Gender differences in paid and unpaid work: findings from a New Zealand birth cohort

This study uses data from a birth cohort of New Zealand-born 30-year-olds to examine gender differences in time use and satisfaction with time use. The specific aims of the study are: to examine gender difference in time spent in paid employment and unpaid work; to examine the extent to which males and females are satisfied with their time use

Categories of insight and their correlates: An exploration of relationships among classic-type insight problems, rebus puzzles, remote associates and esoteric analogies.

A central question in creativity concerns how insightful ideas emerge. Anecdotal examples of insightful scientific and technical discoveries include Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization of rubber, and Mendeleev's realization that there may be gaps as he tried to arrange the elements into the Periodic Table. Although most people would regard these discoveries as insightful, cognitive psychologists have had difficulty in agreeing on whether such ideas resulted from insights or from conventional problem solving processes. One area of wide agreement among psychologists is that insight involves a process of restructuring. If this view is correct, then understanding insight and its role in problem solving will depend on a better understanding of restructuring and the characteristics that describe it. This article proposes and tests a preliminary classification of insight problems based on several restructuring characteristics: the need to redefine spatial assumptions, the need to change defined forms, the degree of misdirection involved, the difficulty in visualizing a possible solution, the number of restructuring sequences in the problem, and the requirement for figure-ground type reversals. A second purpose of the study was to compare performance on classic spatial insight problems with two types of verbal tests that may be related to insight, the Remote Associates Test (RAT), and rebus puzzles. In doing so, we report on the results of a survey of 172 business students at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who completed classic-type insight, RAT and rebus problems

Experimental study of pop-in behavior of surface flaw-type cracks Final report

Growth behavior of surface-flaw type cracks in titanium alloy

Inferring Kangaroo Phylogeny from Incongruent Nuclear and Mitochondrial Genes

The marsupial genus Macropus includes three subgenera, the familiar large grazing kangaroos and wallaroos of M. (Macropus) and M. (Osphranter), as well as the smaller mixed grazing/browsing wallabies of M. (Notamacropus). A recent study of five concatenated nuclear genes recommended subsuming the predominantly browsing Wallabia bicolor (swamp wallaby) into Macropus. To further examine this proposal we sequenced partial mitochondrial genomes for kangaroos and wallabies. These sequences strongly favour the morphological placement of W. bicolor as sister to Macropus, although place M. irma (black-gloved wallaby) within M. (Osphranter) rather than as expected, with M. (Notamacropus). Species tree estimation from separately analysed mitochondrial and nuclear genes favours retaining Macropus and Wallabia as separate genera. A simulation study finds that incomplete lineage sorting among nuclear genes is a plausible explanation for incongruence with the mitochondrial placement of W. bicolor, while mitochondrial introgression from a wallaroo into M. irma is the deepest such event identified in marsupials. Similar such coalescent simulations for interpreting gene tree conflicts will increase in both relevance and statistical power as species-level phylogenetics enters the genomic age. Ecological considerations in turn, hint at a role for selection in accelerating the fixation of introgressed or incompletely sorted loci. More generally the inclusion of the mitochondrial sequences substantially enhanced phylogenetic resolution. However, we caution that the evolutionary dynamics that enhance mitochondria as speciation indicators in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting may also render them especially susceptible to introgression.This work has been supported by Australian Research Council grants to MJP (DP07745015) and MB (FT0991741). The website for the funder is www.arc.gov.au. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Challenges in the development of the orbiter atmosphere revitalization subsystem

The space shuttle orbiter atmospheric revitalization subsystem provides thermal and contaminant control as well as total- and oxygen partial-pressure control of the environment within the orbiter crew cabin. Challenges that occurred during the development of this subsystem for the space shuttle orbiter are described. The design of the rotating hardware elements of the system (pumps, fans, etc.) required significant development to meet the requirements of long service life, maintainability, and high cycle-fatigue life. As a result, a stringent development program, particularly in the areas of bearing life and heat dissipation, was required. Another area requiring significant development was cabin humidity control and condensate collection

A Proper Motion Study of the Haro 6-10 Outflow: Evidence for a Subarcsecond Binary

We present single-dish and VLBI observations of an outburst of water maser emission from the young binary system Haro 6-10. Haro 6-10 lies in the Taurus molecular cloud and contains a visible T Tauri star with an infrared companion 1.3" north. Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we obtained five observations spanning 3 months and derived absolute positions for 20 distinct maser spots. Three of the masers can be traced over 3 or more epochs, enabling us to extract absolute proper motions and tangential velocities. We deduce that the masers represent one side of a bipolar outflow that lies nearly in the plane of the sky with an opening angle of ~45\deg. They are located within 50 mas of the southern component of the binary, the visible T Tauri star Haro 6-10S. The mean position angle on the sky of the maser proper motions (~220\deg) suggests they are related to the previously observed giant Herbig-Haro (HH) flow which includes HH410, HH411, HH412, and HH184A-E. A previously observed HH jet and extended radio continuum emission (mean position angle of ~190\deg) must also originate in the vicinity of Haro6-10S and represent a second, distinct outflow in this region. We propose that a yet unobserved companion within 150 mas of Haro6-10S is responsible for the giant HH/maser outflow while the visible star is associated with the HH jet. Despite the presence of H_2 emission in the spectrum of the northern component of the binary, Haro6-10N, none of outflows/jets can be tied directly to this young stellar object

Selective block of adenosine A2A receptors prevents ischaemic-like effects induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation in rat medium spiny neurons

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Ischemia is known to cause massive neuronal depolarization, termed anoxic depolarization (AD), due to energy failure and loss of membrane ion gradients. The neuromodulator adenosine accumulates extracellularly during ischemia and activates four metabotropic receptors: A1 , A2A , A2B and A3 . Striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) express high levels of A2A receptors (A2A Rs) and are particularly vulnerable to ischemic insults. It is known that A2A R blockade reduces acute striatal post-ischemic damage but the cellular mechanisms involved are still unknown. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: We performed patch-clamp recordings from MSNs in rat striatal slices subjected to oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) in order to investigate the effects of A2A R ligands or ion channel blockers on AD and OGD-induced ionic imbalance, measured as a positive shift in Erev of ramp currents. KEY RESULTS: Our data indicate that the A2A R antagonist SCH58261 (10μM) significantly attenuated ionic imbalance and AD appearance in MSNs exposed to OGD. The K+ channel blocker Ba2+ (2mM) or the Na+ channel blocker tetrodotoxin (1μM) exacerbated and attenuated, respectively, OGD-induced changes. Spontaneous excitatory post-synaptic current (sEPSC) analysis in MSNs revealed that the A2A R agonist CGS21680 (1μM) prevented OGD-induced decrease of sEPSCs within the first 5 min of the insult, an effect shared by the K+ channel blocker Ba2+ , thus indicating facilitated glutamate release. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: We conclude that adenosine, released during striatal OGD, activates A2A Rs that may exacerbate OGD-induced damage through K+ channel inhibition. Our results could help to develop A2A R-selective therapeutic tools for the treatment of brain ischemia

Uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy in CaRuO3{\rm CaRuO_3}

${\rm CaRuO_3}$ is a paramagnetic metal and since its low temperature resistivity is described by $\rho=\rho_0+AT^\gamma$ with $\gamma \sim 1.5$, it is also considered a non-Fermi liquid (NFL) metal. We have performed extensive magnetoresistance and Hall effect measurements of untwinned epitaxial films of ${\rm CaRuO_3}$. These measurements reveal that ${\rm CaRuO_3}$ exhibits uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy. In addition, the low-temperature NFL behavior is most effectively suppressed when a magnetic field is applied along the easy axis, suggesting that critical spin fluctuations, possibly due to proximity of a quantum critical phase transition, are related to the NFL behavior.Comment: 7 figure

Logics, rhetoric and 'the blob': populist logic in the Conservative reforms to English schooling

A lot has been written about the lasting implications of the Conservative reforms to English schooling, particularly changes made by Michael Gove as Education Secretary (2010–2014). There is a lot less work, however, on studying the role that language, strategy and the broader political framework played in the process of instituting and winning consent for these reforms. Studying these factors is important for ensuring that any changes to education and schooling are not read in isolation from their political context. Speeches particularly capture moments where intellectual and strategic political traditions meet, helping us to form a richer understanding of the motives behind specific reform goals and where they fit into a political landscape. This article analyses speeches and policy documents from prominent politicians who led the Conservative education agenda between 2010–2014 to illustrate how politicians mobilised a deliberate populist strategy and argumentation to achieve specific educational goals, but which have had broader social and political implications. Concepts from interpretive political studies are used to develop a case analysis of changes to teacher training provision and curriculum reform, illustrating how politicians constructed a frontier between ‘the people’ (commonly teachers or parents) and an illegitimate ‘elite’ (an educational establishment) that opposed change. This anti‐elite populist rhetoric, arguably first tested in the Department for Education, has now become instituted more widely in our current British politics