On the development and application of EMMIE: Insights from the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction

The What Works Centre for Crime Reduction was established in September 2013 with the aim of increasing the use of research evidence by decision-makers in policing and crime reduction. The EMMIE framework was developed to meet this aim. It encapsulates five broad categories of research evidence that are considered relevant to crime reduction, namely Effect size, Mechanism, Moderator (or context), Implementation and Economics. In this paper, we chart the origins and development of EMMIE. We also reflect on our experience of applying EMMIE both as a coding system to appraise systematic review evidence and as a framework to inform the design and conduct of systematic reviews in crime reduction. We conclude with a critique of EMMIE and with suggestions on how it might be developed and refined in the future

Chiral Modulations in Curved Space I: Formalism

The goal of this paper is to present a formalism that allows to handle four-fermion effective theories at finite temperature and density in curved space. The formalism is based on the use of the effective action and zeta function regularization, supports the inclusion of inhomogeneous and anisotropic phases. One of the key points of the method is the use of a non-perturbative ansatz for the heat-kernel that returns the effective action in partially resummed form, providing a way to go beyond the approximations based on the Ginzburg-Landau expansion for the partition function. The effective action for the case of ultra-static Riemannian spacetimes with compact spatial section is discussed in general and a series representation, valid when the chemical potential satisfies a certain constraint, is derived. To see the formalism at work, we consider the case of static Einstein spaces at zero chemical potential. Although in this case we expect inhomogeneous phases to occur only as meta-stable states, the problem is complex enough and allows to illustrate how to implement numerical studies of inhomogeneous phases in curved space. Finally, we extend the formalism to include arbitrary chemical potentials and obtain the analytical continuation of the effective action in curved space.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures; version to appear in JHE

ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS AND THEIR ROLE IN EXTREME PRECIPITATION IN THE MIDWEST U.S.

Two case studies are presented of atmospheric rivers (ARs) that produced heavy precipitation in the Midwest U.S. during March 2008 and October 2009. A third case study demonstrating an AR with normal precipitation in the Midwest is also included for comparison. The analyses used the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data sets for identification of ARs and analysis. The study documents several key ingredients that contribute to differentiating between events of extreme precipitation and normal precipitation. The primary findings of this study are as follows 1) the induced flow due to the low-level/surface temperature anomaly plays an important role in transporting moisture from the Caribbean northward to the Midwest, 2) the induced wind field from a strong upper-level potential vorticity (PV) anomaly increases moisture flux from the Gulf and decreases static stability, which favors convective precipitation, and 3) heavy precipitation events are preceded approximately 9 hours by an increasing, positive moisture flux occurring across the northern Gulf Coast.http://archive.org/details/atmosphericriver1094532835Captain, United States Air ForceApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Types of problems elicited by verbal protocols for blind and sighted participants

Verbal protocols are often used in user-based studies of interactive technologies. This study investigated whether different types of problems are revealed by concurrent and retrospective verbal protocols (CVP and RVP) for blind and sighted participants. Eight blind and eight sighted participants undertook both CVP and RVP on four websites. Overall, interactivity problems were significantly more frequent in comparison to content or information architecture problems. In addition, RVP revealed significantly more interactivity problems than CVP for both user groups. Finally, blind participants encountered significantly more interactivity problems than sighted participants. The findings have implications for which protocol is appropriate, depending on the purpose of a particular study and the user groups involved

Stellar winds from Massive Stars

We review the various techniques through which wind properties of massive stars - O stars, AB supergiants, Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs), Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars and cool supergiants - are derived. The wind momentum-luminosity relation (e.g. Kudritzki et al. 1999) provides a method of predicting mass-loss rates of O stars and blue supergiants which is superior to previous parameterizations. Assuming the theoretical sqrt(Z) metallicity dependence, Magellanic Cloud O star mass-loss rates are typically matched to within a factor of two for various calibrations. Stellar winds from LBVs are typically denser and slower than equivalent B supergiants, with exceptional mass-loss rates during giant eruptions Mdot=10^-3 .. 10^-1 Mo/yr (Drissen et al. 2001). Recent mass-loss rates for Galactic WR stars indicate a downward revision of 2-4 relative to previous calibrations due to clumping (e.g. Schmutz 1997), although evidence for a metallicity dependence remains inconclusive (Crowther 2000). Mass-loss properties of luminous (> 10^5 Lo) yellow and red supergiants from alternative techniques remain highly contradictory. Recent Galactic and LMC results for RSG reveal a large scatter such that typical mass-loss rates lie in the range 10^-6 .. 10^-4 Mo/yr, with a few cases exhibiting 10^-3 Mo/yr.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, Review paper to appear in Proc `The influence of binaries on stellar population studies', Brussels, Aug 2000 (D. Vanbeveren ed.), Kluwe

A behavioral database for masked form priming

Reading involves a process of matching an orthographic input with stored representations in lexical memory. The masked priming paradigm has become a standard tool for investigating this process. Use of existing results from this paradigm can be limited by the precision of the data and the need for cross-experiment comparisons that lack normal experimental controls. Here, we present a single, large, high-precision, multicondition experiment to address these problems. Over 1,000 participants from 14 sites responded to 840 trials involving 28 different types of orthographically related primes (e.g., castfe–CASTLE) in a lexical decision task, as well as completing measures of spelling and vocabulary. The data were indeed highly sensitive to differences between conditions: After correction for multiple comparisons, prime type condition differences of 2.90 ms and above reached significance at the 5% level. This article presents the method of data collection and preliminary findings from these data, which included replications of the most widely agreed-upon differences between prime types, further evidence for systematic individual differences in susceptibility to priming, and new evidence regarding lexical properties associated with a target word’s susceptibility to priming. These analyses will form a basis for the use of these data in quantitative model fitting and evaluation and for future exploration of these data that will inform and motivate new experiments

The Contribution of Dental Amalgam to Urinary Mercury Excretion in Children

BACKGROUND: Urinary mercury concentrations are widely used as a measure of mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings. No studies have evaluated the relationship of these measures in a longitudinal context in children. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated urinary mercury in children 8–18 years of age in relation to number of amalgam surfaces and time since placement over a 7-year course of amalgam treatment. METHODS: Five hundred seven children, 8–10 years of age at baseline, participated in a clinical trial to evaluate the neurobehavioral effects of dental amalgam in children. Subjects were randomized to either dental amalgam or resin composite treatments. Urinary mercury and creatinine concentrations were measured at baseline and annually on all participants. RESULTS: Treatment groups were comparable in baseline urinary mercury concentration (~ 1.5 μg/L). Mean urinary mercury concentrations in the amalgam group increased to a peak of ~ 3.2 μg/L at year 2 and then declined to baseline levels by year 7 of follow-up. There was a strong, positive association between urinary mercury and both number of amalgam surfaces and time since placement. Girls had significantly higher mean urinary mercury concentrations than boys throughout the course of amalgam treatment. There were no differences by race in urinary mercury concentration associated with amalgam exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary mercury concentrations are highly correlated with both number of amalgam fillings and time since placement in children. Girls excrete significantly higher concentrations of mercury in the urine than boys with comparable treatment, suggesting possible sex-related differences in mercury handling and susceptibility to mercury toxicity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

3D Airway changes using CBCT in patients following mandibular setback surgery ± maxillary advancement

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149310/1/ocr12291_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149310/2/ocr12291.pd

Agent based modelling helps in understanding the rules by which fibroblasts support keratinocyte colony formation

Background: Autologous keratincoytes are routinely expanded using irradiated mouse fibroblasts and bovine serum for clinical use. With growing concerns about the safety of these xenobiotic materials, it is desirable to culture keratinocytes in media without animal derived products. An improved understanding of epithelial/mesenchymal interactions could assist in this. Methodology/Principal Findings: A keratincyte/fibroblast o-culture model was developed by extending an agent-based keratinocyte colony formation model to include the response of keratinocytes to both fibroblasts and serum. The model was validated by comparison of the in virtuo and in vitro multicellular behaviour of keratinocytes and fibroblasts in single and co-culture in Greens medium. To test the robustness of the model, several properties of the fibroblasts were changed to investigate their influence on the multicellular morphogenesis of keratinocyes and fibroblasts. The model was then used to generate hypotheses to explore the interactions of both proliferative and growth arrested fibroblasts with keratinocytes. The key predictions arising from the model which were confirmed by in vitro experiments were that 1) the ratio of fibroblasts to keratinocytes would critically influence keratinocyte colony expansion, 2) this ratio needed to be optimum at the beginning of the co-culture, 3) proliferative fibroblasts would be more effective than irradiated cells in expanding keratinocytes and 4) in the presence of an adequate number of fibroblasts, keratinocyte expansion would be independent of serum. Conclusions: A closely associated computational and biological approach is a powerful tool for understanding complex biological systems such as the interactions between keratinocytes and fibroblasts. The key outcome of this study is the finding that the early addition of a critical ratio of proliferative fibroblasts can give rapid keratinocyte expansion without the use of irradiated mouse fibroblasts and bovine serum