Introduction to the Special Issue

We are pleased to bring you the first of two special issues of Educational Considerations comprised of papers presented at the 2012 National Education Finance Conference in San Antonio, Texas

Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue of Educational Considerations presents a selection of papers from the inaugural National Education Finance Conference held in 2011

Introduction to the Special Issue

We are pleased to bring you the second of two special issues of Educational Considerations comprised of papers presented at the 2012 National Education Finance Conference in San Antonio, Texas

Characterizing rings in terms of the extent of injectivity and projectivity of their modules

Given a ring R, we define its right i-profile (resp. right p-profile) to be the collection of injectivity domains (resp. projectivity domains) of its right R-modules. We study the lattice theoretic properties of these profiles and consider ways in which properties of the profiles may determine the structure of rings and viceversa. We show that the i-profile is isomorphic to an interval of the lattice of linear filters of right ideals of R, and is therefore modular and coatomic. In particular, we give a practical characterization of the i-profile of a right artinian ring. We show through an example that the p-profile is not necessarily a set, and also characterize the right p-profile of a right perfect ring. The study of rings in terms of their (i- or p-)profile was inspired by the study of rings with no (i- or p-) middle class, initiated in recent papers by Er, L\'opez-Permouth and S\"okmez, and by Holston, L\'opez-Permouth and Orhan-Ertas. In this paper, we obtain further results about these rings and we also use our results to provide a characterization of a special class of QF-rings in which the injectivity and projectivity domains of any module coincide.Comment: 19 pages, examples and propositions added. Title change

Program transformations using temporal logic side conditions

This paper describes an approach to program optimisation based on transformations, where temporal logic is used to specify side conditions, and strategies are created which expand the repertoire of transformations and provide a suitable level of abstraction. We demonstrate the power of this approach by developing a set of optimisations using our transformation language and showing how the transformations can be converted into a form which makes it easier to apply them, while maintaining trust in the resulting optimising steps. The approach is illustrated through a transformational case study where we apply several optimisations to a small program

Limited antigenic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 supports the development of effective multi-allele vaccines

BackgroundPolymorphism in antigens is a common mechanism for immune evasion used by many important pathogens, and presents major challenges in vaccine development. In malaria, many key immune targets and vaccine candidates show substantial polymorphism. However, knowledge on antigenic diversity of key antigens, the impact of polymorphism on potential vaccine escape, and how sequence polymorphism relates to antigenic differences is very limited, yet crucial for vaccine development. Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is an important target of naturally-acquired antibodies in malaria immunity and a leading vaccine candidate. However, AMA1 has extensive allelic diversity with more than 60 polymorphic amino acid residues and more than 200 haplotypes in a single population. Therefore, AMA1 serves as an excellent model to assess antigenic diversity in malaria vaccine antigens and the feasibility of multi-allele vaccine approaches. While most previous research has focused on sequence diversity and antibody responses in laboratory animals, little has been done on the cross-reactivity of human antibodies.MethodsWe aimed to determine the extent of antigenic diversity of AMA1, defined by reactivity with human antibodies, and to aid the identification of specific alleles for potential inclusion in a multi-allele vaccine. We developed an approach using a multiple-antigen-competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to examine cross-reactivity of naturally-acquired antibodies in Papua New Guinea and Kenya, and related this to differences in AMA1 sequence.ResultsWe found that adults had greater cross-reactivity of antibodies than children, although the patterns of cross-reactivity to alleles were the same. Patterns of antibody cross-reactivity were very similar between populations (Papua New Guinea and Kenya), and over time. Further, our results show that antigenic diversity of AMA1 alleles is surprisingly restricted, despite extensive sequence polymorphism. Our findings suggest that a combination of three different alleles, if selected appropriately, may be sufficient to cover the majority of antigenic diversity in polymorphic AMA1 antigens. Antigenic properties were not strongly related to existing haplotype groupings based on sequence analysis.ConclusionsAntigenic diversity of AMA1 is limited and a vaccine including a small number of alleles might be sufficient for coverage against naturally-circulating strains, supporting a multi-allele approach for developing polymorphic antigens as malaria vaccines

Comparing major burnout measures: an analysis of predictive and incremental validity

Burnout is an increasingly prominent topic both in industrial and organizational psychology and the public discourse. While the concept of burnout is well known, studies on its temporal relationships are rare and debate remains as to how to best measure it. Frequently used to assess burnout, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has received criticism for its dimensions, item wording, and cost relative to other measures. In response, several burnout measures have been created, notably the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM), the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), and more recently the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT). The proposed research would be the first to examine the incremental and predictive validity of these four major burnout measures regarding person- and job-related predictors and outcomes. On the person-related side, anxiety, depression, stress, and subjective well-being are prominent correlates to the burnout construct. This research will also investigate the role of personal resources such as resilience, self-efficacy, and optimism. On the job-related side, job performance, satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job engagement will be examined. In the proposed study, 300 full-time workers will be recruited via Prolific to take the MBI, SMBM, CBI, and BAT at three time points, along with the person- and job-related variables above. Using a cross-lagged panel design, regressions will be calculated to analyze the temporal relationships between the personal and job-related predictors and outcomes with each burnout measure. Multiple regressions will be conducted to examine the predictive and incremental validities of the four measures as regards the predictors and outcomes. Pilot data suggests that among the four measures, the BAT aligns best with the burnout construct. Therefore, it is expected to have the strongest relationships with the predictors and outcomes. This research will allow for a comparison among burnout measures regarding meaningful person- and job-related variables. A major contribution of the proposed research comes from its longitudinal design, which will allow for causal inferences. Additionally, this study can offer insight into the directionality of the burnout-strain relationship. For researchers, adding temporal data to existing knowledge of burnout’s nomological network will provide guidance regarding whether conservation of resources, effort recovery, or other theoretical models best fit the way burnout unfolds. For practitioners, burnout prevention and intervention efforts can be developed, implemented, and evaluated based on a more comprehensive understanding of burnout and can therefore be more targeted and effective