trackr: A Framework for Enhancing Discoverability and Reproducibility of Data Visualizations and Other Artifacts in R

Research is an incremental, iterative process, with new results relying and building upon previous ones. Scientists need to find, retrieve, understand, and verify results in order to confidently extend them, even when the results are their own. We present the trackr framework for organizing, automatically annotating, discovering, and retrieving results. We identify sources of automatically extractable metadata for computational results, and we define an extensible system for organizing, annotating, and searching for results based on these and other metadata. We present an open-source implementation of these concepts for plots, computational artifacts, and woven dynamic reports generated in the R statistical computing language

A Mixed Methods Approach To Understanding The Juvenile Re-Entry Mentoring Process

Juvenile mentoring programs are an institution of informal social control that through programmatic design intends to mitigate delinquent behaviors with the development of strong quality social bonds. In these programs, mentees involved in the juvenile justice system are matched with older mentors to form social bonds as a method of encouraging prosocial behaviors. The Juvenile Reentry Mentoring Project (JRMP) is one such mentoring program matching juvenile mentees in the justice system with undergraduate mentors. Research is clear that the longer the match relationship, the stronger the relationship (Rhodes, 2007; Garringer et al., 2017). Yet, research is limited as to the program and relationship factors contributing to lasting quality relationships specific to juvenile reentry mentees (Bazron et al., 2017; Tolan et al., 2014; DuBois et al., 2006; Abrams et al., 2014). Elements understudied include the mentor’s approach to the match, mentor and mentee characteristics, and the dosage needed to produce a longlasting quality relationship. This study attempted to better understand whether these factors contributed to the quality and length of a match relationship for matches in the JRMP. I used an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design to evaluate the potential contributing factors. Given the limitations of the study, particularly relevant the sample size for analysis, findings identified various factors potentially contributing to the quality and length of a match relationship. The results provide insight and direction for improved data collection and future research

Finding the signal in the noise: Could social media be utilized for early hospital notification of multiple casualty events?

IntroductionDelayed notification and lack of early information hinder timely hospital based activations in large scale multiple casualty events. We hypothesized that Twitter real-time data would produce a unique and reproducible signal within minutes of multiple casualty events and we investigated the timing of the signal compared with other hospital disaster notification mechanisms.MethodsUsing disaster specific search terms, all relevant tweets from the event to 7 days post-event were analyzed for 5 recent US based multiple casualty events (Boston Bombing [BB], SF Plane Crash [SF], Napa Earthquake [NE], Sandy Hook [SH], and Marysville Shooting [MV]). Quantitative and qualitative analysis of tweet utilization were compared across events.ResultsOver 3.8 million tweets were analyzed (SH 1.8 m, BB 1.1m, SF 430k, MV 250k, NE 205k). Peak tweets per min ranged from 209-3326. The mean followers per tweeter ranged from 3382-9992 across events. Retweets were tweeted a mean of 82-564 times per event. Tweets occurred very rapidly for all events (<2 mins) and represented 1% of the total event specific tweets in a median of 13 minutes of the first 911 calls. A 200 tweets/min threshold was reached fastest with NE (2 min), BB (7 min), and SF (18 mins). If this threshold was utilized as a signaling mechanism to place local hospitals on standby for possible large scale events, in all case studies, this signal would have preceded patient arrival. Importantly, this threshold for signaling would also have preceded traditional disaster notification mechanisms in SF, NE, and simultaneous with BB and MV.ConclusionsSocial media data has demonstrated that this mechanism is a powerful, predictable, and potentially important resource for optimizing disaster response. Further investigated is warranted to assess the utility of prospective signally thresholds for hospital based activation

STATUS OFFENDERS AND THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

Status offenses are noncriminal acts that are considered law violations because the offender is a minor; status offenders in the juvenile justice system are often first-time offenders and pose low-risk to society. Status offenders become involved in the justice system primarily by displaying problem behaviors that result in school personnel or law enforcement response, which may lead to a referral to the County Attorney. Once the juvenile has been referred, they may be diverted or further entrenched in the system. Net widening occurs when low-risk youth are brought under the purview of the court and juvenile system – this punishment a) is often more severe than the crime, b) does not accurately reflect the juvenile’s risk for future offending, and c) may make it more difficult to get out of the system. Impact of net widening and formal system involvement: aggravation of juveniles’ mental health problems, promote further criminal offending, deepen the level of systeminvolvement, and increase the odds of negative outcomes as an adult. Recommended best practice standards for status offenders: 1. Non-intervention for low-risk, status offenders 2. Limiting the restrictions placed on low-risk youth in the system, as these often raise the risk of technical violations 3. Implementing evidence-based programs that focus on preventio

Computer-Based Assessment of Non-Cognitive Attributes of Occupational Therapy Students: A Pilot Evaluation

Purpose: Holistic admissions tools have been considered for use to diversify student admissions. The ability to screen non-cognitive attributes of applicants is an important element of holistic admissions. The objective of this study was to establish instrument reliability, inter-rater reliability, validity, item discrimination, item difficulty, and bias of the Computerized Assessment of Non-Cognitive Attributes of Health Care Professionals (CANA-HP). Methods: A novel methodology was developed to screen non-cognitive attributes of health profession applicants. Using a cross-sectional design, a convenience sample of students invited for interviews into a Mid-western occupational therapy program were recruited for participation. The 37 participants who consented, completed a demographic survey followed by the 12 question CANA-HP. Results: Open-ended questions had adequate internal reliability, discrimination, and difficulty. Multiple choice questions had low reliability and discrimination. No correlation was found between the CANA-HP and standardized cognitive assessments, except non-science GPA which was significantly correlated to the total open-ended (essay) scores and total overall score. Conclusions and Recommendations: The CANA-HP was not biased toward individuals from varied demographic backgrounds. Predictive validity of this tool and non-cognitive measurements of success are still needed. Occupational therapists in educational settings could consider adding open-ended ethical questions to the application process when interviews are not feasible. Classes in the non-sciences and other non-cognitive markers of success may also help identify students with ‘grit’ and critical reasoning which are important to practicing clinician

Associations of less healthy snack food consumption with infant weight-for-length z-score trajectories: Findings from the Nurture cohort study

Little is known about the impact of less healthy snack foods on weight trajectories during infancy. This secondary analysis of data from the Nurture cohort explored prospective associations of less healthy snack foods with infant weight trajectories. Pregnant women were recruited and, upon delivery of a single live infant, 666 mothers agreed to participate. Mothers completed sociodemographic and infant feeding questionnaires, and infant anthropometrics were collected during home visits at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Less healthy snack food consumption was assessed by asking how frequently baby snacks and sweets were consumed each day during the previous three months. Multilevel growth curve models explored associations of baby snacks and sweets with infant weight-for-length (WFL) z-scores. On average, mothers were 27 years old, 71.5% were non-Hispanic Black, and 55.4% had household incomes of ≤$20,000/year. Consumption of less healthy snack foods increased during infancy with a median intake of 3.0 baby snacks/day and 0.7 sweets/day between 10 and 12 months. Growth curve models showed that infants who consumed sweets \u3e2 times/day had significantly higher WFL z-scores during the second half of infancy compared to infants who never consumed sweets. Less healthy snacks may contribute to the risk of obesity during infancy and promoting healthy snack food choices during this critical time is important

Nebraska Alternative to Detention Programs 2015 to 2016

The overarching goal of an alternative to detention (ATD) program is to ensure that youth released to the community are adequately supervised instead of being detained. JJI set out to evaluate whether youth would have in fact been detained (that is, are we using the program as an alternative to detention?). Secondarily, we planned to evaluate whether the program ensured that the youth showed up for the scheduled court date and refrained from any new law violations while placed in the community. The research questions that JJI hoped to answer were as follows: 1. How many youth are served in an ATD? 2. How many of those youth would have gone to detention, without the ATD? 3. Are ATDs effective programs for ensuring youth get to their court date? 4. Do ATDs help youth avoid additional charges while the court date is pending? Number of youth served? Programs funded through Community-based Aid, including ATDs, are statutorily required to report data to the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (Nebraska Crime Commission or NCC) (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-2404.02(4a)). This requirement is fulfilled when programs enter youth information into the Juvenile Case Management System (JCMS). However, many of these programs serve youth at various stages, some pre-adjudicated and others who have been adjudicated to probation. For an accurate count of youth served, programs must enter data on all youth served. The Office of Probation has indicated that they cannot share any information about youth who are on probation because it is a violation of confidentiality. However, the community-based aid statutes are clear regarding confidential records. Neb. Rev. Stat. §43-2404.02(c) specifically states that: ”Providing the commission access to records and information for, as well as the commission granting access to records and information from, the common data set is not a violation of confidentiality provisions under any law, rule, or regulation if done in good faith for purposes of evaluation. Records and documents, regardless of physical form, that are obtained or produced or presented to the commission for the common data set are not public records for purposes of sections 84-712 to 84-712.09. Furthermore, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-2404.02 mandates that the Office of Probation shall share data with the Nebraska Crime Commission, “to ensure that the dataset permits evaluation of recidivism and other measures.” How many of those youth would have gone to detention, without the ATD? In the State of Nebraska, the Office of Juvenile Probation Administration screens youth using the Nebraska Juvenile Intake Screening Risk Assessment prior to making a recommendation on whether a youth should be detained. The data indicates that 26.2% of the youth participating in an ATD were the intended population and scored high enough to be detained, if not for an available ATD. However, once again, in 476 cases the data on RAI score not completed, so we are unable to assess whether youth served in our ATDs would have otherwise been detained. Are ATDs effective programs for ensuring youth get to their court date? JJI sought court data on court dates for the youth served through an alternative to detention from the Court Administrator. Unfortunately, when a youth fails to appear for court that is coded as continued, but the reason the case is continued is not captured. In the future, JJI will build fields to capture information related to court dates and ask programs to track whether the youth appeared in court as scheduled. Do ATDs help youth avoid additional charges while the court date is pending? From the 877 youth examined, only 91 or roughly 10%, had a new law violation between the youth’s date of enrollment in an ATD and the date of discharge. Unfortunately, while these appear to be very promising results, with so much data missing, the results are incomplete and not valid. Overall, the missing data compiled for this report led to an insufficient count of youth participating in ATDs and an inadequate evaluation into how alternatives to detention are being used in Nebraska

Telomere maintenance is dependent on activities required for end repair of double-strand breaks

AbstractTelomeres are functionally distinct from ends generated by chromosome breakage, in that telomeres, unlike double-strand breaks, are insulated from recombination with other chromosomal termini [1]. We report that the Ku heterodimer and the Rad50/Mre11/Xrs2 complex, both of which are required for repair of double-strand breaks [2–5], have separate roles in normal telomere maintenance in yeast. Using epistasis analysis, we show that the Ku end-binding complex defined a third telomere-associated activity, required in parallel with telomerase [6] and Cdc13, a protein binding the single-strand portion of telomere DNA [7,8]. Furthermore, loss of Ku function altered the expression of telomere-located genes, indicative of a disruption of telomeric chromatin. These data suggest that the Ku complex and the Cdc13 protein function as terminus-binding factors, contributing distinct roles in chromosome end protection. In contrast, MRE11 and RAD50 were required for the telomerase-mediated pathway, rather than for telomeric end protection; we propose that this complex functions to prepare DNA ends for telomerase to replicate. These results suggest that as a part of normal telomere maintenance, telomeres are identified as double-strand breaks, with additional mechanisms required to prevent telomere recombination. Ku, Cdc13 and telomerase define three epistasis groups required in parallel for telomere maintenance

School-based intervention study examining approaches for well-being and mental health literacy of pupils in Year 9 in England: study protocol for a multischool, parallel group cluster randomised controlled trial (AWARE) (vol 12, artne029044corr1, 20022)

The authors would like to notify that the co-authors Sara Evans-Lacko, Bettina Moltrecht, Kirsty Nisbet, Emma Thornton, Aurelie Lange, Paul Stallard, Abigail Thompson were missed including in the authorship list of the paper. The supplementary file has been also updated