Archeological Assessments at Site 41ZP73, Falcon State Recreation Area, Zapata County, Texas

The following report prepared by Mr. Steven M. Kotter presents the results of archeological assessments conducted at site 41ZP73 in the Falcon Lake State Recreation Area, Zapata County, Texas. This work was sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as part of the preliminary studies leading to planned developments within the Recreation Area. Site 41ZP73 was found to contain significant prehistoric archeological deposits which date to both the Late Archaic and the Late Prehistoric periods. The site represents an.example of upland utilization of the area and is assessed to be of sufficient integrity to warrant detailed investigations. Alternatives to achieve compatibility of the planned developments with the cultural resources are presented . In addition to providing an analysis and discussion of the archeological materials recovered from 41ZP73, Mr. Kotter has prepared an analysis of artifacts collected from nearby sites by Mr. Clarence Shelton. These materials illustrate the range of artifacts associated with the prehistoric occupations in the Falcon Lake region and should prove to be useful to future research dealing with Southern Texas

Culture change in a professional sports team: Shaping environmental contexts and regulating power

Although high performing cultures are crucial for the enduring success of professional sport performance teams, theoretical and practical understanding of how they are established and sustained is lacking. To develop knowledge in this area, a case study was undertaken to examine the key mechanisms and processes of a successful culture change programme at English Rugby Union’s Leeds Carnegie. Exploring the change process from a 360 degree perspective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with team management, one specialist coach, six players, and the CEO. Analysed and explained through decentred theory, results revealed that culture change was effectively facilitated by team management: a) subtly and covertly shaping the physical, structural, and psychosocial context in which support staff and players made performance-impacting choices, and b) regulating the ‘to and fro’ of power which characterises professional sport performance teams. Decentred theory is also supported as an effective framework for culture change study

Archeological Assessments at 41GL57 and 41GL91, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Gillespie County, Texas

Archeological assessments at Sites 41GL57 and 41GL91 in Enchanted Rock State Natural Area are described in this report prepared by Steven M. Kotter and Linda A. Nance . Sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, these assessments represent an excellent example of sensitivity to cultural resources during the planning stages of development designed to enhance visitor utilization and appreciation of Enchanted Rock. Significant findings at Site 41GL57 include the identification of specific areas of intact prehistoric deposits which yielded artifacts of the Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods. Methods to achieve compatibility of development plans with the preservation of the sensitive archeological materials are provided. At Site 41GL91 , the prehistoric component was found to be badly disturbed and to be of insufficient integrity to warrant further archeological attention. The existing Historic Period structures at this site were all found to have been constructed after 1900; none are considered to be of archeological significance. Planned developments at Site 41GL91 will not conflict with identified significant cultural resources

Gravitational wave burst vetoes in the LIGO S2 and S3 data analyses

The LIGO detectors collected about 4 months of data in 2003-2004 during two science runs, S2 and S3. Several environmental and auxiliary channels that monitor the instruments' physical environment and overall interferometric operation were analyzed in order to establish the quality of the data as well as the presence of transients of non-astrophysical origin. This analysis allowed better understanding of the noise character of the instruments and the establishment of correlations between transients in these channels and the one recording the gravitational wave strain. In this way vetoes for spurious burst were identified. We present the methodology we followed in this analysis and the results from the S2 and S3 veto analysis within the context of the search for gravitational wave bursts.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity for the special issue of the GWDAW9 Proceeding

Development and validation of a MEDLINE search filter/hedge for degenerative cervical myelopathy

Abstract Background Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a common condition with many unmet clinical needs. Pooled analysis of studies is an important tool for advancing medical understanding. This process starts with a systematic search of the literature. Identification of studies in DCM is challenged by a number of factors, including non-specific terminology and index terms. Search filters or HEDGEs, are search strings developed and validated to optimise medical literature searches. We aimed to develop a search filter for DCM for the MEDLINE database. Methods The diagnostic test assessment framework of a “development dataset” and seperate “validation dataset” was used. The development dataset was formed by hand searching four leading spinal journals (Spine, Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, Spinal Cord and Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques) in 2005 and 2010. The search filter was initially developed focusing on sensitivity and subsequently refined using NOT functions to improve specificity. One validation dataset was formed from DCM narrative and systematic review articles and the second, articles published in April of 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017 retrieved via the search MeSH term ‘Spine’. Metrics of sensitivity, specificity, precision and accuracy were used to test performance. Results Hand searching identified 77/1094 relevant articles for 2005 and 55/1199 for 2010. We developed a search hedge with 100% sensitivity and a precision of 30 and 29% for the 2005 and 2010 development datasets respectively. For the selected time periods, EXP Spine returned 2113 publications and 30 were considered relevant. The search filter identified all 30 relevant articles, with a specificity of 94% and precision of 20%. Of the 255 references listed in the narrative index reviews, 225 were indexed in MEDLINE and 165 (73%) were relevant articles. All relevant articles were identified and accuracy ranged from 67 to 97% over the three reviews. Of the 42 articles returned from 3 recent systematic reviews, all were identified by the filter. Conclusions We have developed a highly sensitive hedge for the research of DCM. Whilst precision is similarly low as other hedges, this search filter can be used as an adjunct for DCM search strategies

Characterization of glucose-related metabolic pathways in differentiated rat oligodendrocyte lineage cells

Although oligodendrocytes constitute a significant proportion of cells in the central nervous system (CNS), little is known about their intermediary metabolism. We have therefore characterised metabolic functions of primary oligodendrocyte precursor cell cultures at late stages of differentiation using isotope-labelled metabolites. We report that differentiated oligodendrocyte lineage cells avidly metabolise glucose in the cytosol and pyruvate derived from glucose in the mitochondria. The labelling patterns of metabolites obtained after incubation with [1,2-13C]glucose demonstrated that the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is highly active in oligodendrocytes (approximately 10% of glucose is metabolised via the PPP as indicated by labelling patterns in phosphoenolpyruvate). Mass spectrometry and magnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses of metabolites after incubation of cells with [1-13C]lactate or [1,2-13C]glucose, respectively, demonstrated that anaplerotic pyruvate carboxylation, which was thought to be exclusive to astrocytes, is also active in oligodendrocytes. Using [1,2-13C]acetate we show that oligodendrocytes convert acetate into acetyl-CoA which is metabolized in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Analysis of labelling patterns of alanine after incubation of cells with [1,2-13C]acetate and [1,2-13C]glucose showed catabolic oxidation of malate or oxaloacetate. In conclusion, we report that oligodendrocyte lineage cells at late differentiation stages are metabolically highly active cells that are likely to contribute considerably to the metabolic activity of the CNS.Grant sponsor: The UK Multiple Sclerosis Society and Qatar Foundation. The work was further supported by core funding from the Wellcome Trust and MRC to the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/glia.2290

Pre-defined and Optional Staging for the Deployment of Enterprise Systems: a case study and a framework

The effective deployment of enterprise systems has been a major challenge for many organisations. Customising the new system, changing business processes, and integrating multiple information sources are all difficult tasks. As such, they are typically done in carefully planned stages in a process known as phased implementation. Using ideas from Option Theory, this article critiques aspects of phased implementation. One customer relationship management (CRM) project and its phased implementation are described in detail and ten other enterprise system deployments are summarised as a basis for the observation that almost all deployment stages are pre-defined operational steps rather than decision points. However, Option Theory suggests that optional stages, to be used only when risk materialises, should be integral parts of project plans. Although such optional stages are often more valuable than pre-defined stages, the evidence presented in this article shows that they are only rarely utilised. Therefore, a simple framework is presented; it first identifies risks related to the deployment of enterprise systems, then identifies optional stages that can mitigate these risks, and finally compares the costs and benefits of both pre-defined and optional stages

Research Inefficiency in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Findings of a Systematic Review on Research Activity Over the Past 20 Years.

STUDY DESIGN: Scoping review. OBJECTIVE: To describe activity, themes and trends in degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) research over the past 20 years with a view to considering DCM research inefficiency. METHODS: A systematic review of MEDLINE and Embase for "Cervical" AND "Myelopathy" was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Full-text papers in English, exclusively studying DCM, published between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2015 were considered eligible. Country of origin, number of papers published, number of patients studied, research theme, and year of publication were assessed. Comparison was made between developed and developing countries. RESULTS: A total of 1485 papers and 4 117 051 patients were included. Japan published more papers (450) than any other country while the United States studied the greatest number of patients (3 674 737). Over 99.4% of papers and 78.6% of patients were from developed countries. The number of papers (r = 0.96, P < .001) and patients (r = 0.83 P < .001) studied each year increased significantly overall and for both developed (r = 0.93, P < .001; r = 0.81, P < .001) and developing countries (r = 0.90, P < .001; r = 0.87, P < .001). Surgery was the most prevalent theme (58.3% papers; 55.7% patients) for developed and developing countries. Research from developing countries showed greater thematic variability. CONCLUSIONS: DCM research activity is increasing internationally, with surgery remaining the focus. Research output has predominantly been from developed countries; however, the rate of growth for developed and developing countries is comparable