cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Decannulation of Tracheostomy Tubes in Children and the Role of Polysomnogram in Predicting the Presence of Sleep Apnea
Creators: name: Platt, Jody Marie
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Pediatrics
subject: Tracheostomy
subject: Decannulation
subject: Polysomnography
subject: Medicine and Surgery

description: Tracheostomy tubes in children with complex respiratory conditions may eventually be removed. There is variation in practice among pediatric care teams including the use of polysomnography (PSG). This work reviewed global practices of tracheostomy decannulation and described local practice and outcomes. A scoping review was completed using PRISMA guidelines. Data were extracted from 52 articles and fit to the Donabedian Framework for quality assessment including: structure, process and outcome. Decannulations were done at tertiary care centers (51/52, 98%), but articles often lacked information about health care structure like multi-disciplinary care (only 4/52, 8% with information). Airway endoscopy was the most common investigation before decannulation (43/52, 83%) and PSG testing was reported as completed (27/52, 52%) in half of the studies. When Pulmonary physicians were involved, PSG was commonly included (14/23, 61%). Outcomes focused on decannulation success (43/52, 83%), and success was higher when PSG was done. While different approaches exist, common themes emerged. Original tracheostomy indication and the subspecialties of doctors involved may impact decannulation process including PSG use and outcomes considered. A descriptive study was performed using the database from the Complex Airway Clinic (CAC) in Calgary, Alberta and supplemented with electronic medical record data. The approach to decannulation was described and fifty-two children were identified with upper airway obstruction (UAO) (18/52, 35%), upper airway obstruction and craniofacial syndrome (UAO/SYN) (13/52, 25%), long-term ventilation (LTV) (12/52, 23%), and temporary (TEMP) (9/52, 17%). Details of structure, process and outcomes per the Donabedian Framework were abstracted from the medical records. Children attended the multi-disciplinary CAC and most children without a TEMP tracheostomy tube attended the Otolaryngology / Respirology Combined Clinic for decannulation planning (39/43, 91%). Most children without a temporary tracheostomy had a functional airway assessment (FAA) (31/43, 72%). Children with UAO/SYN (7/13, 54%) and LTV (7/12, 58%) had a PSG before decannulation. Decannulation was successful for 51 of 52 children (98%). There were 7 children with a completed PSG before and after decannulation and there was a moderate agreement (k=0.46) observed in obstructive sleep apnea severity between the studies. Further studies with a prospective multi-center design are required to determine the usefulness of pre-decannulation PSG to inform risk of tracheostomy decannulation including residual obstructive sleep apnea. The indication for tracheostomy tube insertion may help to determine the optimal approach to tracheostomy decannulation and protocol development.
Static Anisotropic Solutions in f(T) Theory
Creators: name: Daouda, M. Hamani
name: Rodrigues, Manuel E.
name: Houndjo, M. J. S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: General Physics (physics.gen-ph)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In a previously work, we undertook a static and anisotropic content in $f(T)$ theory and obtained new spherically symmetric solutions considering a constant torsion and some particular conditions for the pressure. In this paper, still in the framework of $f(T)$ theory, new spherically symmetric solutions are obtained, first considering the general case of an isotropic fluid and later the anisotropic content case in which the generalized conditions for the matter content are considered such that the energy density, the radial and tangential pressures depend on the algebraic $f(T)$ and its derivative $f_{T}(T)$. Moreover, we obtain the algebraic function $f(T)$ through the reconstruction method for two cases and also study a polytropic model for the stellar structure.
description: 23 pages, Published in Euro. Phys. J. C
Effects of interspecific competition on recruitment processes for rainbow trout in simple two fish-species lakes
Creators: name: Van Poorten, Brett Theodore
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: This thesis explores how competition and predation by coexisting fish species affect recruitment (number of hatched larvae recruiting into the population). The study is primarily based on field manipulations on a series of eight lakes found in two parallel watersheds, each with two species of fish: rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, referred to as trout) and northern pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus oregonensis, referred to as pikeminnow). Different lakes had adults of one species or the other depleted to observe how recruitment changed in response. However, earlier research discovered that pikeminnow populations ontogenetically move between lakes so that each watershed was a single treatment rather than individual lakes. The lakes were followed for up to eight years to examine how interspecific interactions affect survival of hatched trout and resultant recruitment into each lake. My first objective was to estimate variation in growth and consumption of each population over the course of the study. I first evaluated estimates of growth and consumption provided by a new bioenergetics model, called the general bioenergetics model and compared them with estimates from the most commonly used bioenergetics model for fish called the Wisconsin model. Estimates of growth were improved over that from the Wisconsin model, although estimates of consumption were similar between models. I then adapted the general bioenergetics model to permit net consumption rate, to vary over time and across populations. Results showed that growth was quite variable over time for trout, and less so for pikeminnow. Growth responses did not appear to be related to density manipulations. My second objective was to incorporate estimated growth into a length-based age-structured mark recapture model, which estimates density and recruitment for each species and population. Although recruitment appeared to respond to depletion of the same species, manipulation of the other species did not appear to have a noticeable impact. My final objective was to develop a multi-species recruitment model to see how competition and predation across species would impact larval survival. Results were inconclusive, but generated useful hypotheses regarding the strength of competitive and predatory impacts in this particular study system.
Production and evolution of Li, Be and B isotopes in the Galaxy
Creators: name: Prantzos, N.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We reassess the problem of the production and evolution of the light elements Li, Be and B and of their isotopes in the Milky Way, in the light of new observational and theoretical developments. The main novelty is the introduction of a new scheme for the origin of Galactic cosmic rays (GCR), which for the first time enables a self-consistent calculation of their composition during galactic evolution. The scheme accounts for key features of the present-day GCR source composition, it is based on the wind yields of the Geneva models of rotating, mass losing stars and it is fully coupled to a detailed galactic chemical evolution code. We find that the adopted GCR source composition accounts naturally for the observations of primary Be and helps understanding why Be follows closer Fe than O. We find that GCR produce ~70% of the solar B11/B10 isotopic ratio; the remaining 30% of B11 presumably result from neutrino-nucleosynthesis in massive star explosions. We find that GCR and primordial nucleosynthesis can make at most 30% of solar Li. At least half of solar Li has to originate in low-mass stellar sources (red giants, asymptotic giant branch stars or novae), but the required average yields of those sources are found to be much larger than obtained in current models of stellar nucleosynthesis. We also present radial profiles of LiBeB elemental and isotopic abundances in the Milky Way disc. We argue that the shape of those profiles - and the late evolution of LiBeB in general - reveals important features of the production of those light elements through primary and secondary processes.
description: Final version, matches the one to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics, typos corrected, references added
Vogan's conjecture for p-adic GL(N)
Creators: name: Ray, Mishty
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: local Langlands programme
subject: Representation theory
subject: Algebraic geometry
subject: Perverse sheaves
subject: Vogan's conjecture
subject: ABV packets
subject: Arthur packets
subject: Education--Mathematics

description: Local Arthur packets of 𝑝-adic groups have geometric analogues, called ABV-packets. This was first proposed by David Vogan in [Vog93] following his joint work in [ABV92] for real groups. This theory was then adapted by [CFM+22] in which they formulated the conjecture and named it “Vogan’s conjecture” to honour the work that led to it, in addition to providing a wealth of examples as evidence. In this work, we prove Vogan’s conjecture for 𝑝-adic GL(N).
The Minimum Variability Time Scale and its Relation to Pulse Profiles of Fermi GRBs
Creators: name: MacLachlan, G. A.
name: Shenoy, A.
name: Sonbas, E.
name: Dhuga, K. S.
name: Eskandarian, A.
name: Maximon, L. C.
name: Parke, W. C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a direct link between the minimum variability time scales extracted through a wavelet decomposition and the rise times of the shortest pulses extracted via fits of 34 Fermi GBM GRB light curves comprised of 379 pulses. Pulses used in this study were fitted with log-normal functions whereas the wavelet technique used employs a multiresolution analysis that does not rely on identifying distinct pulses. By applying a corrective filter to published data fitted with pulses we demonstrate agreement between these two independent techniques and offer a method for distinguishing signal from noise.
description: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. 4 pages, 4 figures
Co-Constructing COVID-19: Learning Relational Practices From Families Facing a Global Pandemic
Creators: name: Stone, Jezzamyn Malia
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Natural disaster
subject: Pandemic
subject: COVID-19
subject: Disaster recovery
subject: Family relationships
subject: IPscope
subject: Interpersonal patterns
subject: Patterns of interaction
subject: Interpretive description
subject: Counselling psychology
subject: Family therapy
subject: Educational Psychology

description: During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, families around the world experienced a cascade of unanticipated changes to their daily living. The effects of a disaster event, such as a pandemic, can contribute to a decline in mental and/or relational health, and the family system has the potential to promote recovery and resilience by buffering such risks. Despite the surge of research on the pandemic since 2020, much of the literature about disaster events (the pandemic included) tend to focus on the individual, lacking representation of the family system. In addition, practical resources targeting post-disaster recovery is limited, including guidance for families and mental health practitioners who support families. The purpose of this research was to: (a) better understand families’ relational experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic by nature of their interpersonal patterns; (b) expand the empirical representation of pragmatic, family-focused research on natural disasters from a systems and social constructionist lens; and (c) disseminate practical knowledge, information, and resources to support family recovery and therapeutic intervention following disaster. I conducted virtual, multi-member family interviews with six families from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and surrounding areas within the first year of the pandemic. Drawing from family systems theory and social constructionism, I integrated the IPscope, a family therapy tool for assessment and intervention, with interpretive description as a method for data construction and analysis. Based on the findings, I constructed two conceptual models of families’ interpersonal patterns during the pandemic that demonstrate the benefits of the family system in navigating a disaster event.
Survey of financial burden of families in the U.S. with children using home mechanical ventilation.
Creators: name: Edwards, Jeffrey David
name: Panitch, Howard B.
name: Constantinescu, Andrei
name: Miller, Rachel L.
name: Stone, Patricia W.
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Medical care, Cost of
Artificial respiration
Parents of chronically ill children
Finance, Personal
Lungs

description: Aim: To describe and quantify the out-of-pocket expenses, employment loss, and other financial impact related to caring for a child using home mechanical ventilation (HMV).
METHOD:
We conducted a cross-sectional survey of U.S. families with children who used HMV. Eligible participants were invited to complete a questionnaire addressing household and child characteristics, out-of-pocket expenses, employment loss/reduction, and financial stress. Participants were recruited with the help of three national patient registries.
RESULTS:
Two hundred twenty-six participants from 32 states (152 with children who used invasive ventilation and 74 with children who used noninvasive ventilation) completed the questionnaire. Participants' median reported yearly household income was $90 000 (IQR 70 000-150 000). The median amount paid in out-of-pocket expenses in the previous 3 months to care for their child using HMV totaled $3899 (IQR $2900-4550). Reported levels of financial stress decreased as income increased; 37-60% of participants, depending on income quintile, reported moderate financial stress with "some" of that stress due to their out-of-pocket expenses. A substantial majority reported one or more household members stopped or reduced work and took unpaid weeks off of work to care for their child.
CONCLUSION:
The financial impact of caring for a child using HMV is considerable for some families. Providers need to understand these financial burdens and should inform families of them to help families anticipate and plan for them.
Limit Cycles in Four Dimensions
Creators: name: Fortin, Jean-François
name: Grinstein, Benjamín
name: Stergiou, Andreas
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present an example of a limit cycle, i.e., a recurrent flow-line of the beta-function vector field, in a unitary four-dimensional gauge theory. We thus prove that beta functions of four-dimensional gauge theories do not produce gradient flows. The limit cycle is established in perturbation theory with a three-loop calculation which we describe in detail.
description: 12 pages, 1 figure. Significant revision of the interpretation of our result. Improved description of three-loop calculation
TeV scale mirage mediation in NMSSM
Creators: name: Kobayashi, Tatsuo
name: Makino, Hiroki
name: Okumura, Ken-ichi
name: Shimomura, Takashi
name: Takahashi, Tsubasa
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. We consider soft supersymmetry breaking parameters, which are induced by the mirage mediation mechanism of supersymmetry breaking. We concentrate on the mirage mediation, where the so-called mirage scale is the TeV scale. In this scenario, we can realize the up-type Higgs soft mass of O(200) GeV, while other masses such as gaugino masses and stop masses are heavy such as 1 TeV or more. Cancellation between the effective μ-term and the down-type Higgs soft mass ameliorates the fine-tuning in the electroweak symmetry breaking even for μ=O(500) GeV. The mixing between the doublet and singlet Higgs bosons is suppressed by (λ/κ)/tanβ. Then the lightest doublet Higgs mass naturally reaches 125 GeV lifted by the new quartic coupling. The higgsino and singlino are light and their linear combination is the lightest superparticle.
description: 24 pages, 24 figures, Numerical analysis is replaced with the version calculated by NMSSMTools. Comments and references are added on the suppressed doublet-singlet mixing and cases in which the 125 GeV boson is the 2nd lightest CP-even scalar. The version accepted by JHEP
In Pursuit of Conversation Analysis: An Interview with Professor John Heritage
Creators: name: Takahashi, Junko
name: Song, Gahye
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Applied linguistics
subject: Conversation analysis
subject: Ethnomethodology
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Epistemics
subject: Social interaction
subject: Interviews

description: On the late-summer evening of September 23, 2017, we had the privilege of speaking over dinner with John Heritage, a plenary speaker at the eighth annual Conference of The Language and Social Interaction Working Group (LANSI) held at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Heritage is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and one of the key scholars in the discipline of conversation analysis (CA).

Early in his academic career, Professor Heritage published the book Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology (1984), in which he successfully brought Harold Garfinkel’s complex and highly technical analysis of “members’ methods” (the foundation of CA) to a wider audience. In 1988, he became a faculty member at UCLA—”CA central,” where the founders of conversation analysis, including Emanuel Schegloff, Harvey Sacks, and Harold Garfinkel, had been based. Since then, Professor Heritage has been a leading researcher in the field, consistently producing illuminating CA work in a variety of contexts, from media talk to medical interaction. Most recently, his focus has been on the study of epistemics in interaction.

With this interview, we return to where John Heritage started: at the University of Leeds, England, where he was a graduate student focusing on what first made him interested in pursuing CA. We learn about some of the eye-opening events in his life and the past endeavors and accomplishments that helped him reach where he is today.
The Acceleration of Ions in Solar Flares During Magnetic Reconnection
Creators: name: Knizhnik, Kalman
name: Swisdak, Marc
name: Drake, James F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
subject: Space Physics (physics.space-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The acceleration of solar flare ions during magnetic reconnection is explored via particle-in-cell simulations that self-consistently follow the motions of both protons and $α$ particles. We demonstrate that the dominant ion heating during reconnection with a guide field (a magnetic component perpendicular to the reconnection plane) results from pickup behavior during the entry into reconnection exhausts. In contrast with anti-parallel reconnection, the temperature increment is dominantly transverse, rather than parallel, to the local magnetic field. The comparison of protons and alphas reveals a mass-to-charge ($M/Q$) threshold in pickup behavior that favors heating of high $M/Q$ ions over protons, which is consistent with impulsive flare observations.
description: Revised based on reviewer's comments; text clarified and references added
Investigating the association between prenatal provider specialty and postpartum glucose testing in people with gestational diabetes: a retrospective analysis of a population-based Canadian cohort.
Creators: name: Charlong, Kathleen Mackenzie
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Gestational diabetes mellitus
subject: Postpartum
subject: Glucose
subject: Prenatal
subject: Midwife
subject: General practitioner
subject: Obstetrician
subject: Epidemiology
subject: Obstetrics and Gynecology

description: Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases future risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Diabetes Canada guidelines recommend postpartum glucose tolerance testing for everyone with GDM, yet uptake is low. Most evidence of barriers to testing comes from international sources and may not be generalizable to the Canadian perinatal context. Canadian maternity care providers include general practitioners (GPs), obstetricians (OBs), and registered midwives (RMs), with care models that differ from each other and from international providers of the same titles. There is a need for Canadian population-based studies exploring systems-level factors associated with low postpartum screening uptake. Methods We used de-identified population-based data on all births in Alberta, Canada between 2017 and 2018. We identified prenatal care provider specialty, glucose testing incidence, and cohort demographics. The study outcomes were 1) reciept of the gold standard protocol: oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) within 6 weeks to 6 months, and 2) any glucose test occurring within 6 weeks to 1 year postpartum. We used logistic regression, adjusted for clinically relevant covariates, to estimate an association between test uptake and provider specialty. Results From 105,691 births we identified a GDM cohort of 9,884 eligible births. Cohort proportions of each prenatal care provider were OB (58.6%), GP (38.5%), and RM (2.9%). Overall test incidence was low; 22.2% (95% CI: 21.4 – 23.1) received gold standard testing and 53.9% (95% CI: 52.9 – 54.9) received any testing. When compared to the OB group, people in the GP group were less likely to receive follow-up testing (ORGS= 0.86, 95% CI: 0.77 – 0.95; ORAny= 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81 – 0.96). Those with RM care were also less likely to receive follow-up testing (ORGS= 0.67, 95% CI: 0.46 – 0.96; ORAny= 0.88, 95% CI: 0.67 – 1.15) when compared to the OB group. Discussion The overall proportion of people receiving postpartum glucose testing was low, indicating that efforts to improve screening uptake should be targeted to all care providers.
Entanglement of distant optomechanical systems
Creators: name: Joshi, Chaitanya
name: Larson, Jonas
name: Jonson, Mats
name: Andersson, Erika
name: Ohberg, Patrik
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We theoretically investigate the possibility to generate non-classical states of optical and mechanical modes of optical cavities, distant from each other. A setup comprised of two identical cavities, each with one fixed and one movable mirror and coupled by an optical fiber, is studied in detail. We show that with such a setup there is potential to generate entanglement between the distant cavities, involving both optical and mechanical modes. The scheme is robust with respect to dissipation, and nonlocal correlations are found to exist in the steady state at finite temperatures.
description: 12 pages (published with minor modifications)
Exceptionalism and the Development of Genomics Law and Policy in Australia
Creators: name: Dallaston, Elizabeth
name: Jowett, Stephanie
name: Bennett, Belinda
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2023
Subjects: Medical and health law

description: In this article we examine the concept of genetic exceptionalism and its role in the development of genomics law and policy in Australia over the past two decades. We examine exceptionalism in a context where there is renewed debate within bioethics about its relevance for genomics, where the landscape of genetic and genomic science has undergone considerable change over the past 20 years, and where ethical, legal, and social issues continue to arise as governments seek to implement genomics into health care to achieve health benefits. We conclude that Australia has and can continue to take a sophisticated view of questions raised in the exceptionalist debate, and that recent calls for a contextual rather than exceptionalist approach offer a way forward that coheres with over 20 years of genetic and genomic law and policy in Australia.
Developing base-editing for the improvement of agronomic traits in field peas (Pisum sativum) using glyphosate resistance as a target
Creators: name: Roth, Susan Alexandra
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Base-editing
subject: Glyphosate
subject: Herbicide resistance
subject: EPSPS
subject: Agriculture
subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biochemistry

description: The world’s population is estimated to surpass 10 billion by 2059, and alongside the increasing challenges posed by climate change, current global food systems are not sustainable. With these challenges has come an increased push towards more plant-based diets as plant agriculture has lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and land use requirements than animal agriculture. Field peas (Pisum sativum), an important Canadian crop, lend themselves well to this shift due to their high protein content, which can be used to replace animal-derived protein. Expanding the gene-editing toolkit for field peas will allow for more agronomic traits to be targeted and increase the ease with which field pea crops can be grown. Canonical CRISPR/Cas systems have revolutionized the field of crop improvement; however, their application has been limited to imprecise knockout mutations through non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) of double-stranded breaks (DSBs). Cytosine base-editing (CBE) is a new CRISPR-based technology that increases the precision of gene editing to the single base pair resolution in plants and opens the doors to producing gain of function mutations. This technology has yet to be used in peas and will increase the number of agronomic traits that can be targeted. This study used CBE to target 5- enolypyruvulshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase in yellow field pea hairy roots to induce resistance to the herbicide glyphosate (commercially known as RoundUp). The base-editing window that predicts where editing is most likely to occur with CBEs was found to be expanded when using the PmCDA1 cytidine deaminase. Novel mutations R105C and P106F were obtained and characterized to show a complete knockout of EPSP synthase function with an R105C mutation and a 100-fold increase in glyphosate resistance with a P106F mutation. A P106S mutation, which has previously been characterized in other species, was also obtained and presented an 18-fold increase in glyphosate resistance, consistent with previous works.
An Interview with APPLE Lecture Speaker Professor Roy Lyster
Creators: name: Fernandez, Kaylee
name: Lo, Carol Hoi Yee
Publisher: name: Columbia University
Year: 2018
Subjects: Applied linguistics
Language and languages--Study and teaching
Second language acquisition
Interviews

description: On February 16, 2018, Working Papers in Applied Linguistics and TESOL (represented by Kaylee Fernandez, Michelle Stabler-Havener, and Carol HoiYee Lo) had the great pleasure of interviewing Dr. Roy Lyster, the invited speaker for the 2018 Applied Linguistics & Language Education (APPLE) Lecture Series hosted annually by the Applied Linguistics and TESOL Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Lyster shared his research and advice he has for current and future researchers and educators in Applied Linguistics and TESOL.

Dr. Roy Lyster is Emeritus Professor of Second Language Education in the Department of Integrated Studies Education at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His research examines content-based language teaching and the effects of instructional interventions designed to counterbalance form-focused and content-based approaches. His research interests also include professional development and collaboration among teachers for the purpose of integrated language learning and biliteracy development. He was co-recipient with colleague Leila Ranta of the 1998 Paul Pimsleur Award for Research in Foreign Language Education and was presented the Robert Roy Award by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers in 2017. He was co-president then president of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics from 2004 to 2008. He is author of a module called Content-Based Language Teaching published by Routledge in 2018, and two books: Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content published by Benjamins in 2007 and Vers une approche intégrée en immersion published by Les Éditions CEC in 2016.
Exploring patient-related contextual factors and personal reflections about patient engagement in the Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) intervention: A mixed methods study among adults with advanced cancer in Southern Alberta
Creators: name: Sears, Carly Sherrington
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: advanced cancer
subject: psychosocial oncology
subject: early palliative care
subject: referral routes
subject: psychological intervention
subject: Oncology

description: Background: The evidence-based Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) psychotherapeutic intervention was designed to address the complex needs of those with advanced cancer. Ample evidence supports the efficacy of CALM therapy; less is known about the patient-specific factors that influence initiation and continuation of CALM sessions. Objective: This study aimed to enhance our understanding of the impacts of patient-specific factors, referral routes, and timing of referral on engagement in CALM therapy, with particular attention to the integration of patient voices through in-depth interviews. Methods: This study used a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design involving analysis of baseline questionnaire data and referral details from participants in the CALM Implementation study (n = 69). Participants who consented to follow-up (n = 24) were invited to participate in brief, virtual interviews after completion of CALM therapy. Thematic analysis, within an Interpretive Description framework, was used to analyze interview responses (n = 10). Results: Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative results suggests that initiation and continuation of CALM sessions is affected by multiple, complex factors including mood symptoms, referral route, need for support outside of family/friends, and decline in health status. Patients directly referred to CALM by healthcare providers (HCP) and those who self-referred (total n = 32) engaged in more CALM sessions (M = 4.97, SD = 3.51) versus those first referred to general Psychosocial Oncology (i.e., indirect referral; M = 3.19, SD = 2.26, p < 0.05). Stratified analysis found this effect was significant among younger participants (<65 years) and those with longer life expectancy (>10 months). Some participants suggested automatic referral to CALM following an advanced cancer diagnosis. Provision of comprehensive intervention information, highlighting benefits while being sensitive to mortality fears, was deemed valuable to allow for informed decision-making. Conclusion: Findings suggest that timing and referral route are important to our understanding of participation in CALM. Greater patient engagement in the CALM intervention following direct referral from a HCP may be based on trust in the HCP-patient relationship. Future health systems research may evaluate an automatic referral system in which CALM is offered to all patients following an advanced cancer diagnosis.
Effects of confinement on thermal stability and folding kinetics in a simple Ising-like model
Creators: name: Caraglio, Michele
name: Pelizzola, Alessandro
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
subject: Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Biomolecules (q-bio.BM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: In cellular environment, confinement and macromulecular crowding play an important role on thermal stability and folding kinetics of a protein. We have resorted to a generalized version of the Wako-Saito-Munoz-Eaton model for protein folding to study the behavior of six different protein structures confined between two walls. Changing the distance 2R between the walls, we found, in accordance with previous studies, two confinement regimes: starting from large R and decreasing R, confinement first enhances the stability of the folded state as long as this is compact and until a given value of R; then a further decrease of R leads to a decrease of folding temperature and folding rate. We found that in the low confinement regime both unfolding temperatures and logarithm of folding rates scale as R-γ where γ values lie in between 1.42 and 2.35.
Diffusion Weighted MRI-based Brain Metastases Detection using Machine Learning
Creators: name: Madamesila, Joseph
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: brain metastases
subject: stereotactic radiosurgery
subject: medical physics
subject: diffusion weighted imaging
subject: machine learning
subject: Physics--Radiation
subject: Artificial Intelligence

description: Brain metastases are a significant cause of patient morbidity, with almost half of all cancer patients developing the debilitating complication. Magnetic resonance imaging using structural T1 is the clinical standard for detecting their formation. Another type of magnetic resonance imaging sequence called diffusion weighted imaging is often acquired and can be used to display apparent diffusion coefficient maps. These maps provide valuable quantitative imaging data on the microstructure of the brain. Additionally, the use of machine learning for quickly analyzing large amounts of data, coupled with complex image data features in the form of radiomics, has allowed for the extraction of textural information previously hidden within medical images. The research presented in this thesis investigated the use of machine learning and radiomic methods on diffusion imaging to create a model that can facilitate earlier brain metastasis detection when compared the conventional imaging methods. A feasibility study was conducted to quantitatively characterize the unique metastatic signal of brain metastases as they form using longitudinal ADC imaging and first order statistics. Distinct changes in local diffusion were found within clinical metastatic regions and motivated further research analyses. Based on these preliminary results, the methodology was expanded to include higher order radiomic features and machine learning methods. Several classifiers were trained using radiomic values calculated from longitudinal ADC maps, clinical metastatic contours, and healthy contralateral control areas. The ensemble classifiers showed superior accuracy in differentiating healthy brain tissue from metastatic tissue. With the knowledge gained from these first two projects, the radiomic and machine learning pipeline was expanded to scan the entire brain for areas of early metastatic formation. Using a patch-based image sampling technique based on anatomic regions of the brain, and radiomic features filtered using stability analysis, the trained models showed up to 75% accuracy in detecting the formation of brain metastases earlier than structural contrast-enhanced T1. The research presented in this thesis highlight a novel clinical application of diffusion-based magnetic resonance imaging for the early detection of brain metastases. Future work will be focused on improving the detection models and integrating them into clinical software for prospective validation and testing.
Exceptionalism and the Development of Genomics Law and Policy in Australia
Creators: name: Dallaston, Elizabeth
name: Jowett, Stephanie
name: Bennett, Belinda
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Medical and health law

description: In this article we examine the concept of genetic exceptionalism and its role in the development of genomics law and policy in Australia over the past two decades. We examine exceptionalism in a context where there is renewed debate within bioethics about its relevance for genomics, where the landscape of genetic and genomic science has undergone considerable change over the past 20 years, and where ethical, legal, and social issues continue to arise as governments seek to implement genomics into health care to achieve health benefits. We conclude that Australia has and can continue to take a sophisticated view of questions raised in the exceptionalist debate, and that recent calls for a contextual rather than exceptionalist approach offer a way forward that coheres with over 20 years of genetic and genomic law and policy in Australia.
Experiences of Racism and Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptoms Among People of Chinese heritage in Canada: The Moderating Role of Resilience
Creators: name: Guo, Zixin
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: racism
subject: Chinese
subject: race-based traumatic stress symptoms
subject: Mental Health

description: People of Chinese heritage in Canada face historical and ongoing racism, which has been exacerbated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Theories suggest that experiences of racism may lead to race-based traumatic stress symptoms; however, this association has not been examined among Chinese people in Canada. Furthermore, most research has focused on the adverse effect of racism on poor mental health symptoms, little is known about protective factors in the link between racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms. To this end, I aim to explore the protective role of resilience from both aspects of individual resilience (i.e., an individual’s characteristics that enable them to bounce back from adversities) and collective resilience (i.e., the availability of practical and emotional support from the community). The purpose of this thesis is to explore how resilience protects against the adverse effect of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms among people of Chinese heritage in Canada. A sample of 367 adults who self-identified as of Chinese heritage in Canada (e.g., 46.59% women; Mage = 33.9) completed self-report questionnaires. I adopted SPSS PROCESS Model 1 to examine the moderating effect of individual/collective resilience on the relationship between experienced racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms. The results showed that more experiences of racism were significantly related to increased race-based traumatic stress symptoms. Collective resilience buffered the adverse effects of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms, while individual resilience did not moderate this association. These findings suggest that collective resilience, rather than individual resilience, mitigates the negative impacts of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms. This study highlights the necessity of recognizing the experiences of racism and its adverse impacts on the mental health of Chinese people in Canada. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of fostering collective resilience and community-based support systems among people of Chinese heritage in Canada.
Revisiting the phase diagram of hard ellipsoids
Creators: name: Odriozola, Gerardo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this work the well-known Frenkel-Mulder phase diagram of hard ellipsoids of revolution [Mol. Phys. 55, 1171 (1985)] is revisited by means of replica exchange Monte Carlo simulations. The method provides good sampling of dense systems and so, solid phases can be accessed without the need of imposing a given structure. At high densities, we found plastic solids and fcc-like crystals for semi-spherical ellipsoids (prolates and oblates), and SM2 structures [Phys. Rev. E 75, 020402 (2007)] for x:1-prolates and 1:x-oblates with x>=3. The revised fluid-crystal and isotropic-nematic transitions reasonably agree with those presented in the Frenkel-Mulder diagram. An interesting result is that, for small system sizes (100 particles), we obtained 2:1 and 1.5:1-prolate equations of state without transitions, while some order is developed at large densities. Furthermore, the symmetric oblate cases are also reluctant to form ordered phases.
description: 8 pages, 6 figures
Supporting Teachers to Thrive: Exploring the Impact of School Climate and Teacher Self-efficacy on Teacher Stress
Creators: name: Fernandez Conde, Cristina
Publisher: name: Werklund School of Education
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: stress
subject: teacher self-efficacy
subject: school climate
subject: collaboration
subject: teachers
subject: Education

description: In this explanatory sequential mixed methods study, I explored the relationship between school climate, teacher self-efficacy (TSE), and teacher stress in a sample of high school teachers in Western Canada. I collected quantitative (Phase 1) and qualitative (Phase 2) data. For the quantitative phase, 61 teachers completed questionnaires that measured the variables under study. I sought to understand the relationship between teacher stress, school climate, and TSE through correlations, moderation, and multiple regression. Quantitative results suggested no significant moderation effect of TSE between school climate factors (i.e., collaboration, student relations, school resources, decision-making and instructional innovation) and stress. However, when controlling for school climate, teachers’ self-efficacy had a significant negative effect on stress. Post hoc analyses also identified that teachers’ sense of student relations, instructional innovation, and collaboration predicted higher levels of TSE. The quantitative results informed the qualitative phase through the creation of a semi-structured interview. I interviewed five teachers by asking questions that explored their stress appraisal process (positive and negative) from a Cognitive Theory of Stress and Coping perspective and the role school climate and TSE played in this appraisal process. Consistent with quantitative findings, themes I identified through reflexive thematic analysis (TA) suggested that TSE acts as a protective factor against teacher threat appraisals by fostering a sense of control within an environment of collaboration and support. Teachers perceived various contextual factors as sources of threat appraisals, such as the unpredictable demands of addressing student needs and meeting instructional and assessment benchmarks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. My study’s findings may inform policy and teaching practice to support educators in schools. By gathering quantitative and qualitative insights into how teachers appraise stressful situations and the transactions that they find challenging or harmful in a Canadian school context, this information can help school psychologists and school leaders foster TSE as a protective factor against stress.
The First Stars: Mass Growth Under Protostellar Feedback
Creators: name: Stacy, A.
name: Greif, T. H.
name: Bromm, V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We perform three-dimensional cosmological simulations to examine the growth of metal-free, Population III (Pop III) stars under radiative feedback. We begin our simulation at z=100 and trace the evolution of gas and dark matter until the formation of the first minihalo. We then follow the collapse of the gas within the minihalo up to densities of n = 10^12 cm^-3, at which point we replace the high-density particles with a sink particle to represent the growing protostar. We model the effect of Lyman-Werner (LW) radiation emitted by the protostar, and employ a ray-tracing scheme to follow the growth of the surrounding H II region over the next 5000 yr. We find that a disk assembles around the first protostar, and that radiative feedback will not prevent further fragmentation of the disk to form multiple Pop III stars. Ionization of neutral hydrogen and photodissociation of H_2 by LW radiation leads to heating of the dense gas to several thousand Kelvin, and this warm region expands outward at the gas sound speed. Once the extent of this warm region becomes equivalent to the size of the disk, the disk mass declines while the accretion rate onto the protostars is reduced by an order of magnitude. This occurs when the largest sink has grown to ~ 20 M_sol while the second sink has grown to 7 M_sol, and we estimate the main sink will approach an asymptotic value of ~ 30 M_sol by the time it reaches the main sequence. Our simulation thus indicates that the most likely outcome is a massive Pop III binary. However, we simulate only one minihalo, and the statistical variation between minihaloes may be substantial. If Pop III stars were typically unable to grow to more than a few tens of solar masses, this would have important consequences for the occurence of pair-instability supernovae in the early Universe as well as the Pop III chemical signature in the oldest stars observable today.
description: 21 pages, 11 figures, to appear in MNRAS
Schroedinger equations with indefinite effective mass
Creators: name: Znojil, Miloslav
name: Lévai, Géza
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The consistency of the concept of quantum (quasi)particles possessing effective mass which is both position- and excitation-dependent is analyzed via simplified models. It is shown that the system may be stable even when the effective mass m=m(x,E) itself acquires negative values in a limited range of coordinates x and energies E.
description: 17 pp., 3 figs