‘Performative Criticism: Samuel Beckett and Georges Duthuit’

Art criticism is most often expressed as monologue rather than as dialogue, and is generally disseminated in printed text rather than in embodied performance. The Three Dialogues between Samuel Beckett and Georges Duthuit, a series of debates on contemporary painting first published in 1949 in Paris, present a valuable opportunity to question, to counter, and to reframe this tradition. These dialogues highlight some of the ways in which criticism is already a performance, and their actual staging – undertaken in three different contexts in Dublin between 2010 and 2011 – foregrounds the extent to which art criticism can be an embodied, performative practice. The treatment of this text as a script for performance and its insertion into critical contexts raises methodological questions of value to the art historiographer: how can performance function as a tool of criticism, and how to account in art history for ‘events’ of criticism that may not be secured in print

Studies in urban informatics: tools and techniques to explore socio-ecological urban systems

This work details the emerging discipline of urban informatics and the diverse set of tools, data and techniques necessary for the quantitative analysis of urban systems. Three studies are presented based on distinct data types including administrative data, user-generated data and sensor data. The first study focuses on urban waste management and demonstrates how existing administrative datasets can be used to forecast waste generation, which can be useful for optimizing waste collection efforts and developing future waste reduction strategies. The second study shifts from administrative data to focus on the benefits of public participation and the challenges of working with user-generated data. The final study presents a multi-week calibration campaign to evaluate calibration techniques and the quality of data generated by a low-cost air quality monitoring platform in order to increase the spatial resolution of PM2.5 measurements in an urban environment. The results from and evaluation of these studies highlight the potential for these urban data streams to provide new in-sight into socio-ecological urban systems, and create new opportunities for local governments to operate in a more effective, efficient and sustainable way

A Real-time Image Reconstruction System for Particle Treatment Planning Using Proton Computed Tomography (pCT)

Proton computed tomography (pCT) is a novel medical imaging modality for mapping the distribution of proton relative stopping power (RSP) in medical objects of interest. Compared to conventional X-ray computed tomography, where range uncertainty margins are around 3.5%, pCT has the potential to provide more accurate measurements to within 1%. This improved efficiency will be beneficial to proton-therapy planning and pre-treatment verification. A prototype pCT imaging device has recently been developed capable of rapidly acquiring low-dose proton radiographs of head-sized objects. We have also developed an advanced, fast image reconstruction software based on distributed computing that utilizes parallel processors and graphical processing units. The combination of fast data acquisition and fast image reconstruction will enable the availability of RSP images within minutes for use in clinical settings. The performance of our image reconstruction software has been evaluated using data collected by the prototype pCT scanner from several phantoms.Comment: Paper presented at Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, CAARI 2016, 30 October to 4 November 2016, Ft. Worth, TX, US

Management of Charcot–Marie–Tooth Disease: Improving Long-Term Care with a Multidisciplinary Approach

Charcot–Marie–Tooth (CMT) disease is the most common inherited neuropathy and one of the most common inherited diseases in humans. The diagnosis of CMT is traditionally made by the neurologic specialist, yet the optimal management of CMT patients includes genetic counselors, physical and occupational therapists, physiatrists, orthotists, mental health providers, and community resources. Rapidly developing genetic discoveries and novel gene discovery techniques continue to add a growing number of genetic subtypes of CMT. The first large clinical natural history and therapeutic trials have added to our knowledge of each CMT subtype and revealed how CMT impacts patient quality of life. In this review, we discuss several important trends in CMT research factors that will require a collaborative multidisciplinary approach. These include the development of large multicenter patient registries, standardized clinical instruments to assess disease progression and disability, and increasing recognition and use of patient-reported outcome measures. These developments will continue to guide strategies in long-term multidisciplinary efforts to maintain quality of life and preserve functionality in CMT patients

Quantification of the Individual Characteristics of the Human Dentition

The considerations for admissibility suggested by the Daubert trilogy challenge forensic experts to provide scientific support for opinion testimony. The defense bar has questioned the reliability of bitemark analysis. Under an award from the U. S. Department of Justice, via the Midwest Forensic Resource Center, a two-year feasibility study was undertaken to quantify six dental characteristics. Using two computer programs, the exemplars of 419 volunteers were digitally scanned, characteristics were measured, and frequency was calculated. The study demonstrates that there were outliers or rare dental characteristics in measurements. An analysis of the intra-observer and inter-observer consistency demonstrated a high degree of agreement. Expansion of the sample size through collaboration with other academic researchers will be necessary to be able to quantify the occurrence of these characteristics in the general population. The automated software application, Tom\u27s Toolbox, developed specifically for this research project, could also provide a template for precisely quantifying other pattern evidence

Development and Validation of a HPV-32 Specific PCR Assay

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human Papillomavirus-32 (HPV-32) has traditionally been associated with focal-epithelial-hyperplasia (FEH). It is also present in 58% of oral warts of HIV-positive individuals whose prevalence is increasing. Current methods for the detection of HPV-32 are labor-intensive and insensitive so the goal of this work was to develop a highly sensitive and easy to use specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>An HPV-32 L1 specific PCR assay was developed and optimized. The sensitivity and specificity was compared to previous assays utilized for detection (PGMY and MY09/11 PCR with dot blot hybridization) using cloned HPV-32 L1, the closely related HPV-42 L1 as well as clinical samples (oral swabs and fluids from 89 HIV-positive subjects).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The HPV-32 specific PCR assay showed improved sensitivity to 5 copies of HPV-32 as compared to the PGMY PCR, MY09/11 PCR and dot blot which had a limit of detection of approximately 3,000 copies. Using the HPV-32 dot blot hybridization assay as the gold standard, the HPV-32 specific PCR assay has a sensitivity of 95.8% and 88.9% by sample and subject, respectively, and specificity was 87.8% and 58.8% by sample and subject, respectively. The low sensitivity is due to the HPV-32 specific PCR assays ability to detect more HPV-32 positive samples and may be the new gold standard.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Due to the ease, sensitivity, and specificity the HPV-32 specific PCR assay is superior to previous assays and is ideal for detection of HPV-32 in large cohorts. This assay provides an excellent tool to study the natural history of HPV-32 infection and the development of oral warts.</p

Inhibition of Chloroplast DNA Recombination and Repair by Dominant Negative Mutants of \u3ci\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/i\u3e RecA

Escherichia coli RecA, suggest that the plastid recombination system is related to its eubacterial counterpart. Therefore, we examined whether dominant negative mutants of the E. coli RecA protein can interfere with the activity of their putative homolog in the chloroplast of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Transformants expressing these mutant RecA proteins showed reduced survival rates when exposed to DNA-damaging agents, deficient repair of chloroplast DNA, and diminished plastid DNA recombination. These results strongly support the existence of a RecA-mediated recombination system in chloroplasts. We also found that the wild-type E. coli RecA protein enhances the frequency of plastid DNA recombination over 15-fold, although it has no effect on DNA repair or cell survival. Thus, chloroplast DNA recombination appears to be limited by the availability of enzymes involved in strand exchange rather than by the level of initiating DNA substrates. Our observations suggest that a primary biological role of the recombination system in plastids is in the repair of their DNA, most likely needed to cope with damage due to photooxidation and other environmental stresses. This hypothesis could explain the evolutionary conservation of DNA recombination in chloroplasts despite the predominantly uniparental inheritance of their genomes

Whole genome sequencing-based mapping and candidate identification of mutations from fixed zebrafish tissue

As forward genetic screens in zebrafish become more common, the number of mutants that cannot be identified by gross morphology or through transgenic approaches, such as many nervous system defects, has also increased. Screening for these difficult-to-visualize phenotypes demands techniques such as whole-mount in situ hybridization (WISH) or antibody staining, which require tissue fixation. To date, fixed tissue has not been amenable for generating libraries for whole genome sequencing (WGS). Here, we describe a method for using genomic DNA from fixed tissue and a bioinformatics suite for WGS-based mapping of zebrafish mutants. We tested our protocol using two known zebrafish mutant alleles, gpr126st49 and egr2bfh227, both of which cause myelin defects. As further proof of concept we mapped a novel mutation, stl64, identified in a zebrafish WISH screen for myelination defects. We linked stl64 to chromosome 1 and identified a candidate nonsense mutation in the F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7 (fbxw7) gene. Importantly, stl64 mutants phenocopy previously described fbxw7vu56 mutants, and knockdown of fbxw7 in wild-type animals produced similar defects, demonstrating that stl64 disrupts fbxw7. Together, these data show that our mapping protocol can map and identify causative lesions in mutant screens that require tissue fixation for phenotypic analysis

How Multidisciplinary is Gamification Research? : Results from a Scoping Review

Gamification has been repeatedly framed as an emerging multidisciplinary research field. However, it is unclear how multidisciplinary the field actually is. To answer this question, this paper presents initial results of a broader scoping review of gamification research published between 2010 and 2016. Close to 2,000 peer-reviewed English-language journal and conference papers were identified across 11 databases and categorized by discipline. Results indicate an explosive growth of literature peaking in 2015. Early on, Information and Computing Science dominated the field, to be overtaken by the sum of other disciplines in 2013, education, economics and tourism in specific. This indicates that gamification was initially a field within computer science and HCI and has only recently become truly multi-disciplinary

Exploring Anatomic Variants to Enhance Anatomy Teaching: Musculus Sternalis

The opportunity to encounter and appreciate the range of human variation in anatomic structures—and its potential impact on related structures, function, and treatment—is one of the chief benefits of cadaveric dissection for students in clinical preprofessional programs. The dissection lab is also where students can examine unusual anatomic variants that may not be included in their textbooks, lab manuals, or other course materials. For students specializing in physical medicine, awareness and understanding of muscle variants has a practical relevance to their preparations for clinical practice. In a routine dissection of the superficial chest muscles, graduate students in a human gross anatomy class exposed a large, well-developed sternalis muscle. The exposure of this muscle generated many student questions about M sternalis: its prevalence and appearance, its function, its development, and its evolutionary roots. Students used an inquiry protocol to guide their searches through relevant literature to gather this information. Instructors developed a decision tree to assist students in their inquiries, both by helping them to make analytic inferences and by highlighting areas of interest needing further investigation. Answering these questions enriches the understanding and promotes “habits of mind” for exploring musculoskeletal anatomy beyond simple descriptions of function and structure