Medial prefrontal cortex lesions in mice do not impair effort-based decision making.

The function of the medial prefrontal cortex has previously been determined in the rat to play an important role in effort-based decision making and this, along with functions of other areas, has been assumed largely, to hold true in all rodents. In this study, we attempted to replicate this result in mice and to develop a model for effort-based decision making that could be useful for the study of neurological conditions. Mice were trained on a cost-benefit T-maze paradigm, whereby they chose between a low reward with little effort needed to obtain it or a higher reward, which required increased effort. Following training, the medial prefrontal cortex was lesioned. After surgery, contrary to earlier published rat studies, the performance of the mice did not change. In previous studies, prefrontal cortex lesioned rats chose the low effort/low reward option, but lesioned mice continued to select the high reward/high effort option. However, the other results are in line with previous mouse studies in both the extent of pathology and anxiety-like behaviour. These results illustrate a difference in the functioning of the prefrontal cortex between rats and mice and offer a word of caution on the interpretation of data from studies that employ different species

Democracy and Social Justice in Sarajevo’s Schools

After the end of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, the people of Sarajevo found themselves rebuilding their country while also learning to live with their former enemies in this developing democracy. In this study we examined the extent to which democratic practices and social justice values were being taught in Sarajevo’s schools. Using a case study method, we gathered data gathered from interviews with educators in a variety of roles in Sarajevo, observations of elementary and secondary classroom teaching, and daily reflective journal entries about living and teaching in the city during the fall of 2008. Our data analyses revealed that democratic teaching practices and multicultural values are not being taught in Sarajevo’s schools. Instead, entangled and fragmented governmental structures, lingering emotional trauma from the war, and a general sense of pessimism about the future are interfering with educational reform and movement toward a democratic and socially-just society

A transfer function approach for predicting rare cell capture microdevice performance

Rare cells have the potential to improve our understanding of biological systems and the treatment of a variety of diseases; each of those applications requires a different balance of throughput, capture efficiency, and sample purity. Those challenges, coupled with the limited availability of patient samples and the costs of repeated design iterations, motivate the need for a robust set of engineering tools to optimize application-specific geometries. Here, we present a transfer function approach for predicting rare cell capture in microfluidic obstacle arrays. Existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools are limited to simulating a subset of these arrays, owing to computational costs; a transfer function leverages the deterministic nature of cell transport in these arrays, extending limited CFD simulations into larger, more complicated geometries. We show that the transfer function approximation matches a full CFD simulation within 1.34 %, at a 74-fold reduction in computational cost. Taking advantage of these computational savings, we apply the transfer function simulations to simulate reversing array geometries that generate a “notch filter” effect, reducing the collision frequency of cells outside of a specified diameter range. We adapt the transfer function to study the effect of off-design boundary conditions (such as a clogged inlet in a microdevice) on overall performance. Finally, we have validated the transfer function’s predictions for lateral displacement within the array using particle tracking and polystyrene beads in a microdevice.National Cancer Institute (U.S.). Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (Cornell Center on the Microenvironment and Metastasis. Award U54CA143876

Using the UK general offender database as a means to measure and analyse Organised Crime.

Purpose Organised Crime is notoriously difficult to define and measure, resulting in limited empirical evidence to inform policy makers and practitioners. This study explores the feasibility of identifying a greater number of organized crime offenders, currently captured (but invisible), within an existing national general crime database. Methodology All 2.1 million recorded offenders, captured over a four year period on the UK Police National Computer (PNC), were filtered across three criteria associated with organized crime (co-offending, commission of specific offences, three years imprisonment or more). The 4109 ‘organized crime’ offenders, identified by the process, were compared with ‘general’ and ‘serious’ offender control groups across a variety of personal and demographic variables. Findings Organized crime prosecutions are not random but concentrate in specific geographic areas and constitute 0.2% of the offender population. Offenders can be differentiated from general crime offenders on such measures as: criminal onset age, offence type and criminal recidivism. Research implications Using an offence based methodology, rather than relying on offenders identified through police proactive investigations, can provide empirical information from existing data sets, across a diverse range of legislative areas and cultures. This allows academics to enhance their analysis of organized crime, generating richer evidence on which policy makers and practitioners can more effectively deliver preventative and disruptive tactics. Originality This is the first time an ‘offence based’ methodology has been used in differentiating organised crime from other offenders in a general crime database

Visual Management in Engineering Can Improve Resource Utilization and Reduce Administrative Non-Value Added Time

This research has demonstrated how Visual Management (VM) can be used in an engineering environment to improve engineering resource utilization. Furthermore, it reduces the administrative time associated with unclear project scope, schedule, budget, and task alignment amongst engineers and project leadership. The research references a case study in which low engineering utilization was directly impacting overall project success. Inconsistent visibility of scheduled engineering activities, changes in tasking, and project metrics created uncertainty and resulted in greater than appropriate administrative time. The methodology used was to implement visual project management tools and track engineer utilization over two years. Quarterly utilization results for the engineering staff were captured from January 2017 thru June 2020 and used to show resulting trends and statistical analysis of results. This research has shown clear and consistent improvement from the point of visual management implementation and has sustained improved performance over the last 1.5 years of the research period. Moreover, two statistical t-tests were used to show if the research rejects or accepts the null hypothesis that there was zero statistical difference to utilization or administrative time burdens before and after implementing the visual management tools. Lastly, survey results from the engineers included as participants provided the qualitative data needed to support the research conclusion and quantitative analysis