Northampton Community College

About: Northampton Community College is a education organization based out in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3410 authors who have published 4582 publications receiving 130398 citations. The organization is also known as: Northampton County Area Community College.

Computation of the GCD of polynomials using gaussian transformations and shifting

Abstract: A new numerical method for the computation of the greatest common divisor (GCD) of an m-set of polynomials of R [s], Pm,d of maximal degree d, is presented. This method is based on a recently developed theoretical algorithm (Karcanias 1987) that uses elementary transformations and shifting operations; the present algorithm takes into account the non-generic nature of GCD and thus uses steps, which minimize the introduction of additional errors and defines the GCD in an approximate sense. For a given set Pm,d with a basis matrix Pm, the method defines first, the most orthogonal uncorrupted base Pr from the rows of Pm, where r = rank(Pm) ≤ m. By applying successively gaussian transformations and shifting, on the basis matrix Pr e Rr×(d+1) we produce each time a new basis matrix Pz with z = rank(Pz) < r. The method terminates when the rank of Pz is approximately equal to 1; the coefficient vector of the GCD is then defined as a row of the unit rank matrix Pz. The method defines the exact degree of t...

The impact of CACNA1C gene, and its epistasis with ZNF804A, on white matter microstructure in health, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder1.

Abstract: Genome-wide studies have identified allele A (adenine) of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1006737 of the calcium-channel CACNA1C gene as a risk factor for both schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) as well as allele A for rs1344706 in the ZNF804A gene. These illnesses have also been associated with white matter abnormalities, reflected by reductions in fractional anisotropy (FA), measured using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We assessed the impact of the CACNA1C psychosis risk variant on FA in SZ, BD and health. 230 individuals (with existing ZNF804A rs1344706 genotype data) were genotyped for CACNA1C rs1006737 and underwent DTI. FA data was analysed with tract-based spatial statistics and threshold-free cluster enhancement significance correction (P < 0.05) to detect effects of CACNA1C genotype on FA, and its potential interaction with ZNF804A genotype and with diagnosis, on FA. There was no significant main effect of the CACNA1C genotype on FA, nor diagnosis by genotype(s) interactions. Nevertheless, when inspecting SZ in particular, risk allele carriers had significantly lower FA than the protective genotype individuals, in portions of the left middle occipital and parahippocampal gyri, right cerebellum, left optic radiation and left inferior and superior temporal gyri. Our data suggests a minor involvement of CACNA1C rs1006737 in psychosis via conferring susceptibility to white matter microstructural abnormalities in SZ. Put in perspective, ZNF804A rs1344706, not only had a significant main effect, but its SZ-specific effects were two orders of magnitude more widespread than that of CACNA1C rs1006737.

Social literacy and citizenship education in the school curriculum

Abstract: This article explores citizenship education's need to focus on both ‘political’ and ‘social’ literacy within a communitarian framework. The Crick Report (1998; see also Lahey, Crick and Porter, 1974), while recognizing that the social dimension of citizenship education was a precondition for both the civic and political dimensions, concentrated largely on ‘political’ literacy. This article examines the social dimension of citizenship education. Concern with the social dimension of the curriculum in schools is not a recent interest, but changes within society have accelerated the social demands made upon schools. At the very least, society expects schools to correct the behaviour of children and to teach them values which usually means insisting on ‘good’ behaviour. The social development of pupils has thus assumed a much greater place in the aspirations of schools. Programmes of personal and social education, together with citizenship education, invariably emphasize a range of social skills and these skil...