United States Department of Defense (DoD) Real Property Repair, Alterations, Maintenance, and Construction Project Contract Data: 2009–2020

Nearly one-half of all construction projects exceed planned costs and schedule, globally [1]. Owners and construction managers can analyze historical project performance data to inform cost and schedule overrun risk-reduction strategies. Though, the majority of open-source project datasets are limited by the number of projects, data dimensionality, and location. A significant global customer of the construction industry, the Department of Defense (DoD) maintains a vast database of historical project data that can be used to determine the sources and magnitude of construction schedule and cost overruns for many continental and international locations. The selection of data provided by the authors is a subset of the U.S. Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which stores contractual obligations made by the U.S. Federal Government [2]. The data comprises more than ten fiscal years (1 Oct 2009 – 04 June 2020) of construction contract attributes that will enable researchers to investigate spatiotemporal schedule and cost performance by, but not limited to: contract type, construction type, delivery method, award date, and award value. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the most extensive open-source dataset of its kind, as it provides access to the contract data of 132,662 uniquely identified construction projects totaling $865 billion. Because the DoD\u27s facilities and infrastructure construction requirements and use of private construction firms are congruent with the remainder of the public sector and the private sector, results obtained from analyses of this dataset may be appropriate for broader application

Doxorubicin induces caspase-mediated proteolysis of KV7.1

Strigli A, Raab C, Hessler S, et al. Doxorubicin induces caspase-mediated proteolysis of KV7.1. Communications Biology. 2018;1(1): 155.Kv7.1 (KCNQ1) coassembles with KCNE1 to generate the cardiac IKs-channel. Gain- and loss-of-function mutations in KCNQ1 are associated with cardiac arrhthymias, highlighting the importance of modulating IKs activity for cardiac function. Here, we report proteolysis of Kv7.1 as an irreversible posttranslational modification. The identification of two C-terminal fragments of Kv7.1 led us to identify an aspartate critical for the generation of one of the fragments and caspases as responsible for mediating proteolysis. Activating caspases reduces Kv7.1/KCNE1 currents, which is abrogated in cells expressing caspase-resistant channels. Enhanced cleavage of Kv7.1 can be detected for the LQT mutation G460S, which is located adjacent to the cleavage site, whereas a calmodulin-binding-deficient mutation impairs cleavage. Application of apoptotic stimuli or doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity provokes caspase-mediated cleavage of endogenous IKs in human cardiomyocytes. In summary, caspases are novel regulatory components of IKs channels that may have important implications for the molecular mechanism of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Ambiguous pots:Everyday practice, migration and materiality.The case of medieval Baltic ware on the island of Bornholm (Denmark)

Archaeologists routinely deal with the remains of everyday life. Yet the significance and dimensions of daily practices are rarely reflected upon. Merging Bourdieu’s theory of practice, recent theories of everyday life and the materiality approach in archaeology, this study addresses the potential importance of daily practices and mundane objects in dealing with a rupture caused by migration. As a case study I use an example of medieval (eleventh century) Western Slavic migration to the island of Bornholm (Denmark) and production and daily handling of ceramic pots, the so-called Baltic ware. I explore the possible background to the introduction of the new pottery style, its significance for the local population of the island and above all the meanings these types of ceramics could have had for the immigrant Slavs