Statistical linear mixed models for evaluation of training program in hand surgery chief residents

Resident clinics (RCs) are intended to catalyze the achievement of educational milestones through progressively autonomous patient care. However, few studies quantify their effect on competency-based surgical education, and no previous publications focus on hand surgery RCs. This study aims to use statistical theories and knowledge of descriptive statistics and inference statistics, such as confidence intervals, two sample t-tests, correlation and association tests, as well as statistical model building such as analysis of variance with random effects and mixed linear models. We hypothesize that the higher a resident’s training years, the higher the autonomy score (quality of surgery) will be. We found that the mixed linear regression model with fixed factors: training level and surgery type and one random factor: residents, appears to be the best model to predict the autonomy score. Therefore, we conclude that the progressive autonomy score of a resident on a hand surgery depends on both the training levels of the resident and the type of surgery that the residents conducted. In addition, the performance may also vary from resident to resident given the same training level and surgery type

A rhetoric of instrumentality : documentary film in the landscape of public memory

textWe are at a particular moment in history where new technologies are changing the way films are made, distributed, and screened, as well as how audiences interact with documentary texts and discourses. This dissertation project questions documentary's instrumentality in the public sphere in two parts. Using the response to Ken Burns' The War, as a point of departure, it first addresses the lacuna of theory and scholarship on documentary films, owed largely to its nascent arrival in academia as a dedicated field of study. Using the films and the public response around the films, I point out the problems with how documentary has been understood in both public and academic thought, with particular emphasis on truth claims, subjectivity narratives, and audience identification, as well as production techniques as rhetoric. Secondly the project takes two cases studies to examine these issues in documentary discourse and to exemplify the ways technology is changing documentary as we know it, one a reality television show focused on teenage mothers and the other Michael Moore's well known film Fahrenheit 9/11. Ultimately I argue that we are in a new era of documentary production that may be characterized by its interactivity between films, publics, and discourses. It is my hope that by combining my practical knowledge of documentary production for film and television with academic scholarship I will provide a valuable text for documentary theorists and rhetoricians alike.Communication Studie

Charleston\u27s Urban Outbuildings Within the Historic Walled City, 1884-1955

This thesis investigates the architectural and micro spatial patterning development of outbuildings within the walled city of Charleston, South Carolina. The goal of this thesis is to study how accessory buildings in Charleston, South Carolina have evolved between 1884 and 1955. The study area is within Charleston’s historic walled city, a 30.4-acre area bounded by Meeting Street on the west, East Bay Street on the east, Cumberland Street on the north and Water Street on the south. The 1884, 1902 and 1955 Charleston Fire Insurance Maps illuminate the expansion of the nineteen blocks within the walled city of Charleston over the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The Fire Insurance Maps are analyzed to observe changes that occurred on each property within the study area with respect to massing, location of the accessory buildings related to the main building, materials and number of stories. Survey123 and ArcGIS Online chart architectural relationships found between 798 primary buildings and 1413 secondary buildings located in the focus area. Analysis of spatial patterns, materials, building use and building evolution reveal the historic development of Charleston’s urban outbuilding. The data shows back buildings in Charleston are purpose-built utilitarian buildings, typically constructed linearly behind the primary building and have become smaller in size and form between 1884 and 1955. This thesis creates an inventory of the buildings behind the big houses that has not been completed in any prior surveys or research, and findings support preservation and continued use of historic secondary buildings and will provide an informed background for new outbuildings to be constructed within Charleston that are sensitive to building patterns of secondary buildings on the peninsula

A brain-wave equation incorporating axo-dendritic connectivity

We introduce an integral model of a two-dimensional neural field that includes a third dimension representing space along a dendritic tree that can incorporate realistic patterns of axo-dendritic connectivity. For natural choices of this connectivity we show how to construct an equivalent brainwave partial differential equation that allows for effcient numerical simulation of the model. This is used to highlight the effects that passive dendritic properties can have on the speed and shape of large scale traveling cortical waves

Leading Change while Managing Conflict in Departmental Transitions

This session will explore conflict management strategies utilized while redefining a department during reaccreditation. Case examples of approaches used and results achieved will be presented in relation to existing literature. Through group activities, participants will be invited to explore and discuss the effectiveness of strategies used in each example presented

Lactobacillus ruminis strains cluster according to their mammalian gut source

peer-reviewedBackground Lactobacillus ruminis is a motile Lactobacillus that is autochthonous to the human gut, and which may also be isolated from other mammals. Detailed characterization of L. ruminis has previously been restricted to strains of human and bovine origin. We therefore sought to expand our bio-bank of strains to identify and characterise isolates of porcine and equine origin by comparative genomics. Results We isolated five strains from the faeces of horses and two strains from pigs, and compared their motility, biochemistry and genetic relatedness to six human isolates and three bovine isolates including the type strain 27780T. Multilocus sequence typing analysis based on concatenated sequence data for six individual loci separated the 16 L. ruminis strains into three clades concordant with human, bovine or porcine, and equine sources. Sequencing the genomes of four additional strains of human, bovine, equine and porcine origin revealed a high level of genome synteny, independent of the source animal. Analysis of carbohydrate utilization, stress survival and technological robustness in a combined panel of sixteen L. ruminis isolates identified strains with optimal survival characteristics suitable for future investigation as candidate probiotics. Under laboratory conditions, six human isolates of L. ruminis tested were aflagellate and non-motile, whereas all 10 strains of bovine, equine and porcine origin were motile. Interestingly the equine and porcine strains were hyper-flagellated compared to bovine isolates, and this hyper-flagellate phenotype correlated with the ability to swarm on solid medium containing up to 1.8% agar. Analysis by RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR identified genes for the biosynthesis of flagella, genes for carbohydrate metabolism and genes of unknown function that were differentially expressed in swarming cells of an equine isolate of L. ruminis. Conclusions We suggest that Lactobacillus ruminis isolates have potential to be used in the functional food industry. We have also identified a MLST scheme able to distinguish between strains of L. ruminis of different origin. Genes for non-digestible oligosaccharide metabolism were identified with a putative role in swarming behaviour.This work was supported by a Principal Investigator Award (07/IN.1/B1780) from Science Foundation Ireland to P.W. O’Toole

Pokémon is Evolving! An investigation into the development of the Pokémon community and expectations for the future of the franchise

Pokémon is one of Nintendo’s largest, most influential franchises. With a history ranging more than twenty years, its enormous fan-base spans video and trading card games, anime TV shows and films, amongst other media. This paper aims to investigate the Pokémon fan community while exploring how the franchise has grown: from its beginnings as a pop-culture phenomenon, to one of the strongest and friendliest gaming fan communities in existence today. Data gathered from 165 online respondents examines how fans’ past experiences with the franchise inform their expectations towards future products. It also explores how considerable efforts from developers – as well as the gaming community – contribute to the creative growth of a continually-expanding fan-base. Additionally, this study was in a unique position to gather data before two new Pokémon games were released: Pokken Tournament and Pokémon GO. The former did not generate high expectations but still performed well in terms of sales. The latter was thought of as a casual game but, as the world now knows, was a tremendous success. Insights obtained from researching fan attitudes to unreleased games show that expectations do not always become reality

MARATHON STRIDE RATE DYNAMICS: A CASE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to investigate stride rate (SR) dynamics of a recreational runner participating in his debut marathon. Tibial accelerometry data obtained during a half marathon (R1) and marathon (R2) were utilised. SR data were extracted utilising novel computational methods and descriptive statistics were utilised for analysis of R2, and comparison of the first half of the marathon (R2half) to R1. Results indicate that the participant employed comparable SR strategy in R1 and R2half. For R2 a combined decreasing trend in SR and increased variance in SR from 30 km (R2 =0.0238) was observed. Results indicate that the participant had the ability to maintain SR strategy for the first half of the marathon, however as fatigue onset occurred this ability decreased. Running strategies on SR during fatigue may be of future use to recreational runners

Dynamic Patterns of Transcript Abundance of Transposable Element Families in Maize.

Transposable Elements (TEs) are mobile elements that contribute the majority of DNA sequences in the maize genome. Due to their repetitive nature, genomic studies of TEs are complicated by the difficulty of properly attributing multi-mapped short reads to specific genomic loci. Here, we utilize a method to attribute RNA-seq reads to TE families rather than particular loci in order to characterize transcript abundance for TE families in the maize genome. We applied this method to assess per-family expression of transposable elements in >800 published RNA-seq libraries representing a range of maize development, genotypes, and hybrids. While a relatively small proportion of TE families are transcribed, expression is highly dynamic with most families exhibiting tissue-specific expression. A large number of TE families were specifically detected in pollen and endosperm, consistent with reproductive dynamics that maintain silencing of TEs in the germ line. We find that B73 transcript abundance is a poor predictor of TE expression in other genotypes and that transcript levels can differ even for shared TEs. Finally, by assessing recombinant inbred line and hybrid transcriptomes, complex patterns of TE transcript abundance across genotypes emerged. Taken together, this study reveals a dynamic contribution of TEs to maize transcriptomes