Excavations at Natural Trap Cave

Among the more important questions addressed by students of earth history are those that relate to climatic change. This is especially true of change that has taken place during the last two million years of the Ice Age. It is not an accident that a great deal of effort has been directed towards the Late Pleistocene, and our knowledge of Late Pleistocene environmental parameters has increased markedly in the past few years. However, our knowledge of these changes is still incomplete, and we still have some uncertainty about the cause and nature of Late Pleistocene climatic change, its possible relationship to large mammal extinction, and the establishment of the modern distribution of fauna and flora in North America. Natural Trap Cave in the Big Horn Basin gives us an excellent opportunity to examine a record of these events extending from Late Pleistocene to Recent times

Parental behaviour in paediatric chronic pain: A qualitative observational study

Parental behaviour appears to influence the adjustment of children with chronic pain. However, research in this area has failed to produce consistent evidence. Studies have tended to rely on self-report measures derived from adult pain populations. This qualitative, observational research provides descriptive data of parental behaviour in a clinical environment. A qualitative observational study was made of parents and adolescents in a physically stressful setting. Modified grounded theory was used to analyse verbal and non-verbal behaviours. Eight parent–adolescent dyads seeking treatment for chronic pain were videoed during physical exercise sessions. Verbal and non-verbal behaviours were recorded and transcribed. Four overarching categories emerged: ‘monitoring’, ‘protecting’, ‘encouraging’ and ‘instructing’. These often had both verbal and non-verbal aspects. Within these categories, more precise behavioural groups were also identified. This research identifies categories of parental behaviour that were derived directly from observation, rather than imposed on the basis of results from different populations. Four categories of behaviour were derived, which clarify and extend dimensions used in existing self-report instruments. Careful description of parental behaviours showed features that past research has neglected, and highlighted potential drawbacks of apparently positive parental actions

Magnetic Nanoparticles in the Interstellar Medium: Emission Spectrum and Polarization

The presence of ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic nanoparticles in the interstellar medium would give rise to magnetic dipole radiation at microwave and submm frequencies. Such grains may account for the strong mm-wavelength emission observed from a number of low-metallicity galaxies, including the Small Magellanic Cloud. We show how to calculate the absorption and scattering cross sections for such grains, with particular attention to metallic Fe, magnetite Fe3O4, and maghemite gamma-Fe2O3, all potentially present in the interstellar medium. The rate of Davis-Greenstein alignment by magnetic dissipation is also estimated. We determine the temperature of free-flying magnetic grains heated by starlight and we calculate the polarization of the magnetic dipole emission from both free-fliers and inclusions. For inclusions, the magnetic dipole emission is expected to be polarized orthogonally relative to the normal electric dipole radiation. Finally, we present self-consistent dielectric functions for metallic Fe, magnetite Fe3O4, and maghemite gamma-Fe2O3, enabling calculation of absorption and scattering cross sections from microwave to X-ray wavelengths.Comment: submitted to Ap.J. Fig. 10 has been corrected. Minor changes to the discussion in section 10.2.

How does it really feel to act together? : Shared emotions and the phenomenology of we-agency

Research on the phenomenology of agency for joint action has so far focused on the sense of agency and control in joint action, leaving aside questions on how it feels to act together. This paper tries to fill this gap in a way consistent with the existing theories of joint action and shared emotion. We first reconstruct Pacherie’s (Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 13, 25–46, 2014) account on the phenomenology of agency for joint action, pointing out its two problems, namely (1) the necessary trade-off between the sense of self- and we-agency; and (2) the lack of affective phenomenology of joint action in general. After elaborating on these criticisms based on our theory of shared emotion, we substantiate the second criticism by discussing different mechanisms of shared affect—feelings and emotions—that are present in typical joint actions. We show that our account improves on Pacherie’s, first by introducing our agentive model of we-agency to overcome her unnecessary dichotomy between a sense of self- and we-agency, and then by suggesting that the mechanisms of shared affect enhance not only the predictability of other agents’ actions as Pacherie highlights, but also an agentive sense of we-agency that emerges from shared emotions experienced in the course and consequence of joint action.Peer reviewe

Staphylococcal Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Induces Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine Production and Nuclear Factor-Kappa B Activation in Neutrophils

Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a cytotoxin secreted by Staphylococcus aureus and associated with severe necrotizing infections. PVL targets polymorphonuclear leukocytes, especially neutrophils, which are the first line of defense against infections. Although PVL can induce neutrophil death by necrosis or apoptosis, the specific inflammatory responses of neutrophils to this toxin are unclear. In this study, both in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrated that recombinant PVL has an important cytotoxic role in human neutrophils, leading to apoptosis at low concentrations and necrosis at high concentrations. Recombinant PVL also increased the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion from neutrophils. The up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines was due to nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation induced by PVL. Moreover, blocking NF-κB inhibited the production of inflammatory cytokines. To test the role of neutrophil immune responses during the pathogenesis of PVL-induced acute lung injury, we used immunocompetent or neutropenic rabbits to develop a model of necrotizing pneumonia. Immunocompetent rabbits challenged with PVL demonstrated increased inflammation containing neutrophilic infiltrates. In addition, there were elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and IL-10) and NF-κB in the lung homogenate. In contrast, the lung tissues from neutropenic rabbits contained mild or moderate inflammation, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines and NF-κB increased only slightly. Data from the current study support growing evidence that neutrophils play an important role in the pathogenesis of PVL-induced tissue injury and inflammation. PVL can stimulate neutrophils to release pro-inflammatory mediators, thereby causing an acute inflammatory response. The ability of PVL to induce inflammatory cytokine release may be associated with the activation of NF-κB or its pore-forming properties

'A mockery of equality': An exploratory investigation into disabled activists' views of the Paralympic Games

This article offers an exploratory analysis of the opinions of disabled activists towards the Paralympic Games. With the use of a qualitative online survey, the work focuses on the perceptions of disabled individuals (n = 32) who are not Paralympic athletes but are affiliated to the disability rights group, the United Kingdom Disabled People's Council. Working on the premise that the views of disabled activists have been excluded from Paralympic sports discourse to date, the results illustrate a nuanced yet negative view of the Games to contrast with an existing, yet overly positive, academic narrative. Participants were particularly cynical of the portrayal and production of the Games and its Paralympic athletes as they perceived that the wider population of disabled people is misrepresented. The overwhelming perception in this preliminary analysis suggests that the Paralympic Games can be counterproductive to disability rights beyond sport

The Nature of Working Memory for Braille

Blind individuals have been shown on multiple occasions to compensate for their loss of sight by developing exceptional abilities in their remaining senses. While most research has been focused on perceptual abilities per se in the auditory and tactile modalities, recent work has also investigated higher-order processes involving memory and language functions. Here we examined tactile working memory for Braille in two groups of visually challenged individuals (completely blind subjects, CBS; blind with residual vision, BRV). In a first experimental procedure both groups were given a Braille tactile memory span task with and without articulatory suppression, while the BRV and a sighted group performed a visual version of the task. It was shown that the Braille tactile working memory (BrWM) of CBS individuals under articulatory suppression is as efficient as that of sighted individuals' visual working memory in the same condition. Moreover, the results suggest that BrWM may be more robust in the CBS than in the BRV subjects, thus pointing to the potential role of visual experience in shaping tactile working memory. A second experiment designed to assess the nature (spatial vs. verbal) of this working memory was then carried out with two new CBS and BRV groups having to perform the Braille task concurrently with a mental arithmetic task or a mental displacement of blocks task. We show that the disruption of memory was greatest when concurrently carrying out the mental displacement of blocks, indicating that the Braille tactile subsystem of working memory is likely spatial in nature in CBS. The results also point to the multimodal nature of working memory and show how experience can shape the development of its subcomponents

Development and validation of a Surgical Prioritization and Ranking Tool and Navigation Aid for Head and Neck Cancer (SPARTAN‐HN) in a scarce resource setting: Response to the COVID‐19 pandemic

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163412/2/cncr33114_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163412/1/cncr33114.pd