Units of measurement are needed in many of today’s software programs and datasets for describing physical concepts. Despite this, there are many issues regarding units of measurement in both code and data, such as inconsistent unit annotations, unit types being difficult to annotate and missing built-in unit support in tools and programming languages. Not least, is there a lack of examples of how to implement safe usage of units of measurement within an entire ecosystem consisting of code programs and data resources. Therefore, this thesis takes a design science approach to explore how a simple ecosystem of interconnected software and data components can be refactored to support safe usage of units of measurement, and whether the given solution shows it is possible to mitigate the burden of having to annotate types within the ecosystem. This has resulted in the development of an artifact that offers read/create, refactor and formatting capabilities, that can be used to implement units of measurement and unit checking into an ecosystem. The findings are that the artifact demonstrates how it is possible to implement safer usage of units, and at the same time being able to avoid the annotation burden to some extent.

Health challenges changed over the course of the twentieth century to produce a population with growing care needs. As healthcare systems attempt to minimize the cost of this care, they have incentivized families to become informal caregivers for their loved ones. However this change has led to strain on caregivers. Caregiver burden has far ranging consequences on the health and wellness of the caregiver. In this paper I explore how the application of traditional medical ethics is insufficient to address these challenging dynamics, and that a relational ethics lens may elucidate more sustainable care practices. / Urban Bioethics

No description available.

What is the impact of disease burden on democracy in sub-Saharan Africa? Despite increasing interest in the implications of health crises for state stability, there has been a dearth of literature exploring the relationship between disease burden more generally and democracy specifically. This thesis takes a comprehensive approach to bridge this gap in the literature. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, it draws on data from the Global Burden of Disease database and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset to analyze this relationship. The diseases studied are categorized as long-wave (e.g., HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis), short-wave (e.g., Ebola and lower respiratory infections), or endemic (e.g., malaria and an aggregate of other infectious diseases). In terms of democracy, this thesis focuses on civil liberties and civil society. Having utilized a linear regression, controlling for economic variables, this study found a positive and significant relationship between long-wave diseases and both civil liberties and civil society; a negative and significant relationship between Ebola and both civil liberties and civil society; a positive and significant relationship between lower respiratory infections and both civil liberties and civil society; and, finally, a positive and significant relationship between the other infectious disease aggregate and civil society. Ultimately, there was no significant relationship between the other diseases studied and the democratic variables. By identifying past relationships between particular kinds of diseases and manifestations of democracy, we can establish a baseline from which to project our expectations about how emerging diseases like COVID-19 will impact the practice of democracy.

<p>The heating sector accounts for almost half of total global energy consumption, with only 1/10th of heat produced from renewables. The adoption and technological advancement of heat pumps is key to electrifying heating, introducing more renewable sources, and decreasing energy expenditure. However, a range of complex barriers–including upfront costs, electricity costs, outdoor temperature, and building characteristics–hinder widespread heat pump adoption. High- resolution temporal and geospatial analysis is a powerful tool for understanding the patterns of such barriers, improving discernment of issues specific to certain populations. This project characterizes different heat pump technologies’ effects on residential energy use and expenditure with a high-resolution linear regression model of energy demand. We constructed linear regression efficiency models for two types of market-available heat pumps, characterized by refrigerant type and compressor type. With the thermal comfort energy demand estimates and estimated heat pump efficiency, we calculated the census tract, hourly-level energy demand in a 100% heat pump adoption case. We obtained these energy demand estimates for the states of Colorado and California–chosen due to their diverse climates and demographics–and used these energy demand estimates to calculate heat pump cost, electricity grid emissions, and energy burden. We also performed a case study comparison with actual heat pump energy consumption data for a household in West Lafayette, Indiana. </p> <p><br></p> <p>We found that heat pumps reduce total heating energy consumption and overall energy consumption for nearly all census tracts in both Colorado and California. In addition, for heating and overall energy consumption, our market average R410A heat pump model has the lower total variable cost in all census tracts relative to our R32 heat pump model. For cooling energy consumption, the R32 heat pump operates at a lower total variable cost than the R410A heat pump in most census tracts. Heat pumps tend to decrease average energy burden—percentage of household income dedicated to energy expenditure—in the less population-dense areas of both states. However, heat pump adoption leads to increased energy burden within cities. In comparison to our case study West Lafayette household, we obtained a relative root mean squared error for daily energy consumption of 28%, which is higher than studies using detailed engineering models at a single household-level but lower than studies using building simulation models. </p>

Introduction: Caregivers of a child with severe intellectual disability (CWSID) often embody the sole provider of care for their CWSID. Due to the severity of the difficulties their CWSID may experience, these caregivers pose a variety of challenges when caring for their children. The demands placed on the caregiver could lead to high levels of caregiver burden which can influence the quality of child-caregiver relationship. This study evaluated the relationship between caring for a CWSID and the level of burden by using the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers. Additionally, the investigation aimed to identify potential risk factors faced by South African caregivers of CWSID that could possibly increase levels of caregiver burden. Lastly, the study proposed intervention practices that took into account both the potential risk factors identified, as well as the level of caregiver burden experienced to aid childcare. Method: Data were utilised from 218 South African caregivers of CWSID from all over the country. The study applied a quantitative approach and made use of a survey available online and paper based. The questionnaire comprised of two parts. Section A was a demographic questionnaire aimed at identifying possible risk factors to increase levels of burden and Section B covered the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. Results: The majority of caregivers (67%) identified family as their main or only form of support structure. The study did not find any obvious risk factors that could indicate a relation between the level of burden and the different demographic factors. It was found that caregivers of CWSID experience moderate to severe levels of caregiver burden due to caring for their CWSID. Conclusion: As caregivers of CWSID experience severe levels of caregiver burden, the results of the present study indicate that caregivers experience this burden in various areas of living influencing their quality of life. It is recommended that a caseworker be assigned to each CWSID to decrease caregiver burden. Due to the fact that any possible contributing risk factors could not be successfully identified, further research is recommended. / Dissertation (MA (Speech-Language Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / MA (Speech-Language Pathology) / Restricted

<p>Sustainably meeting the food demands of a growing population based on finite resources while protecting the environment is one of the great challenges of humanity in the coming decades. This dissertation combines three essays that examine how future patterns of global food consumption will affect human health, and how the food system changes driven by the ongoing global nutrition transition will affect the environment. The production of food needed to meet a growing population combined with changes in food consumption patterns are placing unprecedented levels of stress on the planet’s scarce natural resources. In this context, while the existing literature has mainly focused on increasing production, the magnitude of loss and waste is too large to be ignored. The first essay contributes to the literature by examining the linkages between consumers’ food waste at the national level on the one hand, and global food security and environmental health on the other hand. Absent significant behavioral changes or successful policy interventions, food waste will nearly double by 2050. Emerging economies are likely to play a key role in driving this growth in global food waste. Further findings indicate that the global benefits of food waste mitigation are greatly enhanced in the context of a more open international trade regime. Yet even as food loss and waste has been undernutrition and overweight/obesity levels have also been increasing. Together, these trends form a triple challenge for food security, global sustainability and human health. In the second essay I examine the role of the excessive calorie availability as an historical driver of adult BMI. I find that, in part driven by excess in calorie availability, individuals in more recent cohorts are overweight or obese earlier and for larger proportions of their lifespan than those in earlier cohorts. This highlights the potential for unintended health consequences of agricultural and trade policies directed at increasing calorie supplies. In the third essay I introduce a novel framework that extends the UN-FAO’s methodology for assessing undernutrition to also assess the extent of overconsumption and obesity. This framework allows for examination of the dynamics of the double burden of malnutrition between 2015 and 2050. Specifically, this framework shows how shifting towards healthier and more sustainable food consumption levels and reducing food waste could synergistically address multiple health and environmental burdens. </p>

Despite an abundance of older and more recent retrospective and considerably fewer prospective-longitudinal studies in bipolar disorders I and II, there are still remarkable deficits with regard to our knowledge about the natural course and burden. The considerable general and diagnosis-specific challenges posed by the nature of bipolar disorders are specified, highlighting in particular problems in diagnostic and symptom assessment, shifts in diagnostic conventions and the broadening of the diagnostic concept by including bipolar spectrum disorders. As a consequence it still remains difficult to agree on several core features of bipolar disorders, such as when they begin, how many remit spontaneously and how many take a chronic course. On the basis of clinical and epidemiological findings this paper summarizes (i) a significant need to extend the study of the natural course of bipolar disorder in clinical samples beyond the snapshot of acute episodes to the study of the mid-term and long-term symptom course, associated comorbidities and the associated burden of the disease. (ii) In terms of epidemiological studies, that are also of key importance for resolving the critical issues of threshold definitions in the context of the bipolar spectrum concept, there is a clear need for identifying the most relevant risk factors for the first onset and those for the further illness progression in early stages. Since there are some indications that these critical processes might start as early as adolescence, such studies might concentrate on young cohorts and clearly before these prospective patients come to clinical attention. (iii) The value of both types of studies might be enhanced, if beyond the use of standardized diagnostic interview, special attempts are made to use prospective life- and episode-charting methods for bipolar illnesses.

Social support and family criticism variables were examined as potential moderators of the association between illness burden and depression and between functional impairment and depression in a secondary data analysis. Participants (n=735) were older adults aged 65 and older from internal medicine and family medicine primary care offices. It was hypothesized that both illness burden and functional impairment would be associated with increased depressive symptoms and a diagnosis of depression. In addition, it was hypothesized that higher levels of social support and lower levels of family criticism would moderate this relationship. Both linear and logistic multivariate hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine these variables as potential moderators. Hypotheses concerning perceived social support and social interaction as moderators were supported. Hypotheses involving family criticism and instrumental social support were not supported. Enhancement of perceived social support and encouragement of social interactions may be important intervention targets for treatment of depressive symptoms in older adults with illness or impairment who are seen in primary care settings.

No description available.