MS-096: John W. Miner Letters

This collections includes the letters of John W. Miner to his wife Anna throughout his service in the Civil War with the 7th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry at Petersburg, Virginia and his service in the 4th US Cavalry at Fort Griffin, Texas. Miner’s letters are most valuable when used as a tool to study the perceptions of the Civil War soldier regarding battles and national events.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/1088/thumbnail.jp

Perceptions of Access to Education: Inclusion and Exclusion for Non-Karen Refugees in Mae La Camp

Mae La refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border is the largest of the seven “Karen” refugee camps in the area and is considered the center of education for refugees. Continued fighting inside Burma between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the ethnic armies as well as the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in 2008 have greatly altered the demographics in Mae La refugee camp. Perceptions of Access to Education: Inclusion and Exclusion for Non-Karen Refugees in Mae La Camp attempts to understand, through qualitative data, how non-Karen speaking refugees perceive their access to education. Is education in Mae La inclusive or exclusive? Through a series of in-depth interviews with ethnically mixed, non-Karen, refugee students, it is discovered that non-Karen speaking refugees find education in Mae La both exclusive and inclusive. Inclusive in the sense that they can access education and enroll in school; however, it is exclusive in the sense that the language of instruction and curriculum is not appropriate culturally or linguistically. The language barrier causes segregation among ethnic groups and feelings of ill will towards each other

Reduced doses of direct oral anticoagulation are safe in atrial fibrillation patients with mild thrombocytopenia

A critical appraisal and clinical application of Janion-Sadowska A, Papuga-Szela E, Łukaszuk R, et al. Non–Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Thrombocytopenia. Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology. 2018;72(3):153-160. doi: 10.1097/fjc.000000000000060

Liquidity Constraints and Consumer Bankruptcy: Evidence from Tax Rebates

This paper estimates the extent to which legal fees prevent liquidity-constrained households from declaring bankruptcy. To do so, it studies how the 2001 and 2008 tax rebates affected consumer bankruptcy filings. We exploit the randomized timing of the rebate checks and estimate that the rebates caused a significant, short-run increase in consumer bankruptcies in both years, with larger effects in 2008 when the rebates were more generous and more widely distributed. Using hand-collected data from individual bankruptcy petitions, we document that the rebates caused an increase in the average liabilities and the liabilities-to-income ratios of filers.

The Role of the Party Record in Elections for the House of Representatives, 1970-2008

Much scholarly attention has been devoted to the role of political parties in Congress. One of the major theories of party legislative organization is cartel theory. Cartel theory assumes that each legislative party possesses a party record or reputation, which influences the election prospects for all members of the party. It provides an electoral incentive to encourage cooperation among party members in a single chamber of Congress. Congressional scholars have paid little attention to the party record. In the following chapters, I bring together the desultory scholarly research on the party record and examine the impact of the party record on aggregate challenger entry, aggregate retirements, and seat change for the United States House of Representatives from 1970-2008. Two party record components, integrity and ideology, are taken from previous research on the party record. I develop and test a third measure, aggregate party-level negative integrity, based on television evening news coverage of each party’s scandals in the House. Using ordinary least squares regression, I find that two components of the party record, competence and integrity, influence aggregate challenger entry but not aggregate quality challenger entry. The party record does not impact aggregate retirements. However, in a logistic regression model of individual retirements of House members accused of scandal, I find that party leaders are successful at pressuring certain party members to resign or retire from the House. Moreover, in a negative binomial regression model of evening news stories attributable to each member’s scandal, when party leaders are successful at forcing a member to quit, he or she generates less negative publicity for the party Finally, using OLS regression, I find that the party record does not impact seat change in the House except in open seat races. In open seat races, the ideological component of the party record positively impacts seat change. I conclude by describing the impact of these results on theories of legislative organization. I then describe the impact of these results on democratic theory as it relates to collective responsible via responsible parties

Response to the DECC Consultation of the siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility, 2013

Several members of SEG (Matt Gross, Phil Johnstone, Florian Kern, Gordon MacKerron, and Andy Stirling) have participated in a written response to the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) consultation of the siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) for nuclear waste. This consultation follows the rejection by Cumbria County Council earlier this year to hosting a Geological Disposal Facility. The government have therefore gone back to the national level to find a suitable location, and the issue remains a multifaceted and controversial one. Matt Gross and Phil Johnstone also represented SEG at the one day consultation on the same issue run by DECC at Centre Hall, Westminster, involving several round-table discussions with civil service, nuclear regulators, and local politicians on the various issues surrounding the siting of a GDF

Terminal Sterilization of Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Allografts: A Systematic Review of Outcomes

Introduction. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are common and reconstruction can be completed with either autograft or allograft tissue. However, there is concern about an increased failure rate with allograft tissue. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the available evidence to determine the effect of irradiation and level of dose on the failure rates of allograft in ACL reconstruction. Methods. A literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science from January 2000 to September 2013. Inclusion criteria consisted of the following: (1) primary, unilateral, single-bundle allograft ACL procedure, (2) studies with data documenting graft type and terminal sterilization technique, (3) subjective assessments of outcome, and (4) objective assessments of outcome. Studies without reported subjective and objective outcomes and those pertaining to revision ACL reconstruction were excluded. Failures were defined and compared between irradiated and non-irradiated grafts, as well as between grafts irradiated with 1.2 - 1.8 Mrad and those with 2.0 - 2.5 Mrad. Results. Of the 242 articles identified via initial search, 17 studies met the final inclusion criteria. A total of 1,090 patients were evaluated in this study, all having undergone unilateral primary ACL reconstruction with allograft tissue with 155 failures. The failure rate between non-irradiated (98/687, 14.7%) and irradiated (57/408, 14.0%) was not statistically significant (p = 0.86). Grafts in the high-dose irradiation group (27/135, 20.0%) had a statistically significant higher (p < 0.001) rate of failure than those in the low-dose irradiation group (30/273, 10.6%). Conclusion. The irradiation of an allograft increases the risk of failure after an ACL reconstruction but the use of lower doses of radiation decreases that risk

Managing Research Data : a Collaborative Approach

To ensure maximum benefit is achieved from the investigations in a collaborative research network, it is essential that research data is managed effectively. However, there is no set model to follow. Normally an institution will establish its own policy and procedures applicable to their researchers and data. This causes difficulties for researchers sharing data across a collaborative network. Edith Cowan University (ECU) is one of fifteen Australian universities striving to create world-class research capacity and capability through investment in the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) project. The CRN project at ECU aims to accelerate the growth of research activity from 2011 until the end of 2014, in four key areas: Health, Education, ICT, and Environment. These areas align with both the Australian Government’s National Research Priorities and ECU’s strategic research plan. The CRN project will create a significant amount of new data and it is imperative that this data is managed so that it is secure, accessible and useable. Consequently, research data management policies, procedures and technical solutions are being developed to support this process

Extinction by Miscalculation:

Species at Risk Act, Sakinaw sockeye, Cultus sockeye, fisheries management, extinction.