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This study investigates the communication skills expected of recent construction engineering graduates as portrayed in job ads and conveyed by employers. A content analysis of 100 job ads showed that teamwork, leadership, and interpersonal communication skills were the specific categories of communication skills listed most frequently. Subsequent interviews with 11 employers showed that although they considered the written communication skills of recent college graduates as sufficient, they found that many recent graduates had insufficient skills in assertiveness, email communication, relationship building, and audience adaptation, indicating that additional coursework or assignments in oral communication skills would benefit construction engineering majors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investment gap in America's inland waterways (IWWs) has been fueled by decades of low investments, which has negatively impacted the reliability of the waterway's locks. US IWWs, which transport commodities and support the nation's economy, are aging rapidly, exacerbated by decades of underinvestment. Many of these infrastructure systems now need to address a substantial maintenance backlog to increase their life span and improve functionality. Optimizing the decision-making process for effective and efficient planning and policymaking is essential to perform this requisite maintenance. Recognizing the robust scope of this maintenance, long-term maintenance strategies are needed in order to optimize investments across these waterway systems to improve their condition. Currently, limited research exists on decision making on IWW transportation assets, and there is a lack of requisite guidance for optimally performing maintenance activities on a single lock on the IWW system. Therefore, this study focuses on developing a decision-making model that considers several uncertainties toward optimizing the maintenance of locks on IWWs. The model evaluates maintenance decisions on an IWW lock using data obtained via expert elicitation. Results obtained from compiling the influence diagram (ID) and performing sensitivity analysis on the model support the need for periodic inspection of the locks to assess the condition before making any maintenance decision. The study presents a novel approach for enhancing maintenance decisions on IWW assets by considering key uncertainties beyond the physical condition of the assets. This research sets the stage for further studies on how fiscal constraints affect infrastructure asset maintenance decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vignette: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is the dento-osseous disorder caused by deactivating mutation(s) of ALPL, the gene that encodes the "tissue-nonspecific" isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). In HPP, 3 natural substrates of cell-surface TNSALP accumulate extracellularly; phosphoethanolamine (PEA), inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), and pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP). Hypophosphatasemia together with elevated plasma levels of PEA, PPi, and PLP comprise its biochemical signature. PPi can inhibit mineralization and in extracellular excess can impair bone and tooth hardening and perhaps explain weak muscle. Autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive inheritance from among more than 400 mutations of ALPL largely accounts for HPP's broad-ranging severity, greatest among all skeletal diseases. Pediatric HPP spans life-threatening perinatal and infantile forms, childhood forms, and odonto-HPP selectively featuring premature loss of deciduous teeth. ALPL gene testing and TNSALP supplementation therapy have bolstered familiarity with HPP, but there are new considerations for diagnosis. Herein, diagnosis of a boy's mild childhood HPP was delayed by missteps involving his medical and dental history, physical examination, radiographic findings, and clinical laboratory studies. We review how pediatric HPP is now identified. Prompt diagnosis while appreciating the broad-ranging severity of HPP underlies the safe and effective management of this inborn-error-of-metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an innovative pedagogy, flipped classroom approach enables instructors to move direct instruction out of class and convert class time to a dynamic learning environment where students engage in teamwork, problem‐solving, and other interactive activities. Previous research has concluded that, when implemented well, flipped learning has the potential not only to increase learning gain but also to improve students' professional skills such as teamwork, communication, and life‐long learning, which are deemed to be critical in engineering education and practice. This study aimed to examine the development of teamwork skills in a flipped civil engineering course. A sequential mixed‐method approach was adopted to understand students' attitude toward teamwork, confidence in teamwork, and teamwork skill development. Quantitative data included pre‐ and postcourse surveys and peer evaluation (PE) and self‐evaluation (SE) while qualitative data included focus group interviews. Results indicated that students' attitudes toward teamwork slightly improved, but it was not statistically significant. Confidence in teamwork, however, significantly improved after being engaged in a semester‐long team project. Teamwork skill development was assessed through four PE and SE conducted after each major project milestone. Findings are discussed and implications for classroom implementations and future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritable forms of hypophosphatemic rickets (HR) include X-linked dominant (XLH), autosomal recessive, and autosomal dominant HR (from deactivating mutations in PHEX, DMP1 or ENPP1, and activating mutations in FGF23, respectively). Over 30 years, we have cared for 284 children with HR. For those 72 deemed sporadic XLH, we preliminarily reported mutation analysis for 30 subjects. Eleven had PHEX mutations. However, the remaining 19 lacked readily identifiable defects in PHEX, DMP1, or FGF23. In 2008, a novel single-base change near the polyadenylation (pA) signal in the 3′-UTR of PHEX was identified in XLH by other investigators. This c.*231A > G mutation is 3-bp upstream of the putative pA signal (AATAAA) in PHEX. Accordingly, we investigated whether this 3′-UTR defect accounted for HR in any of these 19 sporadic XLH patients. PCR amplification and sequencing of their 3′-UTR region showed the c.*231A > G mutation in four unrelated boys. Then, among an additional 22 of our 72 'sporadic' XLH patients, one boy and one girl were found to have the 3′-UTR defect, totaling six patients. Among these 52 sporadic XLH patients with PHEX analysis, 36 were girls and 16 were boys; ie, a ∼2:1 gender ratio consistent with XLH. However, finding five boys and only one girl with this 3′-UTR mutation presented an unexplained gender bias ( p = 0.02). Haplotyping for the five boys, all reportedly unrelated, showed a common core haplotype suggesting a founder. Five of their six mothers had been studied clinically and biochemically (three radiologically). Remarkably, the seemingly unaffected mothers of four of these boys carried the 3′-UTR mutation. These healthy women had normal height, straight limbs, lacked the radiographic presentation of XLH, and showed normal or slight decreases in fasting serum Pi levels and/or TmP/GFR. Hence, PHEX c.*231A > G can masquerade as sporadic or X-linked recessive HR. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the author of the article "Rapid skeletal turnover in a radiographic mimic of osteopetrosis" in the 2014 issue is presented.