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Introduction: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) requires constant self-management and substantially impacts daily life. We surveyed the experiences/burdens of people with T1D (PWD) and their caregivers. Methods: An online survey of PWD/caregivers (aged ≥ 18 years) living in five European countries was conducted from July to August 2021. The survey included questions on the impact of T1D on physical and mental abilities, the frequency of hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes and the impact of T1D on the daily lives of PWD. Results: Respondents included 458 PWD and 54 caregivers. The main impacts of T1D included fatigue (50% of PWD rated a high/very high impact), a hindrance to daily activities (43%), feeling different than others (42%), and anxiety (40%). The perceived impact of complication risk was significantly lower for PWD paying more attention to controlling their disease (p < 0.001). Most caregivers (80%) reported feeling more anxious than the PWD about their T1D complications. Hypoglycemia/hyperglycemia was a significant predictor of perceived distress owing to T1D. Most PWD (68%) would have liked more psychological support. Over half of respondents (PWD: 53%, caregivers: 56%) felt they had insufficient knowledge about T1D. Acceptance, positivity, and self-organization are the main strategies recommended by PWD/caregivers for living with T1D. Conclusions: T1D remains a significant burden for PWD/caregivers, and more educational and psychological support for T1D management is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Year 12 students in Big Picture Learning schools across Australia now use portfolios and interviews to apply for and gain entry to their first choice of university degree. They receive admission on the strength of portfolio evidence mapped to a new non-ATAR qualification, known as the International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC). Since 2020, 270 graduates have received offers to university using the Credential, growing from 3 in 2017. Like other Big Picture graduates who went before them, they are continuing a trajectory of passion-based learning that began in Year 9 or 10 at one of 45 Australian Big Picture Learning schools. All IBPLC graduates begin tertiary study equipped with experiences in the real world, support systems with a range of community mentors and teachers, specialist knowledge in their chosen field, and a set of independent learning skills intended to give them the opportunity to thrive in the university setting. In this article we share the preliminary findings of a study of graduates of Big Picture Learning Australia secondary schools who have matriculated using the IBPLC. Findings from our surveys and interviews show promise that the learning design of Big Picture, which starts with an internship in a passion area, is the key factor in enabling the success of graduates both from high school and into their university studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether lead arrangers opportunistically withhold their private information from participant lenders and how this behavior affects the structure of loan syndicates. Using the setting of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections and the exogenous shock to the inspection disclosure regime with the passage of the Open Government Initiative (OGI), we show that, following bad inspection outcomes, lead arrangers retain a larger loan share in the post-OGI period, when inspection outcomes are publicly disclosed by the FDA, compared to in the pre-OGI period, when there is no public disclosure. We also find that during the pre-OGI period, lead arrangers retain a lower loan share when a loan is issued following bad inspection outcomes compared to clean inspection outcomes. This effect is stronger when lead arrangers are more likely to be informed (as measured by their prior experience submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the FDA and a higher inspection materiality) and when syndicate participants are less likely to be informed (as measured by their lack of prior FDA FOIA requests and lead arranger experience, and by the lack of borrowers' voluntary disclosure of inspection outcomes). Our findings of the deterioration in borrowers' performance following bad inspection outcomes and lead arrangers' reputational losses in the post-OGI period further indicate lead arrangers' opportunistic behavior. Overall, our results provide robust evidence that lead arrangers exploit their informational advantage at the expense of participant lenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore settings where it is necessary (due to physical or operational constraints) or desirable (due to synergies or ease of implementation) to assign resources to tasks in a synchronous manner. We model the system as a queueing network with flexible servers and introduce the notion of a configuration to address the synchronous assignment of servers. This allows for a unified approach to determine the effects of resource synchronization, covering a wide range of problems in the literature. The maximal capacity of the system is given by the solution of a linear programming problem that also provides the optimal fractions of time the servers should spend in different configurations. This is used as a basis for constructing policies that have capacity arbitrarily close to the maximal capacity. We contrast synchronous server assignment with an asynchronous approach (focusing on independently scheduling individual servers rather than configurations) and show that synchronous server assignment is attractive with respect to applicability (it can capture constraints on server assignment and synergies among servers), implementation (it may have significantly fewer combinations of server allocations), and capacity (when both are applicable, asynchronous and synchronous server assignment will yield the same maximal capacity). Finally, we illustrate our modeling framework using several examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scheduling of MapReduce jobs is an integral part of Hadoop and effective job scheduling has a direct impact on Hadoop performance. Data locality is one of the most important factors to be considered in order to improve efficiency, as it affects data transmission through the system. A number of researchers have suggested approaches for improving data locality, but few have considered cache locality. In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art job scheduler, CLQLMRS (Cache Locality with Q-Learning in MapReduce Scheduler) for improving both data locality and cache locality using reinforcement learning. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by various experiments in a heterogeneous environment. Experimental results show significantly decreased execution time compared with FIFO, Delay, and the Adaptive Cache Local scheduler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider an extended form of the MX/M/c queue with two types of server groups: Static as well as dynamic (which turn on/off in a state-dependent manner) servers. The two server groups may have homogenous or non-homogenous service rates. The model is further extended to feature setup and delayed-off times, finite capacity, and k staffing levels. This class of queues is solved via the difference equations approach, which addresses narratives in the literature and achieves higher numerical efficiency than the direct method. While the model of this queueing system is not new, the methodology for solving it is. Comparisons between our model and classic queues are provided followed by concluding remarks, including a summary of key observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job scheduling in MapReduce plays a vital role in Hadoop performance. In recent years, many researchers have presented job scheduler algorithms to improve Hadoop performance. Designing a job scheduler that minimizes job execution time with maximum resource utilization is not a straightforward task. The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate agents affecting job scheduler efficiency and present a novel classification for job schedulers based on these factors. We provide a comprehensive overview of existing job schedulers in each group, evaluating their approaches, their effects on Hadoop performance, and comparing their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we provide recommendations on choosing a preferred job scheduler in different environments for improving Hadoop performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prognosis and appropriate treatment goals for older adults with diabetes vary greatly according to frailty. It is now recognised that changes may be needed to diabetes management in some older people. Whilst there is clear guidance on the evaluation of frailty and subsequent target setting for people living with frailty, there remains a lack of formal guidance for healthcare professionals in how to achieve these targets. The management of older adults with type 2 diabetes is complicated by comorbidities, shortened life expectancy and exaggerated consequences of adverse effects from treatment. In particular, older adults are more prone to hypoglycaemia and are more vulnerable to its consequences, including falls, fractures, hospitalisation, cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Thus, assessment of frailty should be a routine component of a diabetes review for all older adults, and glycaemic targets and therapeutic choices should be modified accordingly. Evidence suggests that over-treatment of older adults with type 2 diabetes is common, with many having had their regimens intensified over preceding years when they were in better health, or during more recent acute hospital admissions when their blood glucose levels might have been atypically high, and nutritional intake may vary. In addition, assistance in taking medications, as often occurs in later life following implementation of community care strategies or admittance to a care home, may dramatically improve treatment adherence, leading to a fall in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels. As a person with diabetes gets older, simplification, switching or de-escalation of the therapeutic regimen may be necessary, depending on their level of frailty and HbA1c levels. Consideration should be given, in particular, to de-escalation of therapies that may induce hypoglycaemia, such as sulphonylureas and shorter-acting insulins. We discuss the use of available glucose-lowering therapies in older adults and recommend simple glycaemic management algorithms according to their level of frailty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let HT ht , HT ht , HT ht be the cost rate per station per unit time for the server being busy, warming and idling respectively (we assume that the cost rate of a server that is switched off is zero). When a server idles, a stand-by period is initiated, where if no arrival is routed to that server, the server turns off. Jobs arrive to the system according to a Poisson process with rate HT ht . [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents a system for jointly managing cooling units and workload assignment in modular data centers. The system aims to minimize power consumption while respecting temperature constraints, all in a thermally heterogeneous environment. Unlike traditional cooling controllers, which may over/under cool certain areas in the data center due to the use of a single setpoint, our framework does not have a single setpoint to satisfy. Instead, using a data-driven thermal model, the proposed system generates an optimal temperature map, the required temperature distribution matrix (RTDM), to be used by the controller, eliminating under/over cooling and improving power efficiency. The RTDM is the resulting temperature distribution when jointly considering workload assignment and cooling control. In addition, we propose the use of model predictive control (MPC) to regulate the operational variables of cooling units in a power-efficient fashion to comply with the RTDM. Within each iteration of the MPC loop, an optimization problem involving the thermal model is solved, and the underlying thermal model is updated. To prove the feasibility of the proposed power efficient system, it has been implemented on an actual modular data center in our facilities. Results from the implementation show the potential for considerable power savings compared to other control methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Breast conserving surgery of impalpable breast lesions requires safe and effective localisation techniques. Wire localisation has traditionally been used, but has limitations. Newer techniques are now being introduced to mitigate this. The iBRA-NET group aims to robustly evaluate these new techniques in well-designed prospective studies. We report the first phase of this evaluation, a survey to establish current practice and service provision of breast localisation techniques in the UK. Methods: A national practice questionnaire was designed using 'SurveyMonkey®' and was circulated to UK breast surgeons via the Association of Breast Surgery and the Mammary Fold. The questionnaire was live from 6th October 2018 to 6th April 2019. Only one response per unit was requested to reflect the unit's practice. Results: Complete responses were received from 98 breast units across the UK. Wires were the mostly commonly used localisation technique (n = 82) with fewer units using Magseed® (n = 9), Radioguided Occult Lesion Localisation (n = 5) and Radioiodine Seed Localisation (n = 2). There was significant variation in practice and logistics involved. Frequent delays and theatre overruns were reported in 39 and 16 units, respectively. The median satisfaction score of the current technique was 7 out of 10. The main perceived limitation of existing localisation methods was logistics affecting theatre scheduling and the main barrier to introducing a new technique was cost. Conclusion: Wires are currently the most commonly used localisation technique but are associated with significant logistical issues. Newer techniques may offer a better solution but will need robust evaluation before they are adopted to ensure safety and efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third-party funding of academic research has grown rapidly in its scope and impact. However, several forces demand greater attention to potential opportunities, challenges and threats of third-party research funding. Adopting a historical approach rooted in Anglo-Saxon academia, we discuss what third-party research funding means for European business researchers, which opportunities and tensions arise, and how to best manage them in the interest of the diverse stakeholders of our field. Finally, we introduce the six papers in this special issue and how they move the conversation on third-party research funding forward. The evidence base provided here is composed of a rich blend of empirical data, reflections on personal experience and conclusions drawn from formal mathematical models. As a result, the collection of papers offers a kaleidoscope of the state-of-the-art of research on third-party funding of academic business research in Europe. The insights emerging from these six papers collapse into a clear overall picture with each paper contributing a distinct jigsaw piece, a picture we present and discuss in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mastitis in dairy cattle is extremely costly both in economic and welfare terms and is one of the most significant drivers of antimicrobial usage in dairy cattle. A critical step in the prevention of mastitis is the diagnosis of the predominant route of transmission of pathogens into either contagious (CONT) or environmental (ENV), with environmental being further subdivided as transmission during either the nonlactating "dry" period (EDP) or lactating period (EL). Using data from 1000 farms, random forest algorithms were able to replicate the complex herd level diagnoses made by specialist veterinary clinicians with a high degree of accuracy. An accuracy of 98%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 86% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 99% was achieved for the diagnosis of CONT vs ENV (with CONT as a "positive" diagnosis), and an accuracy of 78%, PPV of 76% and NPV of 81% for the diagnosis of EDP vs EL (with EDP as a "positive" diagnosis). An accurate, automated mastitis diagnosis tool has great potential to aid non-specialist veterinary clinicians to make a rapid herd level diagnosis and promptly implement appropriate control measures for an extremely damaging disease in terms of animal health, productivity, welfare and antimicrobial use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a three-stage algorithm for resource-aware scheduling of computational jobs in a large-scale heterogeneous data center. The algorithm aims to allocate job classes to machine configurations to attain an efficient mapping between job resource request profiles and machine resource capacity profiles. The first stage uses a queueing model that treats the system in an aggregated manner with pooled machines and jobs represented as a fluid flow. The latter two stages use combinatorial optimization techniques to solve a shorter-term, more accurate representation of the problem using the first-stage, long-term solution for heuristic guidance. In the second stage, jobs and machines are discretized. A linear programming model is used to obtain a solution to the discrete problem that maximizes the system capacity given a restriction on the job class and machine configuration pairings based on the solution of the first stage. The final stage is a scheduling policy that uses the solution from the second stage to guide the dispatching of arriving jobs to machines. We present experimental results of our algorithm on both Google workload trace data and generated data and show that it outperforms existing schedulers. These results illustrate the importance of considering heterogeneity of both job and machine configuration profiles in making effective scheduling decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been estimated that the majority of global HIV infections among gay and bisexual men (GBM) can be attributed to sex within a committed relationship. In Australia, however, negotiated safety, whereby HIV-negative regular partners agree to discard condoms with each other but commit to consistent condom use with other partners, has been promoted as a key component of the HIV prevention response. We asked GBM recently diagnosed with HIV to describe their relationship to the person they believed to be the source of their infection ('source person'). The majority (66.1%) ascribed their infection to a casual partner. A further 23.3% ascribed their infection to a non-committed and non-romantic partner (or 'fuckbuddy'). Only 10.6% believed they had acquired their HIV from a 'boyfriend' in the context of a committed romantic relationship, and 51.7% of these occurred within the first 3 months following their first sexual contact. Most men (61.5%) believed they had acquired their HIV infection on the first occasion they had sex with the source person. In the Australian context, negotiated safety appears to have minimised infections between regular partners. However, many HIV infections between regular partners may not be in the context of a romantic committed relationship, and yet this distinction between types of regular partners has been all but ignored. Furthermore, in this sample, most infections occurred on the occasion of first meeting, suggesting that the most useful indicators of risk may be the characteristics, contexts, and lengths of sexual partnerships and how sex is negotiated, rather than how GBM categorize their partner. Findings suggest more new HIV infections occur in new partnerships, than in established relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are practices other than condomless anal intercourse that may result in HIV transmission among gay and bisexual men, very little is known about these 'uncommon' transmission explanations. To address this topic, the free text survey responses from 465 HIV positive gay men in Australia were thematically analysed; 123 participants offered uncommon explanations for their seroconversion. Men described several sexual acts they believed led to infection, categorised as adventurous sex (e.g., fisting) and foreplay (e.g., oral sex). Participants also identified mediating factors associated with their seroconversion, either internal (e.g., cum/pre-cum) or external (e.g., sores, illness) to sex. Finally, contextual forces associated with infection were also explored, namely physical spaces (e.g., sex on premises venues) or mental states (e.g., depression). While some uncommon explanations are unlikely to have resulted in HIV transmission, these accounts reveal the diverse and intersecting ways that men attempt to make sense of their seroconversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimates of the proportion of HIV infections coming from within regular sexual relationships among gay and bisexual men (GBM) vary widely. Research surveys use various partner type categories, but there is little understanding of how men classify their partners. We conducted an online cross-sectional survey of Australian GBM exploring sexual relationships, including 2057 men reporting on 2566 regular partnerships. Just over half of the partnerships were considered 'relationships', while the remainder were non-romantic 'fuckbuddy'-style arrangements. In multivariable analysis, factors associated with considering the partnership a 'relationship' were: using a 'romantic' descriptor, partnership length, monogamous agreements, any condomless anal sex with each other, love, and commitment. The category of 'regular partner' can mask diverse partnership types, which have different meanings to GBM, associated behaviours, and HIV risks. Certain HIV prevention techniques may be more suited to particular types of partnerships. 'Fuckbuddy' arrangements need to be more explicitly acknowledged in HIV prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate cause of death assignment is crucial for prostate cancer epidemiology and trials reporting prostate cancer-specific mortality outcomes.Methods: We compared death certificate information with independent cause of death evaluation by an expert committee within a prostate cancer trial (2002-2015).Results: Of 1236 deaths assessed, expert committee evaluation attributed 523 (42%) to prostate cancer, agreeing with death certificate cause of death in 1134 cases (92%, 95% CI: 90%, 93%). The sensitivity of death certificates in identifying prostate cancer deaths as classified by the committee was 91% (95% CI: 89%, 94%); specificity was 92% (95% CI: 90%, 94%). Sensitivity and specificity were lower where death occurred within 1 year of diagnosis, and where there was another primary cancer diagnosis.Conclusions: UK death certificates accurately identify cause of death in men with prostate cancer, supporting their use in routine statistics. Possible differential misattribution by trial arm supports independent evaluation in randomised trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay and bisexual men (GBM) who participate in gay community subcultures have different profiles, including differing risk behaviors. We examined men's participation in gay community subcultures, and its association with risk behavior. In a cross-sectional survey, 849 GBM provided information about men in their personal networks. We devised measures of their participation in five subcultural groupings and explored their associations with sexual behavior. We identified five subcultural groupings: sexually adventurous; bear tribes; alternative queer; party scene; and sexually conservative. Higher scores on the sexually adventurous measure was associated with being older, having more gay friends, being HIV-positive, and being more sexually active. It was also independently associated with unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners (AOR 1.82; 95 % CI 1.20-2.76; p = 0.005). HIV prevention strategies need to account for the different subcultural groupings in which GBM participate. Measures of engagement with gay subcultures are useful indicators of differential rates of risk behavior and modes of participation in gay community life. Men in more sexually adventurous subcultures are more likely to engage in sexual risk behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, gay and bisexual men (GBM) meet casual sex partners online and this has been associated with sexual risk behavior. How do GBM meet regular partners? This online anonymous survey of 4215 GBM included 2562 men with a primary regular partner (PRP) who were included in these analyses. Mean age of the sample was 38.1 years. 60.3 % had met their PRP at least 2 years earlier. Meeting their PRP online increased from 14.0 % before 2001 to 79.9 % in 2013-2014. At all time points, men who met their PRP online were somewhat older than those who met their PRP offline. Regardless of how they met their PRP, most men met casual sex partners online. Among GBM, meeting sexual and romantic partners online has replaced other methods, for all age groups. The population of GBM who use the internet for this purpose is now equivalent to all sexually active GBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the author of the article "Anti-A#x03B2 antibody target engagement" is presented.