Species-specific differences and similarities in the behavior of hand-raised dog and wolf pups in social situations with humans

In order to reveal early species-specific differences, we observed the behavior of dog puppies (n = 11) and wolf pups (n = 13) hand raised and intensively socialized in an identical way. The pups were studied in two object-preference tests at age 3, 4, and 5 weeks. After a short isolation, we observed the subjects' behavior in the presence of a pair of objects, one was always the subject's human foster parent (caregiver) and the other was varied; nursing bottle (3 weeks), unfamiliar adult dog (3 and 5 weeks), unfamiliar experimenter (4 and 5 weeks), and familiar conspecific age mate (4 weeks). Dogs and wolves did not differ in their general activity level during the tests. Wolf pups showed preference for the proximity of the caregiver in two of the tests; Bottle-Caregiver at the age of 3 weeks and Experimenter-Caregiver at the age of 5 weeks, while dogs showed preference to the caregiver in three tests; conspecific Pup-Caregiver and Experimenter-Caregiver at the age of 4 weeks and dog-caregiver at the age of 5. Compared to wolves, dogs tended to display more communicative signals that could potentially facilitate social interactions, such as distress vocalization, tail wagging, and gazing at the humans' face. In contrast to dog puppies, wolf pups showed aggressive behavior toward a familiar experimenter and also seemed to be more prone to avoidance. Our results demonstrate that already at this early age-despite unprecedented intensity of socialization and the comparable social (human) environment during early development-there are specific behavioral differences between wolves and dogs mostly with regard to their interactions with humans

Applying Process-Oriented Data Science to Dentistry

Background: Healthcare services now often follow evidence-based principles, so technologies such as process and data mining will help inform their drive towards optimal service delivery. Process mining (PM) can help the monitoring and reporting of this service delivery, measure compliance with guidelines, and assess effectiveness. In this research, PM extracts information about clinical activity recorded in dental electronic health records (EHRs) converts this into process-models providing stakeholders with unique insights to the dental treatment process. This thesis addresses a gap in prior research by demonstrating how process analytics can enhance our understanding of these processes and the effects of changes in strategy and policy over time. It also emphasises the importance of a rigorous and documented methodological approach often missing from the published literature. Aim: Apply the emerging technology of PM to an oral health dataset, illustrating the value of the data in the dental repository, and demonstrating how it can be presented in a useful and actionable manner to address public health questions. A subsidiary aim is to present the methodology used in this research in a way that provides useful guidance to future applications of dental PM. Objectives: Review dental and healthcare PM literature establishing state-of-the-art. Evaluate existing PM methods and their applicability to this research’s dataset. Extend existing PM methods achieving the aims of this research. Apply PM methods to the research dataset addressing public health questions. Document and present this research’s methodology. Apply data-mining, PM, and data-visualisation to provide insights into the variable pathways leading to different outcomes. Identify the data needed for PM of a dental EHR. Identify challenges to PM of dental EHR data. Methods: Extend existing PM methods to facilitate PM research in public health by detailing how data extracts from a dental EHR can be effectively managed, prepared, and used for PM. Use existing dental EHR and PM standards to generate a data reference model for effective PM. Develop a data-quality management framework. Results: Comparing the outputs of PM to established care-pathways showed that the dataset facilitated generation of high-level pathways but was less suitable for detailed guidelines. Used PM to identify the care pathway preceding a dental extraction under general anaesthetic and provided unique insights into this and the effects of policy decisions around school dental screenings. Conclusions: Research showed that PM and data-mining techniques can be applied to dental EHR data leading to fresh insights about dental treatment processes. This emerging technology along with established data mining techniques, should provide valuable insights to policy makers such as principal and chief dental officers to inform care pathways and policy decisions

Development and Validation of a Calculation Routine for the Precise Determination of Pulse Overlap and Accumulated Fluence in Pulsed Laser Surface Treatment

In laser material processing, a variety of parameters like pulse fluence, total dose, step size, and pulse-to-pulse overlap are used to define and compare laser processes. Of these parameters, the pulse-to-pulse overlap can be the hardest to access as it is not implemented directly but instead depends on the spot diameter, its shape, and the respective scanning path that is used to cover the surface. This article shows that existing calculation routes overestimate the actual overlap by up to 21%. A novel calculation route is developed that greatly facilitates the determination of the pulse overlap and thereby the average number of laser pulses that interact with a given point on the surface. This approach makes it possible to achieve more reliable and comparable laser processes, which in return leads to better control of the procedure as the effect of individual parameters on a given output can be determined with greater precision

High-resolution absorption spectroscopy of the circumgalactic medium of the Milky Way

In this article we discuss the importance of high-resolution absorption spectroscopy for our understanding of the distribution and physical nature of the gaseous circumgalactic medium (CGM) that surrounds the Milky Way. Observational and theoretical studies indicate a high complexity of the gas kinematics and an extreme multi-phase nature of the CGM in low-redshift galaxies. High-precision absorption-line measurements of the Milky Way's gas environment thus are essential to explore fundamental parameters of circumgalactic gas in the local Universe, such as mass, chemical composition, and spatial distribution. We shortly review important characteristics of the Milky Way's CGM and discuss recent results from our multi-wavelength observations of the Magellanic Stream. Finally, we discuss the potential of studying the warm-hot phase of the Milky Way's CGM by searching for extremely weak [FeX] l6374.5 and [FeIVX] l5302.9 absorption in optical QSO spectra.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomical Notes (paper version of a talk presented at the 10th Thinkshop, Potsdam, 2013

The maternity experiences of women seeking asylum in high-income countries: a meta-ethnography.

ProblemThe maternity care experiences and perinatal outcomes of women seeking asylum in high-income countries (HICs) are poorer than the general population of pregnant women in that HIC. There is a paucity of literature on the maternity experiences of women seeking asylum in HICs.BackgroundThere is an increasing number of women seeking asylum in HICs due to escalating violence and human rights abuses. Asylum-seeking women are a distinct group whom are likely to have different needs to refugees or migrants as a result of their undocumented status.AimThis literature review aimed to explore the emotional, physical and health information needs of women seeking asylum in the perinatal period in HICs, to provide insights to better address their maternity needs.MethodA meta-ethnography described by Noblit and Hare, was applied to analyse the studies, to reflect the voices of women seeking asylum, hosted in HICs in their perinatal period.FindingsEight studies were included in the review. The overarching theme was 'just having to survive.' Four sub-themes were revealed which highlighted the vulnerability of asylum-seeking women. They included: 'I was never sure if I had understood', 'feeling ignored and alone', 'ongoing dislocation and recurrent relocation' and 'knowing there's someone who cares for you'.DiscussionImproved maternity care for women seeking asylum requires culturally appropriate respectful maternity care and supportive strategies such as consistent access to language services.ConclusionIt is recommended that future research is targeted to explore the maternity experience of women seeking asylum in HICs, such as Australia

Making Dependent Care FSAa Work for Low- to Moderate-Income Families 5 Action Steps for Employers

Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSAs) can help workers save money on child care expenses by using pre-tax dollars, but few employees actually use the accounts, particularly low- to moderate-income (LMI) employees, because: • DCFSAs are difficult to understand; figuring out if they are possible to use and worth the trouble is a complex task for families. • Families face a “double-hit” if they use the accounts – they have to set aside pre-tax dollars for child care expenses and then pay out-of-pocket before getting reimbursed. • Using a DCFSA may require certainty about a year’s worth of child care costs, with a possible penalty for over-estimating expenses (depending on each employers’ plan rules). • DCFSAs can interact with tax credits, Medicaid, and federal/state poverty alleviation programs

Dependent Care FSAs: Policy Proposals to level the Playing Field for Low- to Moderate-Income Parents

This research was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We thank them for their support but acknowl-edge that the findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.The authors are grateful to Don Baylor at the Annie E. Casey Foundation for his guidance and support throughout the project. We are also grateful to Elaine Maag at the Urban Institute for offering her expertise related to interactions between the Earned Income Tax Credit and dependent care flexible spending ac-counts. Finally, we extend our sincere thanks to Human Resource professionals at several private universities for generously sharing their knowledge and insights.In this two-part series, we provide a field scan of the dependent care flexible spending accounts (DCFSAs) landscape, focusing on child care expenses. We describe the proliferation and utilization of these programs, identify barriers to usage by low- to moderate-income (LMI) parents (those with household incomes at or below Area Median Income as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ~$50,000 per year), and explain features of DCFSA design and program administration that address some of these challenges. We also identify opportunities for improvements in public policies and employer practices that can level the DCFSA playing field for LMI employees.Part 1 defines dependent care flexible spending accounts and outlines the process through which employ-ees may obtain reimbursement, the benefits that employers may experience by offering DCFSAs, patterns of adoption of such plans by employers and employees, and employee decision-making regarding plan partici-pation.In Part 2, we describe features of DCFSA design and program administration that address some of the chal-lenges and provide a set of policy proposals for consideration by both employers and policymakers

Dependent Care FSAs Work for Low- to Moderate-Income Families: 5 Action Steps for Policymakers

Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (DCFSAs) can help workers save money on child care expenses by using pre-tax dollars, but few employees actually use the accounts, particularly low- to moderate-income (LMI) employees, because: • DCFSAs are difficult to understand; figuring out if they are possible to use and worth the trouble is a complex task for families. • Families face a “double-hit” if they use the accounts – they have to set aside pre-tax dollars for child care expenses and then pay out-of-pocket before getting reimbursed. • Using a DCFSA may require certainty about a year’s worth of child care costs, with a possible penalty for over-estimating expenses (depending on each employers’ plan rules). • DCFSAs can interact with tax credits, Medicaid, and federal/state poverty alleviation programs