Sustaining Engineering Education Research: Sharing Qualitative Research Data For Secondary Analysis

The need for secondary data analysis practices emerges from multiple sources. Qualitative researchers often have rich data sets that far exceed the time available for data analysis, and many of us wish that someone could spend more time with the data. We also recognize that local data sets would benefit from further analysis that linked our data with related data collected in different contexts. Many also grapple with increasing data sharing requirements from funding agencies that raise concerns about participant confidentiality and data integrity. This workshop provides a chance to explore potential responses to these concerns through a robust dialogue around secondary data analysis practices and pitfalls

Dynamic asymmetries in house price cycles: A generalized smooth transition model

In this paper we propose a novel nonlinear model to capture asymmetries in real estate cycles. The approach involves a particular parametrization of the transition function used in the transition equation of a smooth transition autoregressive model which improves the fit in the non-central probability region. The dynamic symmetry in house price cycles is strongly rejected for the housing markets taken into consideration. Further, our results show that the proposed model performs well in a out of sample forecasting exercise

Volatility in the Housing Market: Evidence on Risk and Return in the London Sub-market

The impact of volatility in housing market analysis is reconsidered via examination of the risk-return relationship in the London housing market is examined. In addition to providing the first empirical results for the relationship between risk (as measured by volatility) and returns for this submarket, the analysis offers a more general message to empiricists via a detailed and explicit evaluation of the impact of empirical design decisions upon inferences. In particular, the negative risk-return relationship discussed frequently in the housing market literature is examined and shown to depend upon typically overlooked decisions concerning components of the empirical framework from which statistical inferences are drawn

Lysyl-tRNA synthetase as a drug target in malaria and cryptosporidiosis

Malaria and cryptosporidiosis, caused by apicomplexan parasites, remain major drivers of global child mortality. New drugs for the treatment of malaria and cryptosporidiosis, in particular, are of high priority; however, there are few chemically validated targets. The natural product cladosporin is active against blood- and liver-stage; Plasmodium falciparum; and; Cryptosporidium parvum; in cell-culture studies. Target deconvolution in; P. falciparum; has shown that cladosporin inhibits lysyl-tRNA synthetase (; Pf; KRS1). Here, we report the identification of a series of selective inhibitors of apicomplexan KRSs. Following a biochemical screen, a small-molecule hit was identified and then optimized by using a structure-based approach, supported by structures of both; Pf; KRS1 and; C. parvum; KRS (; Cp; KRS). In vivo proof of concept was established in an SCID mouse model of malaria, after oral administration (ED; 90; = 1.5 mg/kg, once a day for 4 d). Furthermore, we successfully identified an opportunity for pathogen hopping based on the structural homology between; Pf; KRS1 and; Cp; KRS. This series of compounds inhibit; Cp; KRS and; C. parvum; and; Cryptosporidium hominis; in culture, and our lead compound shows oral efficacy in two cryptosporidiosis mouse models. X-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations have provided a model to rationalize the selectivity of our compounds for; Pf; KRS1 and; Cp; KRS vs. (human); Hs; KRS. Our work validates apicomplexan KRSs as promising targets for the development of drugs for malaria and cryptosporidiosis

Disordered T cell-B cell interactions in autoantibody-positive inflammatory arthritis

T peripheral helper (Tph) cells, identified in the synovium of adults with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, drive B cell maturation and antibody production in non-lymphoid tissues. We sought to determine if similarly dysregulated T cell-B cell interactions underlie another form of inflammatory arthritis, juvenile oligoarthritis (oligo JIA). Clonally expanded Tph cells able to promote B cell antibody production preferentially accumulated in the synovial fluid (SF) of oligo JIA patients with antinuclear antibodies (ANA) compared to autoantibody-negative patients. Single-cell transcriptomics enabled further definition of the Tph gene signature in inflamed tissues and showed that Tph cells from ANA-positive patients upregulated genes associated with B cell help to a greater extent than patients without autoantibodies. T cells that co-expressed regulatory T and B cell-help factors were identified. The phenotype of these Tph-like Treg cells suggests an ability to restrain T cell-B cell interactions in tissues. Our findings support the central role of disordered T cell-help to B cells in autoantibody-positive arthritides

Housing affordability during the urban transition in Spain

During the decades prior to the Civil War, Spain experienced a rapid process of urbanization, which was accompanied by the demographic transition and sizeable rural–urban migrations. This article investigates how urban housing markets reacted to these far-reaching changes, which increased demand for dwellings. To this end, this study employs a new hedonic index of real housing prices and constructs a cross-regional panel dataset of rents and housing price fundamentals. This new evidence indicates that rents were not a significant financial burden on low-income families and, hence, housing was affordable for the working classes. The article also shows that families’ access to new homes was facilitated by a sizeable growth in the housing supply. Substantial investments in urban infrastructure and the institutional framework enabled the construction of new homes at affordable prices. Our results suggest that housing problems were not as pervasive during the urban transition as the literature often seems to claim

Recent genomic heritage in Scotland

BACKGROUND: The Generation Scotland Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) includes 23,960 participants from across Scotland with records for many health-related traits and environmental covariates. Genotypes at ~700 K SNPs are currently available for 10,000 participants. The cohort was designed as a resource for genetic and health related research and the study of complex traits. In this study we developed a suite of analyses to disentangle the genomic differentiation within GS:SFHS individuals to describe and optimise the sample and methods for future analyses. RESULTS: We combined the genotypic information of GS:SFHS with 1092 individuals from the 1000 Genomes project and estimated their genomic relationships. Then, we performed Principal Component Analyses of the resulting relationships to investigate the genomic origin of different groups. We characterised two groups of individuals: those with a few sparse rare markers in the genome, and those with several large rare haplotypes which might represent relatively recent exogenous ancestors. We identified some individuals with likely Italian ancestry and a group with some potential African/Asian ancestry. An analysis of homozygosity in the GS:SFHS sample revealed a very similar pattern to other European populations. We also identified an individual carrying a chromosome 1 uniparental disomy. We found evidence of local geographic stratification within the population having impact on the genomic structure. CONCLUSIONS: These findings illuminate the history of the Scottish population and have implications for further analyses such as the study of the contributions of common and rare variants to trait heritabilities and the evaluation of genomic and phenotypic prediction of disease. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1605-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29