Factors Associated with Intervention by Bystanders in Sexual Violence Crimes

Kitty Genovese’s case in 1964 remains the classic example in discussions of bystander intervention. In recent years, people heard similar cases where bystanders act indifferently or are slow to report the crime. This made me ask the research question of this Capstone: What factors are associated with intervention by bystanders? The data set I used here is the incident data file from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data, which covers the years 1992-2013. I pulled out 11 explanatory variables including victim characteristics, offender characteristics, and external/environmental factors. I used a regression model with robust standard errors to examine the multi-variate relations between the dependent variable and explanatory variables. The results of my regression model indicate that after controlling the impacts from other explanatory variables, victim household income, incident time and whether the offender had the right to be at the criminal site were significant factors relating to bystander intervention. Victims with a household income larger than $75,000 were more likely to receive bystander intervention. If the offender had no right to be in the crime site, the victim was more likely to get bystander intervention compared to offenders who had right to be in the crime site. In addition, if the crime happened in daytime, it was likely for victims to receive help. Women are attacked more often; however, this does not motivate more bystander intervention. There are programs and media campaigns that have paid some attention to this social problem in recent years, but still, more things need to be done by authorities

The VISTA spacecraft: Advantages of ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) for interplanetary fusions propulsion applications

Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is an attractive engine power source for interplanetary manned spacecraft, especially for near-term missions requiring minimum flight duration, because ICF has inherent high power-to-mass ratios and high specific impulses. We have developed a new vehicle concept called VISTA that uses ICF and is capable of round-trip manned missions to Mars in 100 days using A.D. 2020 technology. We describe VISTA's engine operation, discuss associated plasma issues, and describe the advantages of DT fuel for near-term applications. Although ICF is potentially superior to non-fusion technologies for near-term interplanetary transport, the performance capabilities of VISTA cannot be meaningfully compared with those of magnetic-fusion systems because of the lack of a comparable study of the magnetic-fusion systems. We urge that such a study be conducted

Do They Pursue the Same? A Cross-culture Research on Career Anchor of IT/IS Personnel

While career anchor has been mainly studied in US society; this study extends research to Chinese cultural context to investigate the implications of career anchor in terms of job/career satisfaction and subsequent turnover intention among information technology/information systems (IT/IS) personnel in Taiwan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) societies. Chinese guanxi culture could be plays key roles in shaping career anchor and in affecting employees\u27 assessing their job/career and turnover decision. A survey study will be used for conducted to validate the hypotheses and compare the different with Taiwan and UAE two societies

The selectivity of responses to red-green colour and achromatic contrast in the human visual cortex: An fMRI adaptation study

© 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley and Sons Ltd. There is controversy as to how responses to colour in the human brain are organized within the visual pathways. A key issue is whether there are modular pathways that respond selectively to colour or whether there are common neural substrates for both colour and achromatic (Ach) contrast. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) adaptation to investigate the responses of early and extrastriate visual areas to colour and Ach contrast. High-contrast red-green (RG) and Ach sinewave rings (0.5 cycles/degree, 2 Hz) were used as both adapting stimuli and test stimuli in a block design. We found robust adaptation to RG or Ach contrast in all visual areas. Cross-adaptation between RG and Ach contrast occurred in all areas indicating the presence of integrated, colour and Ach responses. Notably, we revealed contrasting trends for the two test stimuli. For the RG test, unselective processing (robust adaptation to both RG and Ach contrast) was most evident in the early visual areas (V1 and V2), but selective responses, revealed as greater adaptation between the same stimuli than cross-adaptation between different stimuli, emerged in the ventral cortex, in V4 and VO in particular. For the Ach test, unselective responses were again most evident in early visual areas but Ach selectivity emerged in the dorsal cortex (V3a and hMT+). Our findings support a strong presence of integrated mechanisms for colour and Ach contrast across the visual hierarchy, with a progression towards selective processing in extrastriate visual areas. We measured responses to red-green color and achromatic contrast in human visual cortex with fMRI adaptation. Cross adaptation between the two contrast types occurred across the visual hierarchy indicating integrated color and achromatic responses. Selective adaptation for color (i.e. greater adaptation to color than achromatic contrast) emerged in ventral cortex, particularly in areas V4 and VO, whereas selective adaptation to achromatic contrast (i.e. greater adaptation to achromatic than color contrast) was evident in dorsal cortex (V3a, hMT+). Our findings suggest a progression from integrated color and achromatic responses in early visual cortex to more selective processing in extrastriate visual areas.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Vapor deposition of copper(I) bromide films via a two-step conversion process

Thin films of Cu2S grown by pulsed-chemical vapor deposition of bis(N,N'-di-secbutylacetamidinato)dicopper(I) and hydrogen sulfide were converted to CuBr upon exposure to anhydrous hydrogen bromide. X-ray diffraction shows that the as-deposited films have a polycrystalline Cu2S structure. After exposure to HBr gas, the surface of the films is transformed to a γ-CuBr polycrystalline structure. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal complete conversion of up to 100 nm of film. However, when the conversion to CuBr approaches the interface between as-deposited Cu2S and the SiO2 substrate, the morphology of the film changes from continuous and nanocrystalline to sparse and microcrystalline.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Migalastat HCl reduces globotriaosylsphingosine (Lyso- Gb3) in Fabry transgenic mice and in the plasma of Fabry patients

Fabry disease (FD) results from mutations in the gene (GLA) that encodes the lysosomal enzyme a-galactosidase A (a-Gal A), and involves pathological accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (GL-3) and globotriaosylsphingosine (lyso-Gb3). Migalastat hydrochloride (GR181413A) is a pharmacological chaperone that selectively binds, stabilizes, and increases cellular levels of a-Gal A. Oral administration of migalastat HCl reduces tissue GL-3 in Fabry transgenic mice, and in urine and kidneys of some FD patients. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to measure lyso-Gb3 in mouse tissues and human plasma. Oral administration of migalastat HCl to transgenic mice reduced elevated lyso-Gb3 levels up to 64%, 59%, and 81% in kidney, heart, and skin, respectively, generally equal to or greater than observed for GL-3. Furthermore, baseline plasma lyso-Gb3 levels were markedly elevated in six male FD patients enrolled in Phase 2 studies. Oral administration of migalastat HCl (150 mg QOD) reduced urine GL-3 and plasma lyso-Gb3 in three subjects (range: 15% to 46% within 48 weeks of treatment). In contrast, three showed no reductions in either substrate. These results suggest that measurement of tissue and/or plasma lyso-Gb3 is feasible and may be warranted in future studies of migalastat HCl or other new potential therapies for FD

Daily Dosing of Rifapentine Cures Tuberculosis in Three Months or Less in the Murine Model

Eric Nuermberger and colleagues found that after two months of treatment, mice with lung cultures positive for tuberculosis that received daily doses of rifapentine- and moxifloxacin-containing regimens converted to negative lung cultures. This finding could make possible the development of shorter treatment regimens for humans

Role of RPL39 in Metaplastic Breast Cancer

Background: Metaplastic breast cancer is one of the most therapeutically challenging forms of breast cancer because of its highly heterogeneous and chemoresistant nature. We have previously demonstrated that ribosomal protein L39 (RPL39) and its gain-of-function mutation A14V have oncogenic activity in triple-negative breast cancer and this activity may be mediated through inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The function of RPL39 and A14V in other breast cancer subtypes is currently unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the role and mechanism of action of RPL39 in metaplastic breast cancer. Methods: Both competitive allele-specific and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction were used to determine the RPL39 A14V mutation rate in metaplastic breast cancer patient samples. The impact of RPL39 and iNOS expression on patient overall survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Co-immunoprecipitation and immunoblot analyses were used for mechanistic evaluation of RPL39. Results: The RPL39 A14V mutation rate was 97.5% (39/40 tumor samples). High RPL39 (hazard ratio = 0.71, 95% confidence interval = 0.55 to 0.91, P = .006) and iNOS expression (P = .003) were associated with reduced patient overall survival. iNOS inhibition with the pan-NOS inhibitor NG-methyl-L-arginine acetate decreased in vitro proliferation and migration, in vivo tumor growth in both BCM-4664 and BCM-3807 patient-derived xenograft models (P = .04 and P = .02, respectively), and in vitro and in vivo chemoresistance. Mechanistically, RPL39 mediated its cancer-promoting actions through iNOS signaling, which was driven by the RNA editing enzyme adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 1. Conclusion: NOS inhibitors and RNA editing modulators may offer novel treatment options for metaplastic breast cancer