to alert decision-makers to the upcoming release of a series of papers based on our systematic review of ABF, in the hope that our synthesis will soon provide a more robust evidence base to better inform decision-makers

Estimating Non-Point Source Nutrient Loading in the Qu’appelle and South Saskatchewan River Drainage Areas in the Canadian Prairies

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Prevalence of liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) in wild Red Deer (Cervus elaphus): coproantigen ELISA is a practicable alternative to faecal egg counting for surveillance in remote populations

Red deer (Cervus elaphus) are hosts of liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica); yet, prevalence is rarely quantified in wild populations. Testing fresh samples from remote regions by faecal examination (FE) can be logistically challenging; hence, we appraise frozen storage and the use of a coproantigen ELISA (cELISA) for F. hepatica surveillance. We also present cELISA surveillance data for red deer from the Highlands of Scotland. Diagnoses in faecal samples (207 frozen, 146 fresh) were compared using a cELISA and by FE. For each storage method (frozen or fresh), agreement between the two diagnostics was estimated at individual and population levels, where population prevalence was stratified into cohorts (e.g., by sampling location). To approximate sensitivity and specificity, 65 post-slaughter whole liver examinations were used as a reference. At the individual level, FE and cELISA diagnoses agreed moderately (κfrozen = 0.46; κfresh = 0.51), a likely reflection of their underlying principles. At the population level, FE and cELISA cohort prevalence correlated strongly (Pearson’s R = 0.89, p < 0.0001), reflecting good agreement on relative differences between cohort prevalence. In frozen samples, prevalence by cELISA exceeded FE overall (42.8% vs. 25.8%) and in 9/12 cohorts, alluding to differences in sensitivity; though, in fresh samples, no significant difference was found. In 959 deer tested by cELISA across the Scottish Highlands, infection prevalence ranged from 9.6% to 53% by sampling location. We highlight two key advantages of cELISA over FE: i) the ability to store samples long term (frozen) without apparent loss in diagnostic power; and ii) reduced labour and the ability to process large batches. Further evaluation of cELISA sensitivity in red deer, where a range of fluke burdens can be obtained, is desirable. In the interim, the cELISA is a practicable diagnostic for F. hepatica surveillance in red deer, and its application here has revealed considerable geographic, temporal, sex and age related differences in F. hepatica prevalence in wild Scottish Highland red deer

Fasciola hepatica infection in sheep: current and novel diagnostic tests

Fasciola hepatica infections cause morbidity and mortality in sheep and have a significant economic impact on farmers. The commonly used diagnostic tests; faecal egg count (FEC), anti-Fasciola antibody ELISA (AbELISA) and the biochemical assays (measuring GLDH and GGT) all have limitations, particularly in detection of pre-patent infections in sheep. A coproantigen ELISA (cELISA) is reported to detect low burdens of infection from 4 weeks post-challenge (wpc) and to only detect current infection. A faecal PCR has been used for early detection of infection, but is limited by inhibitory factors in faecal samples. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is more resistant to inhibitory factors and has the potential to be a pen-side assay. Triclabendazole (TCBZ) is the drug of choice to treat immature F. hepatica but there have been increasing reports of TCBZ treatment failure in the UK. Treatment outcome is determined using a FEC reduction test (FECRT). A cELISA reduction test (CRT) has recently been proposed. Within this thesis the cELISA, along with FEC, and where feasible the AbELISA and the use of GLDH and GGT concentrations, are evaluated in (1) an experimental challenge model in sheep, (2) individual naturally exposed sheep, in early infection, pre- and post-treatment situations, (3) groups of naturally exposed sheep, including composite samples, in pre- and post-treatment situations and evaluating the FECRT and CRT, lastly a LAMP assay is developed for the detection of F. hepatica, and evaluated against cELISA, FEC and PCR based detection. Two groups of 6 sheep were challenged with F. hepatica metacercarial cysts. In both studies, AbELISA was first to detect infection (3-4 weeks post-challenge (wpc)), followed by cELISA (3-10 wpc) and then FEC (9-10 wpc). Minor fluctuations were seen in both FEC and cELISA levels over both studies and a transient increase in cELISA levels was seen in the first study at 3-8 wpc. All animals were dosed with TCBZ 2 weeks prior to slaughter. The highest FECR was 37% and all sheep had live fluke present in their livers post-mortem. 27 lambs were sampled monthly between June and November with AbELISA, GLDH, GGT, FEC and cELISA tests performed. GLDH and GGT concentrations were above reference ranges from June. AbELISA detected infection in most animals by September and in all but one animal by November. FEC and cELISA both detected some very early positive results, most likely false-positive results, but the majority of animals became positive in November. Twelve lambs were followed to slaughter and all had low burdens of fluke (≤10). A cross-sectional study was conducted including 36 British farms, comprising 812 and 528 sheep pre- and post-treatment, respectively. Low FEC and cELISA results were seen, with better agreement between the two tests pre- than post-treatment. Disagreements between the two tests were more frequently seen where the FEC detected infection but the cELISA did not. This was true both before and after treatment. 80 animals from 2 Scottish farms were confirmed to be infected with liver fluke and given either a TCBZ or closantel treatment and followed for 56 days. A closantel treatment was given to animals that were still infected at 21 days post-treatment (dpt). The highest FECR and CR of the TCBZ-treated groups was 60.3% and 56.4%, respectively, and the lowest FECR and CR of the closantel-treated groups was 83.7% and 94.9%, respectively. A small proportion of closantel-treated animals maintained a low FEC following treatment. Both the FECRT and CRT indicated treatment outcome from 7 dpt. In a postal survey, 41 sample packs were sent to British farmers, of which 25 farmers participated. Samples from 44 and 36 groups were submitted pre- and post-treatment, respectively. Individual and composite faecal samples from each group were tested by FEC and cELISA. Group mean FECs were low and prevalence of infection on farms did not follow a normal distribution. The composite cELISA was more sensitive than the average cELISA, whilst the opposite was true for FEC. The composite cELISA was less sensitive than the composite FEC in low burden situations. A modified version of the composite CRT showed good agreement with the composite FECRT and appears promising in situations where burden was sufficiently high. A faecal LAMP assay, specific to F. hepatica, was developed and evaluated using samples from one of the groups of 6 experimentally challenged animals described above. FEC, cELISA and PCR testing were also performed and compared to the LAMP results. LAMP first detected infection at 3 wpc, followed by cELISA (7 wpc), FEC (10 wpc) and PCR (13 and 14 wpc). The studies within this thesis (1) confirm that cELISA can detect experimental infection of sheep with F. hepatica later than AbELISA but earlier than FEC, and confirm the TCBZ resistant status of a British isolate (Moredun isolate), (2) demonstrate that in animals naturally exposed to F. hepatica, the cELISA does not have an advantage of earlier detection over FEC and is not as sensitive as FEC in established infections (3) show that the modified CRT and composite CRT appear to give a good indication of treatment outcome from 7 dpt, but is of limited use in flocks with a low burden of infection, and (4) demonstrate that a faecal LAMP can detect F. hepatica infection at 3 wpc

The community structure of functional brain networks exhibits scale-specific patterns of inter- and intra-subject variability

The network organization of the human brain varies across individuals, changes with development and aging, and differs in disease. Discovering the major dimensions along which this variability is displayed remains a central goal of both neuroscience and clinical medicine. Such efforts can be usefully framed within the context of the brain\u27s modular network organization, which can be assessed quantitatively using computational techniques and extended for the purposes of multi-scale analysis, dimensionality reduction, and biomarker generation. Although the concept of modularity and its utility in describing brain network organization is clear, principled methods for comparing multi-scale communities across individuals and time are surprisingly lacking. Here, we present a method that uses multi-layer networks to simultaneously discover the modular structure of many subjects at once. This method builds upon the well-known multi-layer modularity maximization technique, and provides a viable and principled tool for studying differences in network communities across individuals and within individuals across time. We test this method on two datasets and identify consistent patterns of inter-subject community variability, demonstrating that this variability - which would be undetectable using past approaches - is associated with measures of cognitive performance. In general, the multi-layer, multi-subject framework proposed here represents an advance over current approaches by straighforwardly mapping community assignments across subjects and holds promise for future investigations of inter-subject community variation in clinical populations or as a result of task constraints