On network modeling of manufacturing and related processes using GERT Summary report

Network modeling of manufacturing and related processes using Graphical Evaluation and Review Techniqu

Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident

Coping in Pediatric Burn Survivors and Its Relation to Social Functioning and Self-Concept

Pediatric burn survivors experience increased risk for bullying, stigmatization, body image concerns, and problematic social functioning. Although coping behaviors are associated with engagement in social supports and positive self-concept in multiple pediatric illness populations, their relation has not been examined in pediatric burns. This study examined coping in relation to social functioning and self-concept in 51 pediatric burn survivors aged 7–17years (M=12.54; SD=2.65). Survivors and their caregivers completed the Child Coping Strategies Checklist (CCSC; youth report); the Burn Injury Social Questionnaire (BISQ; parent and youth report); and the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale-2 (PH-2; youth report). Associations between coping, social functioning, self-concept, demographic features, and burn injury characteristics were examined via bivariate correlations. Hierarchical linear regressions examined whether coping strategies predicted social functioning and youth self-concept beyond burn injury and demographic variables. Social functioning concerns were positively correlated with total body surface area (TBSA; r=0.63 and 0.40, respectively). TBSA was the only significant predictor of parent-reported social concerns (β=0.65, p\u3c0.001). Greater distraction coping predicted fewer youth-reported social concerns (β=−0.39, p=0.01). Greater active coping (B=0.67, p=0.002) and lower avoidance coping (B=−0.36, p=0.03) predicted better youth-reported self-concept. This study advances our understanding of coping as potentially protective for psychosocial adjustment. Clinicians working with child burn survivors should incorporate active coping interventions into treatment. Further research including larger and more diverse samples is needed to understand the role of coping approaches on psychological adjustment during burn healing

Was Dinosaurian Physiology Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx is the oldest and most primitive known bird (Avialae). It is believed that the growth and energetic physiology of basalmost birds such as Archaeopteryx were inherited in their entirety from non-avialan dinosaurs. This hypothesis predicts that the long bones in these birds formed using rapidly growing, well-vascularized woven tissue typical of non-avialan dinosaurs. We report that Archaeopteryx long bones are composed of nearly avascular parallel-fibered bone. This is among the slowest growing osseous tissues and is common in ectothermic reptiles. These findings dispute the hypothesis that non-avialan dinosaur growth and physiology were inherited in totality by the first birds. Examining these findings in a phylogenetic context required intensive sampling of outgroup dinosaurs and basalmost birds. Our results demonstrate the presence of a scale-dependent maniraptoran histological continuum that Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds follow. Growth analysis for Archaeopteryx suggests that these animals showed exponential growth rates like non-avialan dinosaurs, three times slower than living precocial birds, but still within the lowermost range for all endothermic vertebrates. The unexpected histology of Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds is actually consistent with retention of the phylogenetically earlier paravian dinosaur condition when size is considered. The first birds were simply feathered dinosaurs with respect to growth and energetic physiology. The evolution of the novel pattern in modern forms occurred later in the group's history

Kin recognition signals in adult faces

Maloney and Dal Martello reported that similarity ratings of pairs of related and unrelated children were almost perfect predictors of the probability that those children were judged as being siblings by a second group of observers. Surprisingly, similarity ratings were poor predictors of whether a pair was same-sex or opposite- sex, suggesting that people ignore cues that are uninformative about kinship when making similarity judgments of faces. Using adult sibling faces, we find that similarity ratings for same-sex pairs were significantly higher than for opposite-sex pairs, suggesting that similarity judgments of adult faces are not entirely synonymous with kinship judgments

Plasma, tumor and tissue pharmacokinetics of Docetaxel delivered via nanoparticles of different sizes and shapes in mice bearing SKOV-3 human ovarian carcinoma xenograft

The particle fabrication technique PRINT® was used to fabricate monodisperse size and shape specific poly(lactide-co-glycolide) particles loaded with the chemotherapeutic Docetaxel. The pharmacokinetics of two cylindrical shaped particles with diameter=80nm; height=320nm (PRINT-Doc-80×320) and d=200nm; h=200nm (PRINT-Doc-200×200) were compared to Docetaxel in mice bearing human ovarian carcinoma SKOV-3 flank xenografts. The Docetaxel plasma exposure was ~20-fold higher for both particles compared to docetaxel. Additionally, the volume of distribution (Vd) of Docetaxel in PRINT formulations was ~18-fold (PRINT-Doc-80×320) and ~33-fold (PRINT-Doc-200×200) lower than Docetaxel. The prolonged duration of Docetaxel in plasma when dosed with PRINT formulations subsequently lead to increased tumor exposure of Docetaxel from 0-168 hours (~53% higher for PRINT-Doc-80×320 and ~76% higher for PRINT-Doc-200×200 particles). PRINT-Doc-80×320 had lower exposures in the liver, spleen and lung compared with PRINT-Doc-200×200. Thus, the use of particles with smaller feature size may be preferred to decrease clearance by organs of the mononuclear phagocyte system

A longitudinal study of adolescents’ judgments of the attractiveness of facial symmetry, averageness and sexual dimorphism

Adolescents have been found to differ by age in their attraction to facial symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism. However, it has not been demonstrated that attraction to these facial characters changes over time as a consequence of age-linked development. We aimed to extend previous cross-sectional findings by examining whether facial attractiveness judgments change over time during adolescence as a consequence of increasing age, in a within-subjects study of two cohorts of adolescents aged 11–16. Consistent with previous findings, we find that adolescents (often particularly females) judged faces with increased averageness, symmetry and femininity to be more attractive than original, asymmetric and masculine faces, respectively. However, we do not find longitudinal changes in face preference judgments across the course of a year, leading us to question the extent to which some of the previously reported differences in facial attractiveness judgments between younger and older adolescents were due to age-linked changes

3-D Volumetric Evaluation of Human Mandibular Growth

Bone growth is a complex process that is controlled by a multitude of mechanisms that are not fully understood.Most of the current methods employed to measure the growth of bones focus on either studying cadaveric bones from different individuals of different ages, or successive two-dimensional (2D) radiographs. Both techniques have their known limitations. The purpose of this study was to explore a technique for quantifying the three dimensional (3D) growth of an adolescent human mandible over the period of one year utilizing cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans taken for regular orthodontic records. Three -dimensional virtual models were created from the CBCT data using mainstream medical imaging software. A comparison between computer-generated surface meshes of successive 3-D virtual models illustrates the magnitude of relative mandible growth. The results of this work are in agreement with previously reported data from human cadaveric studies and implantable marker studies. The presented method provides a new relatively simple basis (utilizing commercially available software) to visualize and evaluate individualized 3D (mandibular) growth in vivo

First Evidence of Dinosaurian Secondary Cartilage in the Post-Hatching Skull of Hypacrosaurus stebingeri (Dinosauria, Ornithischia)

Bone and calcified cartilage can be fossilized and preserved for hundreds of millions of years. While primary cartilage is fairly well studied in extant and fossilized organisms, nothing is known about secondary cartilage in fossils. In extant birds, secondary cartilage arises after bone formation during embryonic life at articulations, sutures and muscular attachments in order to accommodate mechanical stress. Considering the phylogenetic inclusion of birds within the Dinosauria, we hypothesized a dinosaurian origin for this “avian” tissue. Therefore, histological thin sectioning was used to investigate secondary chondrogenesis in disarticulated craniofacial elements of several post-hatching specimens of the non-avian dinosaur Hypacrosaurus stebingeri (Ornithischia, Lambeosaurinae). Secondary cartilage was found on three membrane bones directly involved with masticatory function: (1) as nodules on the dorso-caudal face of a surangular; and (2) on the bucco-caudal face of a maxilla; and (3) between teeth as islets in the alveolar processes of a dentary. Secondary chondrogenesis at these sites is consistent with the locations of secondary cartilage in extant birds and with the induction of the cartilage by different mechanical factors - stress generated by the articulation of the quadrate, stress of a ligamentous or muscular insertion, and stress of tooth formation. Thus, our study reveals the first evidence of “avian” secondary cartilage in a non-avian dinosaur. It pushes the origin of this “avian” tissue deep into dinosaurian ancestry, suggesting the creation of the more appropriate term “dinosaurian” secondary cartilage