Human Rights in the Heartland: An Assessment of Social, Economic, Civil, and Political Rights in the Midwest

This report measures human rights progress in the heart of the United States. In this compilation, eight Midwestern states are evaluated on a freedom index, providing a comparative snapshot of local commitments to civil, political, social, and economic rights

Targeted LGBT Senior Housing: A Study of the Needs and Perceptions of LGBT Seniors in Chicago

Although lesbian gay bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) seniors face issues similar to their heterosexual counterparts such as declining health, dwindling finances, depression, social isolation, and ageism, they also face unique issues such as discrimination based on sexual orientation, and are at an even greater risk for health problems such as depression, substance abuse, and even suicide. Therefore LGBT seniors require support services specifically designed to meet their unique needs. The housing needs of LGBT seniors are one such area that must be addressed as more LGBT persons enter their advanced years

An in vitro evaluation of the efficacy of tedizolid: implications for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections

Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are among the most commonly occurring infections and evidence suggests that these are increasing world-wide. The aetiology is diverse, but Staphylococcus aureus predominate and these are often resistant to antimicrobials that were previously effective. Tedizolid is a new oxazolidinone-class antibacterial indicated for the treatment of adults with SSTI caused by Gram-positive pathogens, including S. aureus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of tedizolid in comparison to other clinically used antibacterials against antibiotic sensitive- and resistant-staphylococci, grown in planktonic cultures and as biofilms reflecting the growth of the microorganism during episodes of SSTI. Against a panel of 66 clinical staphylococci, sensitivity testing revealed that a lower concentration of tedizolid was required to inhibit the growth of staphylococci compared to linezolid, vancomycin and daptomycin; with the tedizolid MIC being 8-fold (S. aureus) or 4-fold (S. epidermidis) below that obtained for linezolid. In addition, cfr+ linezolid-resistant strains remained fully susceptible to tedizolid. Against S. aureus biofilms, 10×MIC tedizolid was superior or comparable with 10×MIC comparator agents in activity, and superior to 10×MIC linezolid against those formed by S. epidermidis (65 vs. 33% reduction, respectively). Under flow-conditions both oxazolidinones at 10×MIC statistically out-performed vancomycin in their ability to reduce the viable cell count within a S. aureus biofilm with fewer the 12% of cells surviving compared to 63% of cells. In conclusion, tedizolid offers a realistic lower-dose alternative agent to treat staphylococcal SSTI, including infections caused by multi-drug resistant strains

In need of a hero? the creation and use of the legend of General George S. Patton, Jr.

During WWII, General George Patton became the hero Americans needed through the creation of a self-crafted brand and with help from journalists. After Patton’s death, opportunists forwarded a legend narrative that developed into a collective memory that morphed over time to meet contemporary challenges. Stakeholders of that collective memory commemorated and memorialized the dead hero for monetary and political gain, to promote patriotism, make military doctrinal changes, and even promote peace. Today, this collective memory has potential for the U.S. Army as it transforms civilians into soldiers and officers. This study contributes to history and memory studies by linking representations of an historical figure to targeted audiences, arguably, the first of its kind. As an interdisciplinary study utilizing empirical historical and qualitative sociological methods, it adds to extant literature for multiple disciplines by providing explanatory insight into the use of hero narratives by individuals undergoing a transformational process. The dissertation is divided into two parts. Using archival and material culture evidence, Part 1 discusses the creation and promulgation of the Patton collective memory and applicable theories and research on memory, ultimately relating it to the legacy of leader development and operational doctrine Patton left for the Army. Part 2 defines the Army as a subculture and introduces the importance of heroes in general. Evidence from in-depth individual interviews with 27 Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet volunteers from a single university in the spring of 2020 forms the basis for a proposed grounded theory, the Transformative Hero Model. The model is informed by several orienting theories including Affective Disposition Theory, Sense-making Theory, and Self-efficacy Theory. Cadets undergoing the Army’s transformational process used hero narratives to develop themselves and understand their place within an organizational subculture. Whom cadets found inspirational and how they connected to and used those narratives centered on their sense of self. They also used hero stories in their socialization process by adopting a shared heritage and internalizing value structures. Furthermore, they began to differentiate themselves from out-group members while simultaneously increasing identification with their subgroup. Organizations that use transformational processes may leverage hero narratives by using this model

Red morningglory (Ipomoea coccinea L.) biology and management in sugarcane

In field research conducted over two years, red morningglory control 35 days after treatment (DAT) was at least 90 % with atrazine at 3.36 kg ai/ha, diuron plus hexazinone at 1.57 + 0.44 kg ai/ha, flumioxazin at 0.14 kg ai/ha, sulfentrazone at 0.21 kg ai/ha, and metribuzin at 2.52 kg ai/ha. At 49 DAT, atrazine at 4.48 kg/ha provided only 70 % control, which was equivalent to that for diuron plus hexazinone and flumioxazin. Sulfentrazone at 0.21 kg/ha controlled red morningglory at least 93 % 49 DAT and by 77 DAT control was 78 %. From June through October, red morningglory seedling emergence was compared for no tillage and tillage treatments. Seedling emergence was equal for the tillage treatments in July, but more seedlings emerged in August and September where plots were tilled. Total seedling emergence for the growing season was 129 plants/m2 for the no tillage treatment and 195 plants/m2 where plots were tilled. Seed population in soil from June through October for the treatments decreased an average of 34.7%. When grown under 30 and 50 % shade, red morningglory seedling emergence decreased around 8% compared with full sun. Increasing shade to 70 and 90 % decreased seedling emergence around 40 %. Shade did not affect red morningglory height, but biomass per plant under 90 % shade decreased 48 %. Red morningglory produced more leaf area per plant under a shade environment. In the sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) and weed competition study, red morningglory infestation in November, based on the degree of wrapping of sugarcane stalks, was 24 % when plots were maintained weed free until late June and allowed to re-infest thereafter, but was no more than 9% when weeds were allowed to re-infest in July and August. In November, re-infestation was around 8% where plots were weedy until June or July and red morningglory was removed at that point, but weeds were not present in November for the August removal treatments. For the various weed removal treatments, sugarcane and sugar yield were equivalent to the season long weed free control, but yields were reduced around 27 % when red morningglory competed with sugarcane season long

Overview of the personalized and collaborative information retrieval (PIR) track at FIRE-2011

The Personalized and collaborative Information Retrieval (PIR) track at FIRE 2011 was organized with an aim to extend standard information retrieval (IR) ad-hoc test collection design to facilitate research on personalized and collaborative IR by collecting additional meta-information during the topic (query) development process. A controlled query generation process through task-based activities with activity logging was used for each topic developer to construct the final list of topics. The standard ad-hoc collection is thus accompanied by a new set of thematically related topics and the associated log information. We believe this can better simulate a real-world search scenario and encourage mining user information from the logs to improve IR effectiveness. A set of 25 TREC formatted topics and the associated metadata of activity logs were released for the participants to use. In this paper we illustrate the data construction phase in detail and also outline two simple ways of using the additional information from the logs to improve retrieval effectiveness

A Comparative Study of Knots of Star Formation in Interacting vs. Spiral Galaxies

Interacting galaxies are known to have higher global rates of star formation on average than normal galaxies, relative to their stellar masses. Using UV and IR photometry combined with new and published H-alpha images, we have compared the star formation rates of ~700 star forming complexes in 46 nearby interacting galaxy pairs with those of regions in 39 normal spiral galaxies. The interacting galaxies have proportionally more regions with high star formation rates than the spirals. The most extreme regions in the interacting systems lie at the intersections of spiral/tidal structures, where gas is expected to pile up and trigger star formation. Published Hubble Telescope images show unusually large and luminous star clusters in the highest luminosity regions. The star formation rates of the clumps correlate with measures of the dust attenuation, consistent with the idea that regions with more interstellar gas have more star formation. For the clumps with the highest star formation rates, the apparent dust attenuation is consistent with the Calzetti starburst dust attenuation law. This suggests that the high luminosity regions are dominated by a central group of young stars surrounded by a shell of clumpy interstellar gas. In contrast, the lower luminosity clumps are bright in the UV relative to H-alpha, suggesting either a high differential attenuation between the ionized gas and the stars, or a post-starburst population bright in the UV but faded in H-alpha. The fraction of the global light of the galaxies in the clumps is higher on average for the interacting galaxies than for the spirals. Thus the star forming regions in interacting galaxies are more luminous, dustier, or younger on average.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in pres

Study of Supportive Housing in Illinois: First Interim Report

In particular, the study focuses on the change in service use and the cost of services used by Illinois supportive housing residents 2 years before entering supportive housing and 2 years after. This study will inform policymakers, funders, and others about the importance and cost effectiveness of supportive housing in Illinois