When using qualitative coding techniques, establishing inter-rater reliability (IRR) is a recognized method of ensuring the trustworthiness of the study when multiple researchers are involved with coding.

Summary The amount of bone turnover in the body has been implicated as a factor that can influence fracture risk and bone strength. Here we test the idea that remodeling cavities promote local tissue failure by determining if microscopic tissue damage (microdamage) caused by controlled loading in vitro is more likely to form near resorption cavities. Specimens of human vertebral cancellous bone (L4, 7 male and 2 female, age 70 ± 10, mean ± SD) were loaded in compression to the yield point, stained for microscopic tissue damage and submitted to three-dimensional fluorescent imaging using serial milling (image voxel size 0.7 × 0.7 × 5.0 µm). We found the resulting damage volume per bone volume (DV/BV) was correlated with percent eroded surface (p < 0.01, r2 = 0.65), demonstrating that whole specimen measures of resorption cavities and microdamage are related. Locations of microdamage were more than two times as likely to have a neighboring resorption cavity than randomly selected sites without microdamage (relative risk 2.39, 95% confidence interval of relative risk: 2.09 – 2.73), indicating a spatial association between resorption cavities and microdamage at the local level. Individual microdamage sites were 48,700 (40,100; 62,700) µm3 in size (median, 25th and 75th percentiles). That microdamage was associated with resorption cavities when measured at the whole specimen level as well as at the local level provides strong evidence that resorption cavities play a role in mechanical failure processes of cancellous bone and therefore have the potential to influence resistance to clinical fracture.

She earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and her MS in Mechanical Engineering focusing on Biomechanics from Cornell University. Prior to her enrollment at Clemson, Katherine worked as a Biomedical Engineering consultant in Philadelphia, PA. Her research interests include identity development through co and extra-curricular experiences for engineering students.

Background: Participating in undergraduate research experiences (UREs) supports the development of engineering students' technical and professional skills. However, little is known about the perceptions of research or researchers that students develop through these experiences. Understanding these perceptions will provide insight into how students come to understand knowledge evaluation and creation, while allowing research advisors to better support student development. Purpose: In this paper, we explore how undergraduate engineering students perceive what it means to do research and be a researcher, using identity and epistemic cognition as sensitizing concepts. Our goal is to explore students' views of UREs to make the benefits of these experiences more accessible. Design/Method: We created and adapted open-ended survey items from previously published studies. We collected responses from mechanical and biomedical engineering undergraduates at five institutions (n = 154) and used an inductive approach to analyze responses. Results: We developed four salient themes from our analysis: (a) research results in discovery, (b) research includes dissemination such as authorship, (c) research findings are integrated into society, and (d) researchers demonstrate self-regulation. Conclusions: The four themes highlight factors that students perceive as part of a researcher identity and aspects of epistemic cognition in the context of UREs. These results suggest structuring UREs to provide opportunities for discovery, dissemination, societal impact, and self-regulation will help support students in their development as researchers.

Alterations in resorption cavities and bone remodeling events during anti-resorptive treatment are believed to contribute to reductions in fracture risk. Here, we examine changes in the size of individual remodeling events associated with treatment with a selective estrogen receptor modulator (raloxifene) or a bisphosphonate (risedronate). Adult female rats (6 months of age) were submitted to ovariectomy (n = 17) or sham surgery (SHAM, n = 5). One month after surgery, the ovariectomized animals were separated into three groups: untreated (OVX, n = 5), raloxifene treated (OVX+Ral, n = 6) and risedronate treated (OVX+Ris, n = 6). At 10 months of age, the lumbar vertebrae were submitted to three-dimensional dynamic bone histomorphometry to examine the size (depth, breadth, volume) of individual resorption cavities and formation events. Maximum resorption cavity depth did not differ between the SHAM (23.66 ± 1.87 µm, mean ± SD) and OVX (22.88 ± 3.69 µm) groups but was smaller in the OVX+Ral (14.96 ± 2.30 µm) and OVX+Ris (14.94 ± 2.70 µm) groups (p < 0.01). Anti-resorptive treatment was associated with reductions in the surface area of resorption cavities and the volume occupied by each resorption cavity (p < 0.01 each). The surface area and volume of individual formation events (double-labeled events) in the OVX+Ris group were reduced as compared to other groups (p < 0.02). Raloxifene treated animals showed similar amounts of bone remodeling (ES/BS and dLS/BS) compared to sham-operated controls but smaller cavity size (depth, breadth and volume). The current study shows that anti-resorptive agents influence the size of resorption cavities and individual remodeling events and that the effect of anti-resorptives on individual remodeling events may not always be directly related to the degree of suppression of bone remodeling.