Search

Higher education operates in a quickly changing, progressively more globalized, cosmopolitan, and interconnected world (Bauman, 2000 , Globalization: The Human Consequences. New York/Chichester: Columbia University Press; Appiah, 2006 , Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York: W.W. Norton & Co; Zuckerman, 2013 , Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection. New York: W. W. Norton & Company). At the same time, substantive inequalities between people and places mean that this connectivity and knowledge is unevenly spread (Hallberg Adu, 2014 , What is the opposite of a knowledge society? A critical reflection from Ghana. In Amoah, L. (ed.), Impacts of the Knowledge Society on Economic and Social Growth in Africa. IGI Global). For our students, the future leaders of this unequal world, critical reasoning becomes a key skill, and perhaps especially so for students in the Global South. This paper argues that digital humanities (DH) can provide both a theoretical framework for decolonizing the academy and technological solutions to hurdles in this process. The paper argues that assignments, their theoretical underpinnings, and implementation are key to decolonizing higher education. It describes three accessible technology-driven assignments with DH pedagogy created for diverse classrooms at Ashesi University in Ghana and discusses their outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Hypothesis With increasing recognition of the importance of cognitive health for recovery in people with psychosis, questions arise as to how to implement cognitive health services in large systems of care. This paper describes the implementation of cognitive health services in OnTrackNY (OTNY), a network of clinics delivering a Coordinated Specialty Care treatment model for early psychosis, with the goal of documenting the processes, challenges, and useful adaptations. Study Design In 2018, OTNY piloted a Cognitive Health Toolkit for implementation across 18 affiliated clinics. The toolkit intended to identify the cognitive health needs of individuals early in the course of psychosis and to integrate cognitive health into the vocabulary of wellness and recovery. Implementation involved creating mechanisms for staff training and support to, in turn, help participants improve how they use cognitive skills in daily life. Study Results The toolkit was disseminated to all 28 OTNY programs throughout New York state by 2023. When simple assessment and decision-making tools were embedded in routine care practices, the majority of participants identified that improving memory, attention, and critical thinking skills would be helpful. Consistently, about 70% of those asked wanted to learn more about how to better their cognitive health. Conclusions Cognitive health services can be implemented in large systems of care that provide a multi-level system of implementation supports. Organizational facilitators of implementation include a training program to educate about cognitive health and the delivery of cognitive health interventions, and embedded quality assurance monitoring and improvement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the bike demand can help rebalance the bikes and improve the service quality of a bike-sharing system. A lot of works focus on predicting the bike demand for all the stations, which is unnecessary as the travel cost of rebalance operations increases sharply as the number of stations increases. In this paper, we propose a framework for predicting the hourly bike demand based on the central stations we define. Firstly, we propose Two-Stage Station Clustering Algorithm to assign central stations and common stations into each cluster. Secondly, we propose a hierarchical prediction model to predict the hourly bike demand for every cluster and each central station progressively. Thirdly, we use a well-studied queuing model to determine the target initial inventory for each central station. The most innovative contribution of this paper is proposing the concept of central station, the use of a novel algorithm to cluster the central stations and present a hierarchical model, containing the Time and Weather Similarity Weighted K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm and a linear model to predict the bike demand for central stations. The experimental results on the New York citi bike system demonstrate that our proposed method is more accurate than other methods in solving existing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low rates of survey response are a problem that survey organizations increasingly experience across the world. Understanding local socio-demographic reasons for low response, and projecting future response, can inform targeted outreach and messaging to communities. Using the US Census as a case study, we study mail response behavior both cross-sectionally and over time. The cross-sectional part of this study (2010) helps inform the selection of explanatory variables for a two-panel difference model (2000–2010). In turn, the two-panel difference model offers an in-depth understanding of which demographic indicators shape response across time. Increases in response between 2000 and 2010 were found to be associated with growth in the elderly and in the Dominican populations, while growth in blacks, renters, and those with low educational attainment were associated with decreases in response. Coefficients from the two-panel difference model are then applied to demographic changes from 2008–2012 to 2013–2017, to project response rates for the most recent period. While much of our findings are in line with prior survey research, we demonstrate the importance of projecting response behavior using a local perspective, as national-level results do not always apply to smaller jurisdictions. In a diverse country such as the United States, a hyper-diverse city such as New York often carves its own path. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that connects shifts in socio-demographic neighborhood characteristics with changes in response rates. As racial and ethnic diversity increases in cities across western societies, our methodology allows jurisdictions to project response rates using shifts in socio-demographic neighborhood characteristics that are tied to self-response. Such a tailored approach can be replicated across different kinds of surveys, countries, and time points, which will allow for the identification of local factors that drive changes in survey response and help establish a precisely customized outreach plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption demoralises government and weakens the whole endeavour of policy formulation and its implementation. It diminishes services and causes fiscal stress, but most of all it undermines trust and corrodes legitimate community expectations. Corruption takes many forms and is found in many contexts. This paper develops a framework for the analysis of corruption which identifies types, activities, sectors and places (TASP). With the TASP framework identified or suspected corruption in any setting can be analysed as a precursor to the controls and processes that are most appropriate for the control and modification of corrupt behaviour, which ideally can enhance public sector performance. The TASP framework assists in pinpointing the nature, location and context of public sector corruption, and illustrates more precisely where the risks of corrupt activity might arise. This paper demonstrates, with empirical work from New York City and the State of Victoria in Australia (Australia's second most populous state), that more precise classification and characterisation of the nature and types of corrupt activity is an essential precondition to the development and design of targeted anti-corruption measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Rationale: Tobacco use is common among persons living with hepatitis C (PLHC), yet little is known about their smoking behaviors and beliefs. Modern hepatitis C treatment offers a unique opportunity to intensively engage this population about other health risks, including smoking.Main Results: Seventy-seven tobacco users (40 hepatitis C virus [HCV] seropositive and 37 HCV seronegative) enrolled in an interview study in a New York City clinic. The mean age was 51.6, 57.1% were male, 40.3% Latino, and 49.4% black. 67.5% were single and 18.2% were employed. HCV+ smokers differed from HCV- smokers in having a higher prevalence of illicit substance use, depression, and hypertension. PLHC smokers were highly motivated to quit, with 52.5% stating an intention to quit within 30 days. Most of the PLHC smokers had used cessation-directed pharmacotherapy, but almost none had tried a quitline or a quit smoking website. PLHC smokers scored higher on the intrapersonal locus of control subscale. Almost a quarter (22.5%) believed that smoking "helped fight the HCV."Conclusions: PLHC smokers have a high burden of psychiatric and substance use comorbidity. They exhibit characteristics that distinguish them from uninfected smokers, and many harbor false beliefs about imagined benefits of smoking. They are highly motivated to quit but underutilize cessation aids. Without aggressive intervention, smoking-related morbidity will likely mute the health benefits and longevity gains associated with hepatitis C treatment. Research such as this may prove useful in guiding the development of future tobacco treatment strategies.Implications: This is the first paper to examine, in detail, sociobehavioral correlates of tobacco use in PLHC. PLHC are recognized by the Department of Health and Human Services as a high-priority health disparities population. We are not aware of any tobacco treatment services designed specifically for PLHC. The first step in designing an intervention is defining the characteristics of the target group. Our findings will begin to address this need, and may prove useful in optimizing tobacco treatment strategies for smokers living with hepatitis C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addressed the critical gap in research on the academic English vocabulary knowledge of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students at the college level, with a specific focus on academic English verbs. An English vocabulary test was developed to assess knowledge of academic verbs at three distinct corpus-defined lexical frequency ranges. The test was administered to the DHH students along with two comparison groups of college peers—students of English as an Additional Language (EAL)1 and hearing native-English-speaking students. Results revealed near-ceiling performance by hearing native speakers but significant vocabulary challenges in the DHH and EAL learner groups, who exhibited parallel lexical knowledge. Learner group performance increased as verb frequency range increased and as overall English proficiency level increased. The findings demonstrate that lexical frequency effects guide English verb acquisition in the targeted populations.2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Androgen levels are generally measured in serum samples, but urine may be a more feasible option, especially in children, as it is a noninvasive alternative. Objective To assess the correlations of 10 urinary androgen metabolites with 4 serum androgens [dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S), androstenedione, and total and free testosterone] and assess if their correlations differ by participant characteristics. Methods Our study consisted of 44 girls, ages 6-13, who participated in the New York site of the LEGACY Girls Study and had both serum and urine samples collected at the same visit. We performed Pearson's correlation coefficient tests between 4 serum and 10 individual urinary metabolite measures and their sum. We examined the influence of participant characteristics on the magnitude and direction of the correlations. Results The summed urinary metabolite measures had the highest correlation with free testosterone in serum (global sum, r = 0.83) and correlated least with DHEA-S in serum (global sum, r = 0.64). The correlation between individual urinary metabolites and serum androgens ranged from 0.08 to 0.84.Two 11-oxygenated urinary metabolites (5α-androstane-3α-ol-11,17-dione5β-androstane-3α,11β-diol-17-one) were weakly correlated with all serum androgens. Participant age, weight, height, waist:hip ratio, and pubic hair growth stage changed the correlations between urinary and serum androgens measures between 10% and 213%. Conclusion The sum of urinary androgen metabolites was a good marker of circulating androstenedione, testosterone, and free testosterone. Individual urinary metabolites provide additional information about the metabolic processes of disease development compared to the antecedent serum androgens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ancestral recombination graph (ARG) is a structure that represents the history of coalescent and recombination events connecting a set of sequences (Hudson RR. In: Futuyma D, Antonovics J, editors. Gene genealogies and the coalescent process. In: Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology; 1991. p. 1 to 44.). The full ARG can be represented as a set of genealogical trees at every locus in the genome, annotated with recombination events that change the topology of the trees between adjacent loci and the mutations that occurred along the branches of those trees (Griffiths RC, Marjoram P. An ancestral recombination graph. In: Donnelly P, Tavare S, editors. Progress in population genetics and human evolution. Springer; 1997. p. 257 to 270.). Valuable insights can be gained into past evolutionary processes, such as demographic events or the influence of natural selection, by studying the ARG. It is regarded as the "holy grail" of population genetics (Hubisz M, Siepel A. Inference of ancestral recombination graphs using ARGweaver. In: Dutheil JY, editors. Statistical population genomics. New York, NY: Springer US; 2020. p. 231–266.) since it encodes the processes that generate all patterns of allelic and haplotypic variation from which all commonly used summary statistics in population genetic research (e.g. heterozygosity and linkage disequilibrium) can be derived. Many previous evolutionary inferences relied on summary statistics extracted from the genotype matrix. Evolutionary inferences using the ARG represent a significant advancement as the ARG is a representation of the evolutionary history of a sample that shows the past history of recombination, coalescence, and mutation events across a particular sequence. This representation in theory contains as much information, if not more, than the combination of all independent summary statistics that could be derived from the genotype matrix. Consistent with this idea, some of the first ARG-based analyses have proven to be more powerful than summary statistic-based analyses (Speidel L, Forest M, Shi S, Myers SR. A method for genome-wide genealogy estimation for thousands of samples. Nat Genet. 2019:51(9):1321 to 1329.; Stern AJ, Wilton PR, Nielsen R. An approximate full-likelihood method for inferring selection and allele frequency trajectories from DNA sequence data. PLoS Genet. 2019:15(9):e1008384.; Hubisz MJ, Williams AL, Siepel A. Mapping gene flow between ancient hominins through demography-aware inference of the ancestral recombination graph. PLoS Genet. 2020:16(8):e1008895.; Fan C, Mancuso N, Chiang CWK. A genealogical estimate of genetic relationships. Am J Hum Genet. 2022:109(5):812–824.; Fan C, Cahoon JL, Dinh BL, Ortega-Del Vecchyo D, Huber C, Edge MD, Mancuso N, Chiang CWK. A likelihood-based framework for demographic inference from genealogical trees. bioRxiv. 2023.10.10.561787. 2023.; Hejase HA, Mo Z, Campagna L, Siepel A. A deep-learning approach for inference of selective sweeps from the ancestral recombination graph. Mol Biol Evol. 2022:39(1):msab332.; Link V, Schraiber JG, Fan C, Dinh B, Mancuso N, Chiang CWK, Edge MD. Tree-based QTL mapping with expected local genetic relatedness matrices. bioRxiv. 2023.04.07.536093. 2023.; Zhang BC, Biddanda A, Gunnarsson ÁF, Cooper F, Palamara PF. Biobank-scale inference of ancestral recombination graphs enables genealogical analysis of complex traits. Nat Genet. 2023:55(5):768–776.). As such, there has been significant interest in the field to investigate 2 main problems related to the ARG: (i) How can we estimate the ARG based on genomic data, and (ii) how can we extract information of past evolutionary processes from the ARG? In this perspective, we highlight 3 topics that pertain to these main issues: The development of computational innovations that enable the estimation of the ARG; remaining challenges in estimating the ARG; and methodological advances for deducing evolutionary forces and mechanisms using the ARG. This perspective serves to introduce the readers to the types of questions that can be explored using the ARG and to highlight some of the most pressing issues that must be addressed in order to make ARG-based inference an indispensable tool for evolutionary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The price of copper is unstable but it is considered an important indicator of the global economy. Changes in the price of copper point to higher global growth or an impending recession. In this work, the forecasting of the spot prices of copper from the New York Commodity Exchange is studied using a machine learning method, support vector regression coupled with different model schemas (recursive, direct and hybrid multi-step). Using these techniques, three different time series analyses are built and its performance are compared. The numerical results show that the hybrid direct-recursive obtains the best results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycobius speciosus (Say) was studied in New York State to elucidate poorly known aspects of its biology. Head capsule size from excavated larvae coupled with gallery lengths measured at the time of excavation was used to characterize larval development. Partial life tables indicated nearly 20% of G. speciosus survive to adulthood. Larvae experienced 30% of their mortality during early development, 27% during mid-larval development, and 43% during late larval development. Predation by hairy woodpeckers, Dryobates villosus (Linnaeus) (Piciformes: Picidae), the only unambiguous source of mortality, accounted for 43% mortality in naturally infested trees located and followed 2004–2009, and 74% late instar mortality. One parasitoid, Dolichomitus irritator (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), was recovered from a single larva. Beetles emerged between 316 accumulated DD (base 10 °C) and 648 DD. Males emerged prior to, or simultaneously with, females and lived longer. Female fecundity averaged 41.3 ± 6 eggs. Larval eclosion occurred 7–10 days after oviposition. Non-functional ovipositors observed in 16% of females represented an appreciable reproductive loss. In 77% of infested trees 1 oviposition site was located and in 70% of oviposition sites examined only 1 or 2 larvae successfully eclosed, penetrated the bark to the phloem-xylem interface, and began feeding. Beetles preferred southern and eastern aspects for oviposition which occurred preferentially on the lower bole (<20 cm). Male beetles had longer and wider antennae than females, pronotal pits containing gland pores, and a straight to concave posterior margin of the terminal sternite compared to the more rounded margin of females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents from urban communities are at risk for unhealthy snacking behaviors. Youth advocacy interventions are shown to improve certain adolescent health behaviors, such as substance use. However, it remains unclear if youth advocacy is a feasible method to promote healthy snacking. As such, the aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of a youth advocacy program promoting healthy snacking among adolescents in New York City by conducting a mixed-methods process evaluation. Adolescents (12–18 years) at a Boys and Girls Club in New York City were recruited to participate in a 12-session adaptation of the Youth Engagement and Action for Health! program to advocate for the promotion of healthy snacks in corner stores. A mixed-methods process evaluation was conducted to assess recruitment, reach (attendance), dose delivered (amount of intervention delivered), fidelity (degree to which intervention was implemented according to curriculum) and dose received (participant engagement/satisfaction). Satisfaction was also evaluated through focus groups. Descriptive statistics were calculated for quantitative data, and focus groups were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participant retention (94.74%), attendance (93.52%), dose delivered (98.94%), fidelity (98.5%), engagement (4.97/5) and program satisfaction (4/5) were high. Focus groups (n  = 6; 28 participants) revealed that participants learned about nutrition, enjoyed being advocates and improved snacking behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the role of strategic investment in the US broadband industry. In particular, we provide evidence that cable incumbents adjust their investment strategy in response to fiber entry threat and that these deterrence strategies have been successful particularly in intermediate sized markets. We compile data on broadband deployment and exogenous franchise agreements for potential fiber entrants at the most local level in New York State. The results indicate that strategic cable investment may negatively affect optical fiber diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how changes in landscape properties influence common species is relevant as it allows us to identify patterns that could be shared with co-distributed species that occupy the same landscapes. The northeastern United States (NE-USA: New York state and the six states of New England) is heavily urbanized and affected by continuous and prolonged anthropogenic activities, leading to intensive landscape fragmentation and loss of natural forests. Here, we used a landscape genetics approach to explore the genetic diversity and structure of the Southern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys volans , and how resulting patterns may be related to landscape fragmentation and forest loss in the NE-USA. To study G. volans genetic variation and population structure, we amplified and genotyped 10 microsatellites loci from DNA extracted from tissue samples stored in biological collections and natural history museums. To assess the influence of landscape on gene flow and connectivity, we used two genetic distances metrics–proportion of shared alleles and codominant marker, and tested two landscape cost models approaches–least cost path and isolation by resistance. We identified three genetic clusters, with low but significant genetic differentiation between them. We did not find correlation between geographic distance and genetic variation in these populations. According to landscape models, land cover and elevation were the best predictors of genetic connectivity of G. volans , although were poorly related to genetic distances. Our results suggest that gene flow occurs between G. volans populations across the NE-USA despite the changed landscape configuration, implying potential dispersal of individuals between patches. Nonetheless, individuals from the eastern periphery of the distribution may have been temporarily isolated in the past due to historical deforestation. The current regeneration of hardwood forests represents a positive outlook for the genetic integrity of G. volans populations in the NE-USA because more possibilities for corridors and patches of habitable forests emerge. These changes would improve the connectivity of the species in the region and avoid possible local extinction events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims As a first step in developing a decision aid to support shared decision-making (SDM) for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) to evaluate treatment options for rhythm and symptom control, we aimed to measure decision quality and describe decision-making processes among patients and clinicians involved in decision-making around catheter ablation for AF. Methods and results We conducted a cross-sectional, mixed-methods study guided by an SDM model outlining decision antecedents, processes, and outcomes. Patients and clinicians completed semi-structured interviews about decision-making around ablation, feelings of decision conflict and regret, and preferences for the content, delivery, and format of a hypothetical decision aid for ablation. Patients also completed surveys about AF symptoms and aspects of decision quality. Fifteen patients (mean age 71.1 ± 8.6 years; 27% female) and five clinicians were recruited. For most patients, decisional conflict and regret were low, but they also reported low levels of information and agency in the decision-making process. Most clinicians report routinely providing patients with information and encouraging engagement during consultations. Patients reported preferences for an interactive, web-based decision aid that clearly presents evidence regarding outcomes using data, visualizations, videos, and personalized risk assessments, and is available in multiple languages. Conclusion Disconnects between clinician efforts to provide information and bolster agency and patient experiences of decision-making suggest decision aids may be needed to improve decision quality in practice. Reported experiences with current decision-making practices and preferences for decision aid content, format, and delivery can support the user-centred design and development of a decision aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NYC FITNESSGRAM, monitored by the New York City (NYC) Department of Education and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, functions as the NYC Department of Education's citywide youth fitness surveillance program. Here we present the methods, characteristics, and data used in this surveillance system to monitor physical fitness in public school students (grades kindergarten through 12; initiated in 2006; n  = 6,748,265 observations; mean sample of 519,097 observations per year to date) in New York, New York. Youth physical fitness prevalence estimates, longitudinal trends, and spatial analyses may be investigated using continuous fitness composite percentile scores and Cooper Institute for Aerobic Research–defined sex- and age-specific Healthy Fitness Zones. Healthy Fitness Zones are based on individual-child fitness test performance, with standard errors clustered at the school and student levels and adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. Results may be used to show trends in youth fitness attainment over time and highlight disparities in the fitness prevalence of NYC students. In sum, continuous fitness composite percentile scores offer the opportunity for prospective tracking of shifts in youth physical fitness on a population scale and across subpopulations. NYC FITNESSGRAM can accompany a growing body of surveillance tools demonstrating the potential for population-level surveillance tools to promote global public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the mounting imperative for managers to help forests adapt to the rapidly shifting climate and related stressors, significant gaps remain between recommendations for adaptive forest management and its actual implementation across the globe. The research presented here offers a novel qualitative analysis regarding the current nature, extent, and drivers of adaptive management in the northeastern United States. Based on 32 in-depth semi-structured interviews with rural (n  = 17) and urban foresters (n  = 15) across New England and New York, we share a summary of (1) important environmental drivers of adaptation across the region, (2) commonly employed adaptive strategies, (3) significant barriers to adaptation, and (4) approaches to working through named barriers. We categorize adaptive practices of foresters as options of resistance, resilience, or transition, highlighting opportunities to increase the use of all three options across the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doris Duke, one of the most avid twentieth-century collectors of Islamic art, spoke little about her motivation for building a remarkable collection of Islamic art for her Hawaiian home, Shangri La, and the processes whereby she did so. However, the correspondence between her and Mary Crane, a young art-history graduate student, who had travelled in the Middle East with Duke and then was her buyer in New York in 1940–41, illuminates these questions. The letters present exciting evidence, especially about the acquisition of a stunning thirteenth-century mihrab from Kashan, Iran. Moreover, mapping of the sites that Mary Crane visited in pursuit of objects reveals the network of the numerous people involved in the Islamic art market in New York. And, finally, the letters make possible an analysis of Duke's individual manifestation of Orientalism, enabling an examination of how and why she collected works from Middle Eastern, North African and Indian cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smoke-free housing policies are intended to reduce the deleterious health effects of secondhand smoke exposure, but there is limited evidence regarding their health impacts. We examined associations between implementation of a federal smoke-free housing rule by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and pediatric Medicaid claims for asthma, lower respiratory tract infections, and upper respiratory tract infections in the early post–policy intervention period. We used geocoded address data to match children living in tax lots with NYCHA buildings (exposed to the policy) to children living in lots with other subsidized housing (unexposed to the policy). We constructed longitudinal difference-in-differences models to assess relative changes in monthly rates of claims between November 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019 (the policy was introduced on July 30, 2018). We also examined effect modification by baseline age group (≤2, 3–6, or 7–15 years). In New York City, introduction of a smoke-free policy was not associated with lower rates of Medicaid claims for any outcomes in the early postpolicy period. Exposure to the smoke-free policy was associated with slightly higher than expected rates of outpatient upper respiratory tract infection claims (incidence rate ratio = 1.05, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.08), a result most pronounced among children aged 3–6 years. Ongoing monitoring is essential to understanding long-term health impacts of smoke-free housing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that analysts should examine how individuals perceive and construct value in order to understand persistent forms of inequality. Drawing on years of ethnographic observations of real estate professionals and homeseekers across various segments of the housing markets in Houston, TX and New York, NY, this article develops the concepts of value fluidity and value anchoring to describe how valuation occurs and to better theorize how valuation itself reproduces racial–spatial inequality in housing. It shows that consumers' valuation criteria can be quite malleable and highly influenced by intermediaries and experts. At the same time, valuation is patterned in reference to existing hierarchies. The article concludes by arguing for the importance of theorizing valuation through observation of market interactions and by showing why investigations of the housing market must focus on intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing affordability is the main policy challenge for most large cities in the world. Zoning changes, rent control, housing vouchers, and tax credits are the main levers employed by policymakers. How effective are they at combatting the affordability crisis? We build a dynamic stochastic spatial equilibrium model to evaluate the effect of these policies on the well-being of its citizens. The model endogenizes house prices, rents, construction, labour supply, output, income, and wealth inequality, the location decisions of households within the city as well as inter-city migration. Its main novel features are risk, risk aversion, and incomplete risk-sharing. We calibrate the model to the New York metropolitan statistical area. Housing affordability policies carry substantial insurance value but affect aggregate housing and labour supply and cause misallocation in labour and housing markets. Housing affordability policies that enhance access to this insurance especially for the neediest households create substantial net welfare gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of emotional categories in the literary texts of contemporary regional authors and creating a map of the Urals emotional perception based on the data obtained with the Digital Humanities methods is believed to be of great value for solving an important scientific and socio-cultural problems of revealing local specifics and regional identity that faced the Russian society at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. For several decades, the modern Ural literature has been a striking socio-cultural phenomenon, numbering more than a hundred writers from different cities (Perm, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, etc.). One of the key features of the modern Ural poetry is the reflection of regional identity in literary texts. The poems of the Ural writers are full of local toponyms, images of the Urals' industrial cities and unique nature, as well as of local myths. In this article, a wide range of emotional categories (such as surprise, fear, anger, disgust, joy, contempt, sadness, love, etc.) in modern poetry is investigated based on the emotional models by the American psychologists Robert Plutchik (Emotion: Theory, Research, and Experience, Vol. 1: Theories of Emotion. New York: Academic), Carroll Izard (Izard, C. E. 2012, The Psychology of Emotions. New York: Plenum), and Paul Ekman (Ekman, P. 2007, Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life. New York: Holt Paperbacks). The purpose of the research is to discover what emotions prevail in modern poetic texts dedicated to the Ural region by analysing how literary works absorb and critically rethink the space of the Urals. A comprehensive research methodology is proposed that combines a qualitative study of the literary material and automated quantitative-digital analysis of corpus data with the subsequent visualization of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. It has been carrying out its mandate to further the progressive harmonization and unification of international trade law since 1966. 1 This article provides an overview of the 55th session of UNCITRAL and the activities of its working groups and Secretariat from mid-2021 to mid-2022. The annual UNCITRAL session (27 June to 15 July 2022, New York) was held fully in person for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delegates and observers were also able to listen to the Commission session remotely via the UN webcast system but were not able to intervene using that format. Though the Commission session operated under normal conditions, the activities of the UNCITRAL working groups and the Secretariat during the year were still affected by the pandemic, with the meeting time with interpretation in all six UN languages reduced for hybrid meetings that were held both in-person and via Zoom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how health care costs vary across different demographics and health conditions is essential to developing policies for health care cost reduction. It may not be optimal to apply the conventional mean regression due to its sensitivity to the high level of skewness and spatio‐temporal heterogeneity presented in the cost data. To find an alternative method for spatio‐temporal analysis with robustness and high estimation efficiency, we combine information across multiple quantiles and propose a Bayesian spatio‐temporal weighted composite quantile regression (ST‐WCQR) model. An easy‐to‐implement Gibbs sampling algorithm is provided based on the asymmetric Laplace mixture representation of the error term. Extensive simulation studies show that ST‐WCQR outperforms existing methods for skewed error distributions. We apply ST‐WCQR to investigate how patients' characteristics affected the inpatient hospital costs for alcohol‐related disorders and identify areas that could be targeted for cost reduction in New York State from 2015 to 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expectation of a mass movement out of cities due to the rise of remote work associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, is counter to longstanding theories of the benefits of agglomeration economies. It suggests centrifugal shifts of economic activity which could boost neighbourhood economies at the expense of the downtown core. Using mobile phone data from SafeGraph, we track migration and daily mobility patterns throughout the New York metropolitan area between July 2019 and June 2021. We find that diverse suburban centres and exurban areas have bounced back more quickly than the dense specialised commercial districts in and around Manhattan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the evolution of the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Plattsburgh's history department in relation to the American Historical Association's Tuning the History Discipline in the United States initiative which is designed to provide the history departments at U.S. colleges with guidance on teacher- and learning-related assessments. College student-centered assessments of faculty members and the learning process are examined, along with surveys and assignments.

Introduction: In July 2018, a new federal mandate by the Department of Housing and Urban Development went into effect requiring all US public housing authorities to implement policies banning smoking in living units, indoor common areas, administrative buildings, and outdoor areas within 25 feet of these buildings. Although some housing authorities had smoke-free policies in place for decades, others had to implement them for the first time. Housing authorities continue to face challenges in ensuring compliance with these policies, and resident perspectives can greatly inform measures to promote adherence.Aims and Methods: We conducted in-person interviews with 20 New York City Housing Authority tenants in April 2018. Our thematic analysis examined resident opinions on the upcoming smoke-free housing policy.Results: Although 65% of residents supported the policy, 50% anticipated poor adherence due to expected lack of enforcement, safety issues with smoking outdoors, and general discontent with the housing authority and living conditions. However, many participants felt adherence could be improved if the housing authority optimized resource-provision and communication with tenants.Conclusions: Our study adds to existing literature examining tenant views on the controversial topic of mandatory smoke-free housing policies, and our interviews were conducted at a unique time prior to policy implementation in the country's largest public housing authority. Based on our results, we provide recommendations for housing authorities including: (1) information and resource-provision, (2) safety enhancement, and (3) relationship building with tenants in order to maximize policy adherence.Implications: Our study is unique because we captured resident views prior to policy implementation in a housing authority without a preexisting smoke-free policy in place. In comparison, most recent research on this topic has focused on the postimplementation period or used survey research methods in the preimplementation phase. Our findings add to extant research about tenant perspectives on smoke-free housing policies and offer suggestions to address barriers to compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a robust biocontrol program against emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), parasitoid populations cannot build quickly enough to save mature ash trees. The future of ash as a viable component of North American forests depends on survival of immature ash that were too small to be attacked during the initial outbreak. This study was designed to quantify impacts of established introduced parasitoids and native woodpeckers on the population growth of emerald ash borer infesting regenerating ash saplings in white ash forests. Most emerald ash borer larvae were killed by Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang and woodpeckers in the fourth instar. Life-table analyses revealed that the estimated net reproductive rate of emerald ash borer was R 0 = 4.2 in eastern New York and R 0 = 0.0 in western New York. Without mortality from parasitoids and woodpeckers, R 0 values would have been 16.4 and 7.9 in eastern and western New York, respectively. We monitored the health of mature and sapling ash trees from 2012 to 2017 and found that large trees were significantly more likely to be infested with emerald ash borer and to die than smaller trees. Fifty-four percent to 81% of ash saplings contained no living emerald ash borer, and the density of emerald ash borer at all sites was very low (< 4/m2). This study adds to the growing body of evidence that emerald ash borer biocontrol is contributing to population control and can help promote survival of young ash trees as forests recover from emerald ash borer outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While racial/ethnic differences in fetal growth have been documented, few studies have examined whether they vary by exogenous factors, which could elucidate underlying causes. The purpose of this study was to characterize longitudinal fetal growth patterns by maternal sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical factors and examine whether associations with maternal race/ethnicity varied by these other predictors. Between 2016 and 2019, pregnant women receiving prenatal care at NYU Langone Health (New York, New York) were invited to participate in a birth cohort study. Women completed questionnaires, and clinical data were abstracted from ultrasound examinations. Maternal characteristics were assessed in relation to fetal biometric measures throughout pregnancy using linear mixed models. Maternal race/ethnicity was consistently associated with fetal biometry: Black, Hispanic, and Asian women had fetuses with smaller head circumference, abdominal circumference, and biparietal diameter than White women. The associations between race/ethnicity and fetal growth varied by nativity for Asian women, such that the disparity between Asian and White women was much greater for US-born women than for foreign-born women. However, associations for Black and Hispanic women did not vary by nativity. While race/ethnicity-specific fetal growth standards have been proposed, additional work is needed to elucidate what could be driving these differences, including factors that occur in parallel and differentially affect fetal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1911 New York State Sullivan Act outlawed carrying concealable firearms without a licence, established strict licencing rules and regulated the sale and possession of handguns. We analyse the effects of the Sullivan Act using historical data on mortality rates, pistol permits and citations for illegal carrying. Our analysis of pistol permits and citations reveal clear initial effects of the Sullivan Act on gun-related behaviours. Using synthetic control and difference-in-differences methodologies, our main analyses show no effects on overall homicide rates, evidence of a reduction in overall suicide rates and strong evidence of a large and sustained decrease in gun-related suicide rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current use of vaping products has increased in recent years among youth in the United States. We conducted cross-sectional surveys of vaping product users aged 15–17 in New York in 2017 and 2019 to assess vaping freqency, reported nicotine content of vaping products used, risk perceptions of vaping and openness to vaping cannabis (2019 survey only). Between 2017 and 2019, the proportion of youth vapers who were frequent vaping product users increased from 16.8% to 26.2% (P  < 0.05). The proportion of youth vapers who usually used high-nicotine vaping products also increased, from 12.6% to 40.0% (P  < 0.05). In both years, the use of high-nicotine vaping products was positively associated with frequent use (P  < 0.05). The perceived likelihood of harm from vaping increased (P  < 0.05), but respondents' perception of harm from using tobacco-flavored vaping products remained higher than that from using menthol/mint or sweet flavors. In 2019, 60.6% of respondents reported having tried vaping cannabis. Results suggest shifts in youth vaping behavior toward more frequent use and use of higher nicotine vaping products, support previous findings about youth misperceptions about health risks of flavored vaping products and highlight openness to vaping cannabis among youth vaping product users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies external sovereign bonds as an asset class. We compile a new database of 266,000 monthly prices of foreign-currency government bonds traded in London and New York between 1815 (the Battle of Waterloo) and 2016, covering up to 91 countries. Our main insight is that, as in equity markets, the returns on external sovereign bonds have been sufficiently high to compensate for risk. Real ex post returns average more than 6% annually across two centuries, including default episodes, major wars, and global crises. This represents an excess return of 3%–4% above US or UK government bonds, which is comparable to stocks and outperforms corporate bonds. Central to this finding are the high average coupons offered on external sovereign bonds. The observed returns are hard to reconcile with canonical theoretical models and the degree of credit risk in this market, as measured by historical default and recovery rates. Based on our archive of more than 300 sovereign debt restructurings since 1815, we show that full repudiation is rare; the median creditor loss (haircut) is below 50%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Compliance with perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis is crucial for preventing surgical site infection. Anesthesiologists can play a significant role in reducing surgical site infections by following clinical practice guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis and redosing during surgery. A quality assurance initiative was implemented at a tertiary hospital with the goal of improving cefazolin perioperative antibiotic compliance. Design This was a retrospective observational study Setting Main operating room of a tertiary care teaching hospital in New York, USA. Our main operating room includes 22 operating rooms that incorporates surgeries from general surgery, vascular surgery, neurology, gynecology, urology, orthopedics, ear, nose and throat (ENT) etc. Participants All cases in the main operating room from March 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021 that received first dose of Cefazolin and in which the duration of surgery was more than 4 hrs. Intervention A multifaceted intervention was initiated to address low compliance with cefazolin redosing. Multifaceted interventions included the development of a perioperative antibiotic guide for anesthesia providers, automated reminders in anesthesia electronic medical records, grand rounds education, survey and email communications, and regular feedback reports to the anesthesia department. Main outcome Measures Cefazolin perioperative redose compliance rate. Results Rates of redose compliance were examined in three time periods: preintervention, intervention and postintervention. Cefazolin redosing compliance was 58% in the preintervention period and 90% in the postintervention period. There was a significant positive change in the trend of compliance during the intervention period, indicating that the odds of compliance increased by 13% per month in the intervention period compared to the preintervention period (odds ratio = 1.13, P  < 0.001). Redose compliance improvements were sustained a year after the postintervention period (an average of 91%). Surgical site infection rates for colon, coronary artery bypass graft and hip surgeries did not show any significant trend during these time periods. Conclusion Multifaceted interventions led to significant and sustained improvements in cefazolin redosing compliance in the main operating room of a tertiary hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In 2018-2019, large outbreaks of measles occurred in Israel and in New York City, driven in part by travel of unimmunized children between the 2 communities. Methods A retrospective chart review was conducted for children tested for measles (March 2018-September 2019) at NYU Langone Health in New York, NY, and in Ramla subdistrict, Israel. Vaccination records were reviewed to determine vaccination status for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) at the time of measles testing and 1-year post-testing. Results A total of 264 children were tested for measles, and 102 (38.6%) had confirmed measles. Only 20 (19.6%) of measles-positive cases received a full 2-dose course of vitamin A. 82.4% of children with measles were ≥1 year at the time of diagnosis and fully eligible for MMR vaccine. Of the 100 measles-positive cases with available vaccine records, 63 were unvaccinated at testing, and 27 remained unimmunized against MMR 1 year later. At testing, measles-negative children were significantly more likely to have received MMR than measles-positive children (65.4% vs 37%, P  < .01). One year later, 70.4% of measles-negative cases and only 57.1% of measles-positive cases had received MMR vaccine (P  = .18). Conclusions The majority of measles cases occurred in unimmunized children eligible for vaccination, and >25% of children in both measles-positive and -negative groups remained unimmunized for MMR 1-year post-outbreak. Our results suggest the need for novel, longitudinal vaccination strategies and increased awareness of the role of vitamin A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-wage Latina/o workers are subject to an array of workplace abuses. This study focuses on whether educational attainment may moderate inequality in knowledge or claims-making across individuals with different legal statuses. This question is motivated by research which, while highlighting the role of education in promoting civic and political engagement, has not examined the interaction between education and legal status for worker claims-making. We draw from the 2008 Unregulated Work Survey, which is representative of the 1.64 million low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, three of the largest immigrant destinations in the United States. Using the Latina/o subsample, we test whether education impacts workers' procedural knowledge of the claims process, as well as their actual claims-making behavior, across four categories of workers: U.S.-born citizens, naturalized citizens, documented noncitizens, and undocumented noncitizens. Our findings reveal that all noncitizens have lower levels of procedural knowledge about how to file a complaint with the government, compared to citizens, across educational levels. However, when it comes to claims-making, we find that education has significant positive impacts for noncitizen workers, especially the undocumented. Our results suggest that education may improve the workplace agency of even the most marginalized workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many centralized matching markets, agents' property rights over objects are derived from a coarse transformation of an underlying score. Prominent examples include the distance-based system employed by Boston Public Schools, where students who lived within a certain radius of each school were prioritized over all others, and the income-based system used in New York public housing allocation, where eligibility is determined by a sharp income cutoff. Motivated by this, we study how to optimally coarsen an underlying score. Our main result is that, for any continuous objective function and under stable matching mechanisms, the optimal design can be attained by splitting agents into at most three indifference classes for each object. We provide insights into this design problem in three applications: distance-based scores in Boston Public Schools, test-based scores for Chicago exam schools, and income-based scores in New York public housing allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bryophytes generally have broad geographical ranges that suggest high dispersal ability. The aim of this study was to test hypotheses about dispersal limitation, as indicated by isolation by distance, in four spore-producing species of the moss genus Sphagnum (Sphagnum carolinianum , Sphagnum missouricum , Sphagnum macrophyllum and Sphagnum pylaesii) and to assess whether plants in the southern USA harbour high levels of unique alleles and/or other indicators of exceptional genetic diversity. Isolation by distance was detected in all four species, but regional patterns of genetic structure were very species specific. Northern and southern genotype groups were detected in S. carolinianum and S. missouricum , but in S. pylaesii plants from the Adirondack Mountains of New York were genetically distinct from others to the north and south. One species, S. macrophyllum , exhibited differentiation between northern and southern genetic groups that appeared to reflect more ancient phylogenetic diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population-based seroprevalence surveys can provide useful estimates of the number of individuals previously infected with serious acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and still susceptible, as well as contribute to better estimates of the case-fatality rate and other measures of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity. No serological test is 100% accurate, however, and the standard correction that epidemiologists use to adjust estimates relies on estimates of the test sensitivity and specificity often based on small validation studies. We have developed a fully Bayesian approach to adjust observed prevalence estimates for sensitivity and specificity. Application to a seroprevalence survey conducted in New York State in 2020 demonstrates that this approach results in more realistic—and narrower—credible intervals than the standard sensitivity analysis using confidence interval endpoints. In addition, the model permits incorporating data on the geographical distribution of reported case counts to create informative priors on the cumulative incidence to produce estimates and credible intervals for smaller geographic areas than often can be precisely estimated with seroprevalence surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allium leafminer, Phytomyza gymnostoma Loew (Diptera: Agromyzidae), is an invasive pest of allium crops in North America. Spinosyn insecticides, spinetoram and spinosad, have been effective choices for managing P. gymnostoma infestations in allium crops, but their use should be optimized for economical and resistance management purposes. In New York from 2018 through 2020, performance of each spinosyn insecticide was evaluated by making two applications spaced either 1 or 2 wk apart beginning at various intervals after P. gymnostoma was first detected in the field; a weekly spray program also was included. Results indicated that weekly applications of each spinosyn insecticide provided ≥98% reduction of P. gymnostoma densities in scallions and leeks relative to the untreated control. Spinetoram applied twice, regardless of initial timing and duration between sprays, provided an acceptable level of P. gynostoma control (71 to 98% reduction in densities relative to the untreated control). Spinosad also was effective when applied twice (85 to 95% reduction in densities relative to the untreated control), but not when sprays were made consecutively beginning when P. gymnostoma was first detected and not when the P. gymnostoma infestation was extremely high (i.e., 38 insects per plant in the untreated control). Management of P. gymnostoma with spinosyns can be successful with only two applications, but control tended to be best when first applied 2 to 3 wk after initial detection. Optimizing applications of spinetoram and spinosad will save growers time, reduce insecticide costs, and mitigate resistance development without significantly increasing the risk of yield reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the dynamic spatial equilibrium of taxicabs and shows how common taxi regulations lead to substantial inefficiencies as a result of search frictions and mis-allocation. To analyse the role of regulation on frictions and efficiency, I pose a dynamic model of spatial search and matching between taxis and passengers. Using a comprehensive dataset of New York City yellow medallion taxis, I use this model to compute the equilibrium spatial distribution of vacant taxis and estimate intraday demand given price and medallion regulations. My estimates show that the weekday New York market achieves about $\$$ 5.7 million in daily welfare or about $\$$ 27 per trip, but an additional 53 thousand customers fail to find cabs due to search frictions. Counterfactual analysis shows that implementing simple tariff pricing changes can enhance allocative efficiency and expand the market, offering daily consumer surplus gains of up to $\$$ 227 thousand and up to 49 thousand additional daily taxi-passenger matches, a similar magnitude to the gain in matches generated by adopting a perfect static matching technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although 21% of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses in the United States are in youth aged 13–24 years, adolescent awareness and uptake of the HIV prevention medication pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are low. This study explores the attitudes and challenges that adolescents face while taking PrEP. Thirty interviews were conducted with Black and Latine (we use the gender-inclusive term Latine rather than Latinx for more appropriate Spanish pronunciation) students aged 15–17 who received care at school-based health centers (SBHCs) in the Bronx, NY. Transcripts were coded inductively and deductively using thematic analysis. Most participants were unaware of PrEP, but nearly all were enthusiastic when informed about it; a majority denied that they would feel any stigma when taking PrEP. Despite this high receptivity, multiple barriers were identified, particularly confidentiality from parents, low perceived need of PrEP and concerns about daily adherence and side effects. Adolescents overall were enthusiastic about the availability of PrEP and felt it empowered them to have control over their health. SBHCs were considered trusted sources of confidential, accessible care, and we believe that they can be uniquely positioned to mitigate barriers to PrEP distribution in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-sanctioned prevention strategies have included frequent handwashing with soap and water, covering the mouth and nose with a mask when around others, cleaning and disinfecting maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet from others, etc. Although many of these recommendations are based upon observation and past infection control practices, it is important to combine and explore public data sets to identify predictors of infection, morbidity and mortality to develop more finely honed interventions, based on sociodemographic factors. Method Cross-sectional study of both states in the US and counties in NY state. Results Population density was found to be significantly associated with state-level coronavirus infection and mortality rate (b  = 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34, 0.64, P  < .0001). States that have lower socioeconomic status, lower mean age and denser populations are associated with higher incidence rates. In regard to NY state, counties with a higher percentage of minority residents had higher COVID-19 mortality rates (b  = 2.61, 95% CI: 0.36, 4.87, P  = 0.023). Larger population cohorts were associated with lower COVID-19 mortality rates after adjusting for other variables in the model (b  = −1.39, 95% CI: −2.07, −0.71, P  < 0.001). Population density was not significantly associated with COVID-19 mortality rates after adjustment across counties in the NY state. Public ridership was not indicative of cases or mortality across states in the USA; however, it is a significant factor associated with incidence (but not mortality) in NY counties. Conclusion Population density was the only significant predictor of mortality across states in the USA. Lower mean age, lower median household incomes and more densely populated states were at higher risk of COVID-19 infection. Population density was not found to be a significant independent variable compared to minority status and socioeconomic factors in the New York epicenter. Meanwhile, public ridership was found to be a significant factor associated with incidence in New York counties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent studies indicated that the monosubstituted deoxystreptamine aminoglycoside apramycin is a potent antibiotic against a wide range of MDR Gram-negative pathogens.Objectives: To evaluate the in vitro activity of apramycin against carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKp) isolates from New York and New Jersey, and to explore mechanisms of apramycin resistance.Methods: Apramycin MICs were determined by broth microdilution for 155 CRKp bloodstream isolates collected from 2013 to 2018. MLST STs, wzi capsular types and apramycin resistance gene aac(3')-IV were examined by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Selected isolates were further characterized by conjugation experiments and WGS.Results: Apramycin MIC50/90 values were 8 and >128 mg/L for CRKp isolates, which are much higher than previously reported. Twenty-four isolates (15.5%) were apramycin resistant (MIC ≥64 mg/L) and they were all from the K. pneumoniae ST258 background. The 24 apramycin-resistant K. pneumoniae ST258 strains belonged to six different capsular types and 91.7% of them harboured the apramycin resistance gene aac(3')-IV. Sequencing analysis showed that different ST258 capsular type strains shared a common non-conjugative IncR plasmid, co-harbouring aac(3')-IV and blaKPC. A novel IncR and IncX3 cointegrate plasmid, p59494-RX116.1, was also identified in an ST258 strain, demonstrating how apramycin resistance can be spread from a non-conjugative plasmid through cointegration.Conclusions: We described a high apramycin resistance rate in clinical CRKp isolates in the New York/New Jersey region, mainly among the epidemic K. pneumoniae ST258 strains. The high resistance rate in an epidemic K. pneumoniae clone raises concern regarding the further optimization and development of apramycin and apramycin-like antibiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With ample funds to furnish enormous homes and contribute to new public art museums, New York collectors in the mid-nineteenth century made a variety of choices regarding nudity and sexual themes in the works they purchased. After a surge in art censorship cases, beginning in 1883, collectors increasingly were confronted with polemical rhetoric urging them to refrain from purchasing art representing nude figures. While some collectors clearly adhered to this moralizing advice, including William H. Vanderbilt, James Lenox and Morris K. Jesup, others – most famously Henry O. and Louisine Havemeyer – were spurred on by their advocacy for civil liberties and cosmopolitan sophistication to purchase more nudes. Understanding both the intended and unintended consequences of art censorship campaigns in the Gilded Age is instructive for the likely outcome of analogous debates about appropriate subject matter on display in our own time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the threat of school shootings, lockdown drills have become commonplace in K–12 schools throughout the United States. Educators, parents, and others continue to debate the potential disruptive and traumatizing impact drills have on children. A small number of quantitative studies have examined the effects of lockdown drills on students' perceptions of safety, preparedness for crises, and fear and anxiety. Less is known about children's actual lived experiences of lockdown drills. This pilot child-centered qualitative study explored how children ages eight to 11 thought and felt about their experiences of school lockdown drills. Fear was found to be their common emotional response to the drill and, to a lesser extent, so were feelings of safety, annoyance, and excitement. Although children were found to have good understanding of what to do in lockdown drills, they were not always clear about what the purpose of the drills was and what threats the drills were intended to protect against. These findings support professional and advocacy groups' recommendations for planning and implementing lockdown drills and offer original recommendations from children's points of view on ways to mitigate negative outcomes of drills for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines recent proposals to "defund the police" using a perspective informed by literature on agency termination and political accountability. These concepts allow us to build a framework for categorizing such proposals based on the assignment of functions to organizations. These proposals operate in the context of a federal system which can shape the character of each category, make some choices more or less feasible, influence where functions may be assigned, and create political incentives out of the complex geography of conflict. We use examples from Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle to illustrate our framework. We conclude by offering a preliminary analysis of why these cities tend towards adopting one of the alternatives we outline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in the digital humanities, researchers use software tools to conduct their research, and often apply these tools to data the software was not developed for, there has been little attention for investigating tool performance on this data. This is strange because in order to be able to appraise the results of digital humanities research, it is important to understand to what extent the tool output is correct. To illustrate the importance of the validation of tools, this article presents a case study of validating Arabic root extraction tools. Arabic words are based on root letters; three root letters usually demarcate a semantic field. Thus, roots can be used for studying semantic fields. For example, researchers can gain insight into the relative importance of the different senses (i.e. seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting) in Arabic jurisprudence (fiqh) by extracting and counting roots. A problem is that there are only a few usable tools available. We take three root extraction tools, Khoja (Khoja and Garside, 1999 , Stemming Arabic Text. Lancaster, England: Lancaster University), ISRI (Taghva et al. , 2005 , Arabic stemming without a root dictionary. In International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing (ITCC'05). Vol. 2. Las Vegas, NV, April 2005 pp. 152–57), and AlKhalil (Boudlal et al. , 2010 , Alkhalil morpho sys1: a morphosyntactic analysis system for Arabic texts. In International Arab Conference on Information Technology. New York, NY: Elsevier Science Inc. April 2017, pp. 1–6), and create manually annotated gold standard data consisting of three samples of approximately 1,000 words from important books of Islamic jurisprudence. We show that Khoja is the best root extraction tool for our data. We also demonstrate that the relative counts of individual roots differ among tools, which leads to a different interpretation depending on which tool is chosen. This means that findings based on automatically extracted roots should always be interpreted with care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been limited research investigating summer habitat use of bats in managed forests in the northeastern United States. Consequently, there is limited knowledge to inform forest managers seeking to maintain or enhance bat habitat, particularly for several federally threatened, endangered, or candidate species. In summer 2017–2018, we conducted repeated acoustic surveys to determine what forest characteristics are associated with bat habitat use in managed forests in the Adirondack region of upstate New York. We modeled detection corrected probability of occupancy for bats in three phonic groups: high, mid, and low frequency. Across all phonic groups, probability of occupancy increased with decreasing canopy cover. High-, mid-, and low-frequency bats were more likely to use recently harvested sites (<10 years since harvest). High-frequency bats also used mature stands. Midfrequency bats demonstrated a preference for further distances from forest roads, whereas low-frequency bats preferred areas with a higher percentage of clutter. Our results suggest that tending and regenerating even-aged forest management practices can provide habitat for foraging bats in the Adirondacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open in new tab Download slide Open in new tab Download slide OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of operative death and postoperative complications between primary and reoperation valve surgeries and to identify independent risk factors for these events among valve-reoperation patients. METHODS Between 2013 and 2015, 54 269 patients who underwent valve surgery were retrospectively analyzed using the Japan Cardiovascular Surgery Database. They were divided into the primary (group P; n  = 49 833) and reoperation (group R; n  = 4436) surgery groups. Among the reoperation patients, we conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses to identify risk factors for the incidences of operative mortality and postoperative complications. Then, we also conducted propensity score matched analyses to compare the incidences of these 2 outcomes for primary versus reoperation procedures separately for patients with and without infective endocarditis (IE). RESULTS Incidences of postoperative mortality (4.6% vs 9.1%; P  < 0.001) and any complications (36.6% vs 41.4%; P  < 0.001) were higher in the reoperation group. For patients undergoing reoperation, strong risk factors for operative mortality included urgency status, ejection fraction <30%, IE, dialysis, chronic kidney disease, New York Heart Association class 3/4, concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting and aorta procedure, tricuspid valve surgery only, multivalve surgery and age. In the propensity score matched cohort, the relative odds of operative mortality were 1.53 (95% confidence interval: 1.26–1.86, P  < 0.001) among patients with IE and were 1.58 (95% confidence interval: 1.18–2.13, P  < 0.002) among those without. CONCLUSIONS Outcomes for reoperation were significantly worse than those for primary surgery. At the primary operation, the risk of reoperation should be considered and when considering the indications for reoperation, the preoperative state, surgical timing and intervention method should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many historical accounts exhibitions are considered in isolation, in relation to specific political or cultural events. This article instead interrogates exhibitions as interlinked sites of personal and professional 'entanglement', connected entities that have capacity to sustain and develop multiple relationships, in this case across the career of a single designer, Misha Black (1910–1977). Through successive commissions, Black developed ideas about exhibitions as communication and propaganda, as well as developing his network and modelling formations for professional design practice. Exhibitions Black worked on which are discussed here included The Ibero-American Exhibition, Seville, 1929–1930; MARS Group Exhibition, 1938; Glasgow Empire Exhibition, 1938; New York World's Fair, 1939–1940; Ministry of Information exhibitions mounted during the Second World War and the Festival of Britain, 1951. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]