bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparative Evaluation of Snowfall Retrievals from the CloudSat W-band Radar Using Ground-Based Weather Radars
Authors: Matrosov Sergey Y.
Published: September 2018

Instantaneous liquid-equivalent snowfall rates S retrieved from CloudSat W-band cloud radar reflectivity Ze measurements are compared to estimates of S from operational Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) systems when the CloudSat satellite overflew the ground-based radar sites during spatially extensive nimbostratus snowfall events. For these comparisons, the ground-based radar measurements are interpolated to closely match in space and time spaceborne radar resolution volumes above ground clutter, thus avoiding uncertainties in deriving near-surface snowfall rates from measurements aloft by both radar types. Although typical uncertainties of both ground-based and spaceborne snowfall-rate retrieval approaches are quite high, the results from the standard optimal estimation CloudSat 2C-SNOW-PROFILE algorithm are on average in good agreement with the WSR-88D default snowfall algorithm results with correlation coefficients being around 0.8–0.85. The CloudSat standard optimal estimation snowfall-rate products are also shown to be in satisfactory agreement with retrievals from several simple W-band Ze–S relations suggested earlier. The snowfall rate and snow/ice water content (IWC) parameters from the CloudSat 2C-SNOW-PROFILE algorithm are highly interdependent. A tight relation between S and IWC is apparently introduced through the ice particle fall velocity assumption that is made in the reflectivity-based snowfall retrieval algorithm. This suggests that ice sedimentation rate estimates can also be deduced from applications of numerous empirical IWC–reflectivity relations derived previously for different cloud conditions when appropriate assumptions about fall velocities are made. Intercomparisons between different CloudSat snow/ice water content products indicated significant discrepancies in IWC values from different standard CloudSat retrieval algorithms.
Origin of Implication: How Do Innocent Individuals Enter the Criminal Justice System?
Authors: Lowrey-Kinberg Belén , Senn Samantha L. , Dunn Katherine , Gould Jon B. , Hail-Jares Katie
Published: September 2018

Drawing from the investigative policing literature, we develop a typology for how innocent defendants become suspects in criminal investigations. We use the Preventing Wrongful Convictions Project (PWCP) dataset and multivariate modeling to examine the case and defendant characteristics that predict how an innocent defendant became a suspect. We found that investigators identify suspects in eight primary ways. The most common in the PWCP dataset were victim/eyewitness identification, citizen identification, and intentional misidentification. Defendant’s race, age, criminal history, relationship to the victim, cognitive/mental status, and whether the victim survived were strongly associated with an innocent defendant’s origin of implication. These results illuminate how tunnel vision begins in cases with innocent defendants, and how police practices may prevent innocent individuals from becoming suspects.
Overcoming methodological challenges in prevalence studies in developing contexts with vulnerable children
Authors: Jordan Lucy , Chui Cheryl Hiu-Kwan , Larmar Stephen , O’Leary Patrick
Published: September 2018

Social work research concerns itself with vulnerable populations. Methodological challenges including accessing vulnerable populations are especially acute in developing countries where systematized data is often lacking. This article presents a pilot study using respondent-driven sampling to estimate the prevalence of children engaged in commercial sexual exploitation. The results are used to illustrate the feasibility of developing multi-sectoral collaborations to address issues among vulnerable populations. This study demonstrates that respondent-driven sampling is a strong design capable of producing prevalence estimates. Implications for international social workers in facilitating professional capacity building for effective planning, monitoring and reporting of social development projects are discussed.
Ekklesia as enterprise: Discovering the Church at work
Authors: Pryfogle Daniel
Published: September 2018

A growing number of leaders around the world believe that business can be a force for good: for justice and equity, for meaning-making, and for human flourishing. Yet the Church has very little to say about engagement in the marketplace beyond the tradition’s negative injunctions (i.e., do not abuse people). This lack of theological address to the marketplace leaves the Church with a partial witness amid empire, with a critique but without creativity. This gap is not problematic for the “powers that be,” which let the Church preach and have its protests so long as the status quo is protected – which is what happens unless there is a new creation. The new creation provokes the “powers” and the institutional Church by concretizing hope in God’s economy and evoking the gifts God gives for human flourishing. Reimagined as ekklesia in enterprise, the Church will undertake the construction of a new theology of work. It accomplishes this first by the creative discovery of divine movement in the world that began at creation with God’s word that work is good, then by the appropriation of ekklesia’s cultural orientation for the common good, which leads to the marketplace, the heart of the empire and the locus of human flourishing, the place for the Church to make its revolutionary witness to the way of Jesus.
Liturgical undoing: Christ, communion, and commodified bodies
Authors: Williams Khalia J.
Published: September 2018

During the years of chattel slavery in the USA, Black bodies were commodified. This article pays particular attention to the commodification of female Black bodies and the way in which the participation of the Christian community in Holy Communion undoes the capitalistic, free market enterprise of commodification by setting bodies and communities of faith free from the abuse and bondage as we begin to live into the fullness of the body of Christ. At the table of Communion, we are undone and through the gracious gift of Christ’s body we are reclaimed as the creation of the divine—a creation that God looks upon and calls good.
The forgetfulness of gentrification and the pilgrimage of protest: Re-membering the Body of Christ
Authors: Fennema Sharon R.
Published: September 2018

This article asks what it means to remember in the context of the erasure and exile that are the strategies of gentrification. What can we learn from protest and pilgrimage about what it means to “do this in remembrance” of Christ, that is, to re-member the Body of Christ, and how can this remembering address the injustice of racially-biased displacement? If we consider the dynamics of gentrification, the exile and erasure upon which it relies and the ways in which it creates a landscape of forgetfulness in cities whose neighborhoods no longer remember the communities of color who inhabited them, then is seems clear that a Christian theological response requires embodied practices of remembering. Through an exploration of the theological concept of anamnesis and the practices of Holy Communion and stational liturgy, I explore the characteristics of theological remembering that point toward Christian responses to gentrification. I argue that protest as pilgrimage offers us one avenue through which we might counter the forgetfulness of gentrification and remember our way into the future, by re-membering the body of Christ.
Incidents in high-volume elongated crowd facilities: A simulation-based study
Authors: Abdelghany Ahmed , Mahmassani Hani , Abdelghany Khaled , Al-Ahmadi Hasan , Alhalabi Wael
Published: September 2018

This paper presents the main findings of a simulation-based study to evaluate incidents in pedestrian/crowd tunnels and similar elongated confined facilities, with high-volume heterogeneous traffic. These incidents, when occur, imposes hazardous conditions that always result in significant number of fatalities. The aim of this study is to understand how these facilities perform under different irregular scenarios and possibly identify potential causes of accidents. The problem of studying incidents in large-scale high-volume pedestrian facilities is that these incidents are difficult to expect or replicate. Thus, studying these facilities through real-life scenarios is almost impossible. Accordingly, a micro-simulation assignment model for multidirectional pedestrian movement is used for this purpose. The model adopts a Cellular Automata (CA) discrete system, which allows detailed representation of the pedestrians’ walkways in the tunnel. The modeling approach captures crowd dynamics through representation of behavioral decisions of heterogeneous pedestrians at the individual level. Several experiments are conducted to study the pedestrian flow in the proposed tunnel considering different operational scenarios including demand levels, heterogeneous traffic, evacuation scenario, and tunnel blockage. Results show that flow of large pedestrian volumes through a long confined linear structure, such as a tunnel, are subject to the same flow dynamics as we observe with vehicular traffic. In particular, they are subject to the formation of “clumps” and shock waves that can rapidly propagate and lead to inefficient operation, including flow breakdown with stop-and-go waves.
Witnessing loss in the everyday: Community buildings in austerity Britain
Authors: Robinson Katherine , Sheldon Ruth
Published: September 2018

This article is concerned with what happens to precarious community buildings in times of austerity. It responds to a landscape of capitalist realism, in which instrumental, economic forms of value are mobilised to justify the closure of ordinary buildings whose survival is not identified as a political priority. The study focuses on two London cases of a library and an elderly day centre under threat of closure, and traces how grammars of austerity rendered these buildings substitutable. Considering how abstract sociological conceptions of value/s can struggle to break into the embedded common sense of austerity, the authors explore how ethnographic practices of collaboration and attentiveness can help amplify alternative expressions of the meanings of these buildings for their communities. Enacting a form of ethnographic witnessing, which learns from Wittgenstein, the authors highlight the creative, vernacular registers and gestures of library users and day centre members, and show how these were anchored in the buildings themselves. In this way, the article supplements noisier, more hyperbolic accounts of the violence of austerity by amplifying quotidian responses, which express how ordinary buildings and the forms of life they sustain, matter.
Fabrication of a thermally conductive silicone composite by incorporating surface-modified boron nitride
Authors: Kuo Chung-Feng Jeffrey , Dewangga Garuda Raka Satria , Chen Jiong-Bo
Published: September 2018

Digitization in the textile industry provides an effective manufacturing process; however, the integration of automation with computerization requires an excellent computer support system with a long lifespan. The lifespan of a computer is dependent on the heat generated from the system. The use of heatsinks combined with elastomeric thermal pads is a solution for heat dissipation. Silicone rubber composites exhibit excellent thermal conductivity with the incorporation of boron nitride (BN) as a filler. In this study, tetraethoxy orthosilicate (TEOS), a silane coupling agent, was doped onto to the surface of hydroxyl-functionalized BN using a simple sol–gel process for surface modification. The addition of BN filler up to 45 wt% enhanced the thermal conductivity of the composites and the surface modification of BN had an appreciable effect on the thermal conductivity, with a 16.52% improvement. The addition of TEOS improved the filler dispersion in the composite system and reduced the interfacial mismatch between the BN and silicone rubber. The tensile strength and hardness increased with the addition of the BN filler, but elongation at the break decreased at high filler loadings. Surface modification with 7 wt% TEOS improved the mechanical properties of the composite.
‘Freelance isn’t free.’ Co-working as a critical urban practice to cope with informality in creative labour markets
Authors: Merkel Janet
Published: September 2018

For more than a decade, co-working spaces have proliferated in cities worldwide. The paper discusses co-working as a critical urban practice because these spaces give support to the rising number of freelance workers in culture and creative industries. Freelance workers are an ‘invisible’ workforce whose impact often remains ‘hidden’ (Mould et al., 2014), who are not sufficiently protected through social welfare regulations and do not enjoy the same social entitlements as employed workers. This paper uses the concept of informality to highlight ongoing informalisation processes of employment relationships as well as informal working practices in creative labour markets. It discusses the emergence of co-working as a practice of collective self-help and self-organisation to cope with and to potentially overcome the informality, uncertainty and risks associated with independent work. It argues that co-working can be seen in line with other practices of informal urbanism that become more prevalent in European and North American cities because of the lack of affordable housing, the retrenchment of the social welfare state and the imposed conditions of ‘austerity urbanism’ (Peck, 2012).
Personality, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Stress in Communal Residences Supporting Recovery
Authors: Reilly Angela , Stevens Edward B. , Jason Leonard A.
Published: September 2018

The current study examined the relationships between a personality metatrait (Stability consisting of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism), self-esteem, and stress in an adult population of individuals with substance use disorders living in recovery homes. Adults ( N = 229) residing in 42 residential recovery settings were interviewed as part of the first wave of a longitudinal study in three sites. Standard error of the mean analysis found significant effects for several demographic variables on Stability, and Stability was significantly related both directly and indirectly to stress. These findings suggest that individual differences at entry may influence recovery home effects and may be important to developing more effective aftercare systems.
Finding Our Missing Pieces—Women Technical Writers in Ancient Mesopotamia
Authors: Raign Kathryn R.
Published: September 2018

Contrary to current scholarship in technical communication, which places the first women technical writers in the period of 1641–1700 AD, the first technical documents were written by women in 2400 BCE—eight centuries earlier. Enheduanna—the first woman writer and the first nonanonymous author ever identified—wrote many of the period’s great poems, including A Hymn to Inanna. Her work calls into question our discipline’s belief that persuasive writing began with Homer and was conceptualized largely by men. This fact has the potential to completely revise the history of both technical and persuasive writing, and women’s role in that history.
Précis of Understanding Institutions
Authors: Guala Francesco
Published: September 2018

Understanding Institutions offers a theory that is able to unify the two dominant approaches in the scientific and philosophical literature on institutions. Moreover, using the ‘rules-in-equilibrium’ theory, it tackles several ancient puzzles in the philosophy of social science.
Organization and Information Processing: Elements of a History of Early Digitization in the Swiss Federal Administration
Authors: Koller Guido
Published: September 2018

Since the founding of the Swiss federal state in 1848, government and administration have been constantly reorganized. One important change occurred between the 1960s and 1980s: the automation and standardization of information management. Through two cases, the Zentrales Ausländerregister (ZAR) and the Zentralstelle der Bundesverwaltung für Organisationsfragen (ZOB), this article examines the organization and mechanization of information in Swiss Federal Administration by focusing on data processing as the predominant measure for the operationalization of administrative workflows. The period between the 1960s and 1970s proved decisive in the incremental development of data processing that ultimately led to the digitization of ever larger parts of administration.
Stable goals despite economic strain: Young adults’ goal appraisals across the Great Recession
Authors: Recksiedler Claudia , Settersten Richard A. , Geldhof G. John , Hooker Karen
Published: September 2018

Drawing on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this study examines change and stability in personal goal appraisals among German young adults aged 18–29 from 2008, the depth of the Great Recession, to 2012, into the recovery period ( N = 3,292). Young adults in Germany, particularly young male workers, were greatly affected by the recession. We examine adaptation in personal appraisals of family, work, leisure, and self-fulfillment goals. Latent transition analysis revealed two profiles of goal adaptation, which differed mainly on the significance of family formation goals (low vs. high). Transitions between the latent profiles over time were less common. Females, older participants, partnered, and employed respondents were more likely to be classified into the high family formation profile. The high family formation profile was also associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and satisfaction with family life, yet simultaneously with lower levels of satisfaction with work and more concerns about the general economy at the onset of the recession. Furthermore, results do not reveal that family formation goals were relinquished over the recession years in favor of self-fulfillment or work-related goals. The high degree of stability in goal appraisals suggests that holding on to family formation goals was important for the well-being of young adults, and that maintaining high aspirations for multiple goals may have protected young people from the effects of economic strain. These findings are discussed in light of the unique aspects of German context.
Virtual Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Simulation with 3D‐Printed Models for Mixed‐Reality Nasal Endoscopy
Authors: Barber Samuel R. , Jain Saurabh , Son Young‐Jun , Chang Eugene H.
Published: September 2018

The surgeon's knowledge of a patient's individual anatomy is critical in skull base surgery. Trainees and experienced surgeons can benefit from surgical simulation; however, current models are expensive and impractical for widespread use. In this study, we report a next‐generation mixed‐reality surgical simulator. We segmented critical anatomic structures for 3‐dimensional (3D) models to develop a modular teaching tool. We then developed a navigation tracking system utilizing a 3D‐printed endoscope as a trackable virtual‐reality (VR) controller and validated the accuracy on VR and 3D‐printed skull models within 1 cm. We combined VR and augmented‐reality visual cues with our 3D physical model to simulate sinus endoscopy and highlight segmented structures in real time. This report provides evidence that a mixed‐reality simulator combining VR and 3D‐printed models is feasible and may prove useful as an educational tool that is low cost and customizable.
Assessment and Treatment of Behavioral Disorders in Children with Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review
Authors: Bigler Diana , Burke Kristen , Laureano Nicholas , Alfonso Kristan , Jacobs Julie , Bush Matthew L.
Published: September 2018

Objective

There is evidence that children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) have a higher incidence of behavioral disorders. Assessment of behavioral health in this population is often complicated by language developmental delays, which may result in unrecognized and untreated behavioral problems. The purpose of this study is to assess the association of behavioral disorders among children who are DHH and to explore behavioral interventions for children in this population.

Data Sources

PubMed, CINALH, PsychINFO, and Web of Science.

Review Methods

Search terms included the following: problem behavior, child behavior disorders/diagnosis, child behavior disorders/psychology coupled with hearing loss, cochlear implants, hearing aids, or deafness. Studies from the last 30 years (1985‐2016) were included. The articles were reviewed independently by 3 reviewers.

Results

Thirty‐six articles met criteria. There was an association between internalizing behaviors and hearing loss among children, which may persist after cochlear implantation. These problems may be more pronounced for children with additional disabilities. Conduct and hyperactivity disorders as well as emotional and executive function problems among children who are DHH may be related to poor language development. There was limited evidence regarding interventions to address the behavioral disorders of DHH children.

Conclusions

There is a significant body of evidence demonstrating behavioral problems among DHH children but a lack of clear understanding of the mechanisms involved. There is limited evidence on interventions to address the behavioral problems of DHH children. Future research is warranted to mitigate the long‐term effects of disruptive behavior among these children.
Does Socioeconomic Status Affect Stage at Presentation for Larynx Cancer in Canada's Universal Health Care System?
Authors: Khalil Diana , Corsten Martin J. , Holland Margaret , Balram Adele , McDonald James Ted , Johnson‐Obaseki Stephanie
Published: September 2018

Objective

Diagnosis of laryngeal cancer is dependent on awareness that persistent hoarseness needs to be investigated as well as access to an otolaryngologist. This study aimed to better classify and understand 3 factors that may lead to variability in stage at presentation of laryngeal cancer: (1) socioeconomic status (SES), (2) differences in access to health care by location of residence (rural vs urban or by province), and (3) access to an otolaryngologist (by otolaryngologists per capita).

Study Design

Registry‐based multicenter cohort analysis.

Setting

This was a national study across Canada, a country with a single‐payer, universal health care system.

Subjects

All persons 18 years or older who were diagnosed with laryngeal cancer from 2005 to 2013 inclusive were extracted from the Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR).

Methods

Ordered logistic regression was used to determine the effect of income, age, sex, province of residence, and rural vs urban residence on stage at presentation.

Results

A total of 1550 cases were included (1280 males and 265 females). The stage at presentation was earlier in the highest income quintile (quintile 5) compared to the lower income quintiles (quintiles 1‐4) (odds ratio [OR], 0.68; P <. 05). There was a statistically significant difference in stage at presentation based on rural or urban residence within the highest income quintile (OR, 1.73; P <. 005).

Conclusion

There is a relationship between SES and stage at presentation for laryngeal cancer even in the Canadian universal health care system.
Definition of Heterology
Authors: Bataille Georges
Published: September 2018

In this text, Bataille clarifies his idea of the ‘excluded part’, i.e. that which is left behind by science. Bataille seeks to create an approach that would challenge the abstracted method of science, which presents the world as idealized and homogeneous. The aim of Bataille’s ‘science of the heterogeneous’ is to shed light on the unproductive expenditure of life, which moves between the sacred and the unclean. In pursuing this, he debunks the common idea that what is profane is already impure and vice versa. This text is notable for the new vocabulary that Bataille introduces in order to define heterology. Terms like heterodoxy, agiology and scatology rehabilitate the ideas of the unclean and the profane by structuring them in a new discourse, in which the excluded part is taken as the foundation for the new science of the impossible. Finally, the text shows how Bataille articulates this new science through providing examples largely from the study of religion and psychoanalysis.
Breath hold effect on cardiovascular brain pulsations – A multimodal magnetic resonance encephalography study
Authors: Raitamaa Lauri , Korhonen Vesa , Huotari Niko , Raatikainen Ville , Hautaniemi Taneli , Kananen Janne , Rasila Aleksi , Helakari Heta , Zienkiewicz Aleksandra , Myllylä Teemu , Borchardt Viola , Kiviniemi Vesa
Published: September 2018

Ultra-fast functional magnetic resonance encephalography (MREG) enables separate assessment of cardiovascular, respiratory, and vasomotor waves from brain pulsations without temporal aliasing. We examined effects of breath hold- (BH) related changes on cardiovascular brain pulsations using MREG to study the physiological nature of cerebrovascular reactivity. We used alternating 32 s BH and 88 s resting normoventilation (NV) to change brain pulsations during MREG combined with simultaneously measured respiration, continuous non-invasive blood pressure, and cortical near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in healthy volunteers. Changes in classical resting-state network BOLD-like signal and cortical blood oxygenation were reproduced based on MREG and NIRS signals. Cardiovascular pulsation amplitudes of MREG signal from anterior cerebral artery, oxygenated hemoglobin concentration in frontal cortex, and blood pressure decreased after BH. MREG cardiovascular pulse amplitudes in cortical areas and sagittal sinus increased, while cerebrospinal fluid and white matter remained unchanged. Respiratory centers in the brainstem – hypothalamus – thalamus – amygdala network showed strongest increases in cardiovascular pulsation amplitude. The spatial propagation of averaged cardiovascular impulses altered as a function of successive BH runs. The spread of cardiovascular pulse cycles exhibited a decreasing spatial similarity over time. MREG portrayed spatiotemporally accurate respiratory network activity and cardiovascular pulsation dynamics related to BH challenges at an unpreceded high temporal resolution.
Variability of functional outcome measures used in animal models of stroke and vascular cognitive impairment – a review of contemporary studies
Authors: Hietamies Tuuli M , Ostrowski Caroline , Pei Zhong , Feng Luyang , McCabe Christopher , Work Lorraine M , Quinn Terence J
Published: September 2018

Despite promising preclinical data, few novel stroke therapies have shown efficacy in man. Efforts to improve standards in conduct and reporting of preclinical research are ongoing. In clinical trials, inconsistency in outcome measures led to regulatory agencies and funders mandating use of a core set of functional outcomes. Our aim was to describe functional outcome measures in preclinical stroke and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) studies. From 14 high impact journals (January 2005–December 2015 inclusive), 91,956 papers were screened with 1302 full texts analyzed for stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic) and 56 for VCI studies. In total, 636 (49%) stroke and 37 (66%) VCI papers reported functional outcome measures. There were 74 different functional assessments reported in stroke and 20 in VCI studies. Neurological deficit scores (74%) and Morris water maze (60%) were most commonly used in stroke and VCI, respectively. However, inconsistencies in methods used to assess and score recovery were noted. Neurological and behavioural functional outcome measures are increasingly used in preclinical stroke or VCI studies; however, there is substantial variation in methods. A strict standardized outcome set may not be suitable for translational work, but greater consistency in choice, application and reporting of outcomes may improve the science.
Organization Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Contingent Role of Administrative Intensity in Hurricane Rita
Authors: Ryu Sangyub , Christensen Robert K.
Published: September 2018

This study uses a natural experiment of school performance during Hurricane Rita in 2005 to investigate the impact of administrative intensity on student achievement in turbulent environments. Administrative intensity constitutes the bureaucratic capacity of the workforce, which we measure as a ratio of noncore to core personnel. Scholars have debated the contingent impact of administrative intensity on organizational performance and policy outcomes—focusing either on its contribution to organizational rigidity or enhancement of stores of human capital. We explore a curvilinear alternative to this debate by investigating the moderating role of administrative intensity in the otherwise negative relationship between environmental turbulence and organizational performance. Because school districts are the organizations of interest in this study, we measure organizational performance via student achievement. Along a curvilinear continuum, we find that administrative intensity contributes to poor performance in less turbulent environments but heightened performance in more turbulent environments. Making a contingent case for “bureaucracy,” our findings draw attention to environments where administrative intensity can provide a positive performance buffer. Our study extends insights offered by Meier, O’Toole, and Hicklin.
Leveraging experience for robust, adaptive nonlinear MPC on computationally constrained systems with time-varying state uncertainty
Authors: Desaraju Vishnu R , Spitzer Alexander E , O’Meadhra Cormac , Lieu Lauren , Michael Nathan
Published: September 2018

This paper presents a robust-adaptive nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) technique that leverages past experiences to achieve tractability on computationally constrained systems. We propose a robust extension of the Experience-driven Predictive Control (EPC) algorithm via a Gaussian belief propagation strategy that computes an uncertainty set, bounding the evolution of the system state in the presence of time-varying state uncertainty. This uncertainty set is used to tighten the constraints in the predictive control formulation via a chance-constrained approach, thereby providing a probabilistic guarantee of constraint satisfaction. The parameterized form of the controllers produced by EPC coupled with online uncertainty estimates ensures that this robust constraint satisfaction property persists, even as the system switches controllers and experiences variations in the uncertainty model. We validate the online performance and robust constraint satisfaction of the proposed Robust EPC algorithm through a series of trials with a simulated ground robot and three experimental platforms: (1) a small quadrotor aerial robot executing aggressive maneuvers in wind with degraded state estimates, (2) a skid-steer ground robot equipped with a laser-based localization system, and (3) a hexarotor aerial robot equipped with a vision-based localization system.
The effect of abdominal contrast-enhanced CT on DNA double-strand breaks in peripheral blood lymphocytes: an in vitro and in vivo study
Authors: Tao Shu Min , Zhou Fan , Schoepf U Joseph , Johnson Addison A , Lin Zhu Xiao , Zhou Chang Sheng , Lu Guang Ming , Zhang Long Jiang
Published: September 2018

Background

As abdominal computed tomography (CT) radiation dose can be higher compared with other organ systems, monitoring the radiation exposure from this exam type is especially important.

Purpose

To evaluate the effect of abdominal contrast-enhanced CT (CE-CT) on levels of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Material and Methods

This study was performed in two parts: (i) an in vitro study: venous blood samples from 12 volunteers were divided into four groups. Samples in group A did not undergo radiation exposure, while groups B, C, and D received one CT scan with 1–3 times the radiation dose equivalent to abdominal CE-CT scan, respectively; and (ii) an in vivo study: blood was taken before CT and 5 min after CT in 30 patients. Lymphocytes were isolated and stained by immunofluorescence of γ-H2AX protein. DSB levels were compared by variance analysis or paired t-test. The relationship between radiation dose and γ-H2AX focus increase was analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis.

Results

In the in vitro study, DSBs levels in groups B, C, and D were 49.4%, 96.6%, and 149.4% higher than those in Group A, respectively (all P < 0.001). Radiation dose in the four subgroups had a linear correlation to DSB levels ( P < 0.001). In the in vivo study, the DSB level was 43.5% higher after CT ( P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Abdominal CE-CT significantly increased DSB levels in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. A positive linear correlation of CT radiation dose with intracellular DSBs levels was observed in the in vitro study.
Efficacy and safety of yttrium-aluminium garnet (YAG) laser vitreolysis for vitreous floaters
Authors: Luo Jihan , An Xiaoju , Kuang Yi
Published: September 2018

Objective

To examine the efficacy and safety of yttrium-aluminium garnet (YAG) laser vitreolysis for the treatment of vitreous floaters.

Methods

Consecutive adult patients with symptomatic vitreous floaters who attended Chongqing General Hospital from April to December 2016 were included in this prospective study. Patients had >3 mm between the vitreous opacity and retina/lens and acceptable quality peri-papillary Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images (i.e., signal strength ≥5). Those with history of glaucoma, severe cataracts, vitreous haemorrhages, retinal holes and/or macular disease were excluded from the study. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and non-contact intraocular pressure (IOP) were measured before and for up to 6 months post-YAG laser vitreolysis. Anterior segment photography and peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) measured by OCT were taken before and 6 months post-procedure. Questionnaires on patient satisfaction were completed 6 months post-procedure.

Results

No statistically significant differences in BCVA and IOP were observed before or after treatment. Anterior segment photography showed that vitreous opacities partially or completely disappeared after YAG laser treatment. The thickness of RNFL in four directions (upper, below, nasal and temporal) was not statistically significant different before or 6 months after the procedure. 75% patients reported significant improvement and 25% reported moderate improvement.

Conclusion

The results of this study conducted in a cohort of 30 Chinese patients showed that YAG laser vitreolysis was a well-tolerated and effective treatment for vitreous floaters. Randomised, controlled trials involving large numbers of participants monitored over an extended follow up period are required to confirm these results.
Review: Update on Classical and Atypical Scrapie in Sheep and Goats
Authors: Greenlee Justin J.
Published: September 2018

Scrapie is a naturally occurring transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) or prion disease of sheep and goats. Scrapie is a protein misfolding disease where the normal prion protein (PrPC) misfolds into a pathogenic form (PrPSc) that is highly resistant to enzymatic breakdown within the cell and accumulates, eventually leading to neurodegeneration. The amino acid sequence of the prion protein and tissue distribution of PrPSc within affected hosts have a major role in determining susceptibility to and potential environmental contamination with the scrapie agent. Many countries have genotype-based eradication programs that emphasize using rams that express arginine at codon 171 in the prion protein, which is associated with resistance to the classical scrapie agent. In classical scrapie, accumulation of PrPSc within lymphoid and other tissues facilitates environmental contamination and spread of the disease within flocks. A major distinction can be made between classical scrapie strains that are readily spread within populations of susceptible sheep and goats and atypical (Nor-98) scrapie that has unique molecular and phenotype characteristics and is thought to occur spontaneously in older sheep or goats. This review provides an overview of classical and atypical scrapie with consideration of potential transmission of classical scrapie to other mammalian hosts.
Systemic Necrotizing Vasculitis in Sheep Is Associated With Ovine Herpesvirus 2
Authors: Pesavento Patricia A. , Dange Rahul B. , Ferreras M. Carmen , Dasjerdi Akbar , Pérez Valentin , LaRoca Anna , Silván Julio Benavides , Diab Santiago , Jackson Kenneth , Phillips Ida L. , Li Hong , Cunha Cristina W. , Wessels Mark
Published: September 2018

Ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) is one of the gammaherpesviruses in the genus Macavirus that can cause malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) in ungulates. Sheep are the adapted host for OvHV-2 and it is generally assumed that infection is not associated with disease in this species. However, cases of “polyarteritis nodosa” or idiopathic systemic necrotizing vasculitis reported in sheep are similar to vascular lesions in clinically susceptible species with MCF. Using a recently developed in situ hybridization (ISH) method, we were able to identify OvHV-2 nucleic acids within lesions and correlate the viral distribution with systemic necrotizing vasculitis in 9 sheep, including both naturally and experimentally OvHV-2–infected animals. ISH, combined with polymerase chain reaction and histology, identify OvHV-2 as the likely agent responsible for sporadic, MCF-like vascular disease in sheep.
Incorporation of Travel Time Reliability in Regional Travel Model
Authors: Gupta Surabhi , Vovsha Peter , Dutta Arup , Livshits Vladimir , Zhang Wang , Zhu Haidong
Published: September 2018

The paper presents a practical method for incorporation of travel time reliability in a regional travel model. The discussion includes five consecutive steps. First it describes how the vehicle speed dataset for the metropolitan area of Phoenix, AZ, termed HERE, was processed and link-level volume–delay–reliability functions were estimated, and then how link-level reliability measures can be applied for network path building. The third step describes how trip origin–destination (OD) reliability measures can be constructed out of the link-level reliability measures. The fourth step involves implementation of the link-level and OD-level reliability measures in highway assignment, mode choice, and other travel models. The fifth step includes model validation and sensitivity tests. The paper addresses several long-standing issues associated with incorporation of travel time reliability in operational travel models in practice. These issues include construction of OD reliability measures with the recognition that the core link-level reliability measures such as standard deviation or variance are not additive in a general case, accounting for a partial correlation between travel time distributions for different links, and incorporation of travel time reliability in a standard static assignment.
Assessing the Impact of App-Based Ride Share Systems in an Urban Context: Findings from Austin
Authors: Komanduri Anurag , Wafa Zeina , Proussaloglou Kimon , Jacobs Simon
Published: September 2018

App-driven ridesharing platforms are gaining popularity and are transforming urban movement patterns in cities throughout the world. Because of privacy and business considerations, their owners have released little information about riders’ trip-making characteristics. This lack of data prevents planners and modelers from understanding and quantifying the impact of these new modes on regional travel patterns. In 2016, RideAustin, a not-for-profit company, was established to provide mobility-on-demand services in the Austin region. RideAustin released its dataset of over one million trips to researchers to support transportation planning through a better understanding of urban travel flows. This paper presents findings from an in-depth analysis of this dataset and summarizes key aspects of interest to the transportation research community such as the number of riders, drivers, and trips; total vehicle miles including deadhead miles; and terminal times. The paper also presents findings from two case studies that show the competitiveness of RideAustin versus transit and the utilization of the RideAustin system during the South by Southwest festival. While some of the metrics cannot be readily transferred to other regions, several findings can be used by planners and modelers as they integrate rideshare systems within their planning and modeling frameworks. We also believe that some of the research findings may provide insights into a future system of autonomous and shared vehicles.
Young Women’s Intimate Partner Violence Victimization Patterns Across Multiple Relationships
Authors: Kennedy Angie C. , Bybee Deborah , McCauley Heather L. , Prock Kristen A.
Published: September 2018

We explored patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization at the relationship level within a socioeconomically diverse sample of young women who had experienced IPV. We recruited from a university, a 2-year college, and high-risk community settings. Drawing on life course theory and utilizing the life history calendar, we conducted retrospective interviews with 148 young women aged 18–24 about partner victimization (physical IPV, coercive control, and sexual IPV) within each relationship, beginning with their first (up to four relationships; 388 total). We assessed patterns of IPV across participants’ relationship histories: rates of the three IPV types and co-occurrence, by setting and relationship number; relationship length in association with the number of IPV types; and transitions into and out of abusive relationships. Coercive control was the most common IPV type across Relationships 1–4 (46–58% of relationships), followed by physical IPV (42–54%) and sexual IPV (29–34%); the most common co-occurrence patterns were physical IPV plus coercive control and all three IPV types combined. Relationships lasted 15–24 months on average, and relationship length was positively associated with the number of IPV types. Transitions were heterogeneous, with systematic, positive change in physical IPV from Relationships 1 to 2; setting was not associated with transition patterns. In the future, researchers should explore a relationship-level approach; prevention and intervention efforts should integrate sexual assault and partner violence, begin early, and target all youth. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684318795880 .
Closely Related Fruit Fly Species Living at Different Latitudes Diverge in Their Circadian Clock Anatomy and Rhythmic Behavior
Authors: Beauchamp Marta , Bertolini Enrico , Deppisch Peter , Steubing Jonathan , Menegazzi Pamela , Helfrich-Förster Charlotte
Published: September 2018

Recently, we reported differences in the expression pattern of the blue light-sensitive flavoprotein cryptochrome (CRY) and the neuropeptide pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) in the neuronal clock network of high-latitude Drosophila species, belonging to the Drosophila subgenus ( virilis-repleta radiation), compared with cosmopolitan D. melanogaster flies, belonging to the Sophophora subgenus. Alterations in rhythmic patterns of activity due to these differences might have adaptive significance for colonizing high-latitude habitats and, hence, adjusting to long photoperiods. Here, we show that these differing CRY/PDF expression patterns are only present in those species of the virilis-repleta radiation that colonized high latitudes. The cosmopolitan species D. mercatorum and D. hydei have a D. melanogaster-like clock network and behavior despite belonging to the virilis-repleta radiation. Similarly, 2 species of the holotropical Zaprionus genus, more closely related to the Drosophila subgenus than to the Sophophora subgenus, retain a D. melanogaster-like clock network and rhythmic behavior. We therefore suggest that the D. melanogaster-like clock network is the “ancestral fly clock phenotype” and that alterations in the CRY/PDF clock neurochemistry have allowed some species of the virilis-repleta radiation to colonize high-latitude environments.
Hierarchies of Categorical Disadvantage: Economic Insecurity at the Intersection of Disability, Gender, and Race
Authors: Maroto Michelle , Pettinicchio David , Patterson Andrew C.
Published: September 2018

Intersectional feminist scholars emphasize how overlapping systems of oppression structure gender inequality, but in focusing on the gendered, classed, and racialized bases of stratification, many often overlook disability as an important social category in determining economic outcomes. This is a significant omission given that disability severely limits opportunities and contributes to cumulative disadvantage. We draw from feminist disability and intersectional theories to account for how disability intersects with gender, race, and education to produce economic insecurity. The findings from our analyses of 2015 American Community Survey data provide strong empirical support for hierarchies of disadvantage, where women and racial minority groups with disabilities and less education experience the highest poverty levels, report the lowest total income, and have a greater reliance on sources outside the labor market for economic security. By taking disability into account, our study demonstrates how these multiple characteristics lead to overlapping oppressions that become embedded and reproduced within the larger social structure.
Urinary Incontinence Is Associated With Physical Performance Decline in Community-Dwelling Older Women: Results From the International Mobility in Aging Study
Authors: Corrêa Luana Caroline de Assunção Cortez , Pirkle Catherine M. , Wu Yan Yan , Vafaei Afshin , Curcio Carmen-Lucia , Câmara Saionara Maria Aires da
Published: September 2018

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of urinary incontinence (UI) on physical performance. Method: In prospective analyses from the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS), 915 women (65-74 years) from Canada, Colombia, Albania, and Brazil were evaluated in relation to self-reported UI (past week) and physical performance (Short Physical Performance Battery [SPPB]), with reevaluation after 2 years. Linear mixed models examined the influence of UI on SPPB, adjusted by covariates (age, study site, education, income sufficiency, body mass index [BMI] and parity). Results: Women reporting some UI presented lower SPPB mean (β = −0.41, p = .009) and a greater reduction (β = −0.53, p = .001) over 2 years than those reporting no UI. Discussion: Compared with no reported UI, some UI was associated with worse and more pronounced declines in physical performance over 2 years. This study highlights the importance of practices to reduce UI to contribute to healthier aging.