When Learning Counts: Rethinking Licenses for School Leaders

Recommends restructuring state licensing systems to focus on the skills and knowledge leaders need to improve learning, and better aligning licenses with the current job demands on principals

Bayesian Optimization with Unknown Constraints

Recent work on Bayesian optimization has shown its effectiveness in global optimization of difficult black-box objective functions. Many real-world optimization problems of interest also have constraints which are unknown a priori. In this paper, we study Bayesian optimization for constrained problems in the general case that noise may be present in the constraint functions, and the objective and constraints may be evaluated independently. We provide motivating practical examples, and present a general framework to solve such problems. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on optimizing the performance of online latent Dirichlet allocation subject to topic sparsity constraints, tuning a neural network given test-time memory constraints, and optimizing Hamiltonian Monte Carlo to achieve maximal effectiveness in a fixed time, subject to passing standard convergence diagnostics.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Changes in the Spatial Allocation of Cropland in the Ft. Cobb Watershed as a Result of Environmental Restrictions

Pollution runoff estimates from SWAT are used in a mathematical programming model to optimally model site-specific crop and conservation practices for pollution abatement in the Ft. Cobb watershed in Southwestern Oklahoma. Results indicate the tradeoffs between producer income, sediment and nutrient runoff and the spatial allocation of crops in the watershed.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Vertebroplasty and Kyphoplasty Can Restore Normal Spine Mechanics following Osteoporotic Vertebral Fracture

Osteoporotic vertebral fractures often lead to pain and disability. They can be successfully treated, and possibly prevented, by injecting cement into the vertebral body, a procedure known as vertebroplasty. Kyphoplasty is similar, except that an inflatable balloon is used to restore vertebral body height before cement is injected. These techniques are growing rapidly in popularity, and a great deal of recent research, reviewed in this paper, has examined their ability to restore normal mechanical function to fractured vertebrae. Fracture reduces the height and stiffness of a vertebral body, causing the spine to assume a kyphotic deformity, and transferring load bearing to the neural arch. Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are equally able to restore vertebral stiffness, and restore load sharing towards normal values, although kyphoplasty is better at restoring vertebral body height. Future research should optimise these techniques to individual patients in order to maximise their beneficial effects, while minimising the problems of cement leakage and adjacent level fracture

Development and feasibility testing of an education program to improve knowledge and self-care among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients with heart failure

INTRODUCTION: There is a 70% higher age-adjusted incidence of heart failure (HF) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, three times more hospitalisations and twice as many deaths as among non-Aboriginal people. There is a need to develop holistic yet individualised approaches in accord with the values of Aboriginal community health care to support patient education and self-care. The aim of this study was to re-design an existing HF educational resource (Fluid Watchers-Pacific Rim) to be culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, working in collaboration with the local community, and to conduct feasibility testing.  METHODS: This study was conducted in two phases and utilised a mixed-methods approach (qualitative and quantitative). Phase 1 used action research methods to develop a culturally safe electronic resource to be provided to Aboriginal HF patients via a tablet computer. An HF expert panel adapted the existing resource to ensure it was evidence-based and contained appropriate language and images that reflects Aboriginal culture. A stakeholder group (which included Aboriginal workers and HF patients, as well as researchers and clinicians) then reviewed the resources, and changes were made accordingly. In Phase 2, the new resource was tested on a sample of Aboriginal HF patients to assess feasibility and acceptability. Patient knowledge, satisfaction and self-care behaviours were measured using a before and after design with validated questionnaires. As this was a pilot test to determine feasibility, no statistical comparisons were made.  RESULTS: Phase 1: Throughout the process of resource development, two main themes emerged from the stakeholder consultation. These were the importance of identity, meaning that it was important to ensure that the resource accurately reflected the local community, with the appropriate clothing, skin tone and voice. The resource was adapted to reflect this, and members of the local community voiced the recordings for the resource. The other theme was comprehension; images were important and all text was converted to the first person and used plain language. Phase 2: Five Aboriginal participants, mean age 61.6±10.0 years, with NYHA Class III and IV heart failure were enrolled. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction with the resource (83.0%). HF knowledge (percentage of correct responses) increased from 48.0±6.7% to 58.0±9.7%, a 20.8% increase, and results of the self-care index indicated that the biggest change was in patient confidence for self-care, with a 95% increase in confidence score (46.7±16.0 to 91.1±11.5). Changes in management and maintenance scores varied between patients.  CONCLUSIONS: By working in collaboration with HF experts, Aboriginal researchers and patients, a culturally safe HF resource has been developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Engaging Aboriginal researchers, capacity-building, and being responsive to local systems and structures enabled this pilot study to be successfully completed with the Aboriginal community and positive participant feedback demonstrated that the methodology used in this study was appropriate and acceptable; participants were able to engage with willingness and confidence

Cadmium exposure and cancer mortality in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cohort.

Objective This study examined prospective data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) cohort to investigate the relationship between cadmium exposure and cancer mortality, and the specific cancers associated with cadmium exposure, in the general population. Methods Vital status and cause of death through 31 December 2006 were obtained by the National Center for Health Statistics for NHANES III participants. The cadmium concentration of spot urine samples was measured and corrected for urine creatinine (uCd). Weighted Cox proportional hazards regression with age as the time metric was applied to estimate sex-specific adjusted HRs (aHRs) of mortality associated with uCd for all cancers and the cancers responsible for the most deaths in the USA. Estimates were stratified by smoking history and adjusted for education, body mass index and race. Results uCd was associated with cancer mortality (aHR per twofold higher uCd (95% CI), men: 1.26 (1.07 to 1.48); women: 1.21 (1.04 to 1.42)). In men, mortality from lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma was associated with uCd; an association with leukaemia mortality was suggested. In women, associations were suggested with mortality due to lung cancer, leukaemia, ovarian and uterine cancer, but evidence was weaker than in men. Conclusions Cadmium appears to be associated with overall cancer mortality in men and women, but the specific cancers associated differ between men and women, suggesting avenues for future research. Limitations of the study include the possibility of uncontrolled confounding by cigarette smoking or other factors, and the limited number of deaths due to some cancers