Estimating Preferences For Water Quality Improvements Using A Citizens' Jury And Choice Modelling: A Case Study On The Bremer River Catchment, South East Queensland

This paper describes a study undertaken on the Bremer River catchment in south east Queensland. The study informed members of the community about water quality issues in the catchment through a citizens' jury and then solicited their opinion about whether more resources should be devoted towards improving water quality and how much they thought the community should pay. A choice modelling survey was conducted prior to and at the conclusion of the citizens' jury. The jury accepted that more resources should be devoted to improving water quality in the catchment, making a number of pertinent recommendations about how and where additional resources should be directed. In addition, the jury indicated that, in terms of willingness to pay, riparian vegetation was an important ecosystem attribute. Although the preliminary and final models derived for the choice modelling exercise indicate that the models were not equivalent, there was no statistical difference in the implicit prices between the two models. Nevertheless, the confidence interval of the implicit prices narrowed following the provision of information in the citizens' jury and there was an improvement in the statistical reliability of the model

Two Asymmetries between Clitic Left and Clitic Right Dislocation in Bulgarian

The paper discusses some subtle points of the syntax of clitic left dislocation and clitic right dislocation in Bulgarian

A Metalanguage for Guarded Iteration

Notions of guardedness serve to delineate admissible recursive definitions in various settings in a compositional manner. In recent work, we have introduced an axiomatic notion of guardedness in symmetric monoidal categories, which serves as a unifying framework for various examples from program semantics, process algebra, and beyond. In the present paper, we propose a generic metalanguage for guarded iteration based on combining this notion with the fine-grain call-by-value paradigm, which we intend as a unifying programming language for guarded and unguarded iteration in the presence of computational effects. We give a generic (categorical) semantics of this language over a suitable class of strong monads supporting guarded iteration, and show it to be in touch with the standard operational behaviour of iteration by giving a concrete big-step operational semantics for a certain specific instance of the metalanguage and establishing soundness and (computational) adequacy for this case.Comment: extended version for the special issu

Coordinated analysis of age, sex, and education effects on change in MMSE scores

Objectives. We describe and compare the expected performance trajectories of older adults on the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) across six independent studies from four countries in the context of a collaborative network of longitudinal studies of aging. A coordinated analysis approach is used to compare patterns of change conditional on sample composition differences related to age, sex, and education. Such coordination accelerates evaluation of particular hypotheses. In particular, we focus on the effect of educational attainment on cognitive decline.Method. Regular and Tobit mixed models were fit to MMSE scores from each study separately. The effects of age, sex, and education were examined based on more than one centering point.Results. Findings were relatively consistent across studies. On average, MMSE scores were lower for older individuals and declined over time. Education predicted MMSE score, but, with two exceptions, was not associated with decline in MMSE over time.Conclusion. A straightforward association between educational attainment and rate of cognitive decline was not supported. Thoughtful consideration is needed when synthesizing evidence across studies, as methodologies adopted and sample characteristics, such as educational attainment, invariably differ. © 2012 The Author

Genome-Wide Copy Number Analysis in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Using High-Density Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Arrays

We applied whole-genome single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays to define a comprehensive genetic profile of 23 esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) primary tumor biopsies based on loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and DNA copy number changes. Alterations were common, averaging 97 (range, 23-208) per tumor. LOH and gains averaged 33 (range, 3-83) and 31 (range, 11-73) per tumor, respectively. Copy neutral LOH events averaged 27 (range, 7-57) per EAC. We noted 126 homozygous deletions (HD) across the EAC panel (range, 0-11 in individual tumors). Frequent HDs within FHIT (17 of 23), WWOX (8 of 23), and DMD (6 of 23) suggest a role for common fragile sites or genomic instability in EAC etiology. HDs were also noted for known tumor suppressor genes (TSG), including CDKN2A, CDKN2B, SMAD4, and GALR1, and identified PDE4D and MGC48628 as potentially novel TSGs. All tumors showed LOH for most of chromosome 17p, suggesting that TSGs other than TP53 may be targeted. Frequent gains were noted around MYC (13 of 23), BCL9 (12 of 23), CTAGE1 (14 of 23), and ZNF217 (12 of 23). Thus, we have confirmed previous reports indicating frequent changes to FHIT, CDKN2A, TP53, and MYC in EAC and identified additional genes of interest. Meta-analysis of previous genome-wide EAC studies together with the data presented here highlighted consistent regions of gain on 8q, 18q, and 20q and multiple LOH regions on 4q, 5q, 17p, and 18q, suggesting that more than one gene may be targeted on each of these chromosome arms. The focal gains and deletions documented here are a step toward identifying the key genes involved in EAC development

Modal dependent type theory and dependent right adjoints

In recent years we have seen several new models of dependent type theory extended with some form of modal necessity operator, including nominal type theory, guarded and clocked type theory, and spatial and cohesive type theory. In this paper we study modal dependent type theory: dependent type theory with an operator satisfying (a dependent version of) the K-axiom of modal logic. We investigate both semantics and syntax. For the semantics, we introduce categories with families with a dependent right adjoint (CwDRA) and show that the examples above can be presented as such. Indeed, we show that any finite limit category with an adjunction of endofunctors gives rise to a CwDRA via the local universe construction. For the syntax, we introduce a dependently typed extension of Fitch-style modal lambda-calculus, show that it can be interpreted in any CwDRA, and build a term model. We extend the syntax and semantics with universes

Australian clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of Barrett's esophagus and early esophageal adenocarcinoma

Author version made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication according to publisher copyright policy.Barrett's esophagus (BE), a common condition, is the only known precursor to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). There is uncertainty about the best way to manage BE as most people with BE never develop EAC and most patients diagnosed with EAC have no preceding diagnosis of BE. Moreover, there have been recent advances in knowledge and practice about the management of BE and early EAC. To aid clinical decision making in this rapidly moving field, Cancer Council Australia convened an expert working party to identify pertinent clinical questions. The questions covered a wide range of topics including endoscopic and histological definitions of BE and early EAC; prevalence, incidence, natural history, and risk factors for BE; and methods for managing BE and early EAC. The latter considered modification of lifestyle factors; screening and surveillance strategies; and medical, endoscopic, and surgical interventions. To answer each question, the working party systematically reviewed the literature and developed a set of recommendations through consensus. Evidence underpinning each recommendation was rated according to quality and applicability

On site 2 : Bruce Armstrong, Paul Boston, Alison Clouston, Susan Norrie

On site 2 : Bruce Armstrong, Paul Boston, Alison Clouston, Susan Norrie Catalogue of exhibition held at the Centre for the Arts Gallery, Oct. 17-31, 1986. Works by Bruce Armstrong, Paul Boston, Alison Clouston, Susan Norri