How Do You Shift From a Siloed System to Portfolio Solutions?

As a result of the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, hospitals have changed the way they operate. This in turn has caused companies across the healthcare and devices sector to adapt their business models to cope with this change, resulting in changes to the organizational structure with an emphasis on improved collaboration across verticals, advancing innovative solutions faster and finding new markets for products. We believe technology and improving the diversity within R&D teams can help transform organizations, and help them achieve their business goals

Chronic adolescent stress as a predictive factor for the risk of developing PTSD-like symptoms in adulthood

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a stress and trauma based psychological disorder that is defined by the DSM-IV as an anxiety disorder that affects approximately 7.8% of people in the United States. PTSD is when those who suffer a traumatic event have intense and distressing feelings, emotions, and memories for a prolonged period of time after the event. A prominent feature of PTSD is the impaired ability to properly extinguish a fear response after a dangerous trigger or stressor is no longer present, also known as safety learning. Stressors are threats perceived within the environment that activate a response within the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as well as the autonomic nervous system (ANS). During adolescence, the brain is within a critically sensitive period that is susceptible to damage or alterations in cognition or morphology due to stressors. Chronic stress during adolescence alters brain morphology and cognitive function into adulthood, as seen in studies involving laboratory animals. In addition to the effects of chronic adolescent stress, there are also morphological and cognitive differences due to sex caused by differences in sex hormones. Women are disproportionately affected by PTSD and are twice as likely to develop PTSD after a traumatic event. Combining these factors, we hypothesize that the ability to safety learn will be impaired by chronic adolescent stress and further hindered within female wistar rats. A mixed-modality chronic adolescent stress paradigm was used to create social stress, which simulates negative social interaction and aggression, and chronic restraint stress, which simulates a stressful situation that forces immobility. Safety learning ability was assessed using a startle paradigm created based on fear conditioning that has been used previously in multiple studies testing for behavior that is indicative of PTSD-like behavior. In contradiction to the hypothesis, the females who underwent chronic adolescent stress did extinguish the fear and safety learn successfully better than the nonstress counterparts. In order to look at the predictability of the startle response due to the effects of chronic adolescent stress, multiple linear regression analyses were run. It was found that for the baseline, fear conditioning, and extinction days within the startle response paradigm were able to be predicted significantly, however, the days that were testing the actual fear potentiated startle response and safety learning had no significant predictability. The results of this study found that CAS increased the ability to safety learn as well as sex did not influence the ability to safety learn, which were both not supportive of the hypothesis. In addition, the regression analysis was not a reliable model of predicting startle response within CAS data. This study can be a useful steppingstone in determining the ways that chronic adolescent stress can predict how a stressor can cause an increase in the risk of psychological disorders later in adulthood

Holy Wealth: Economics and Religion at Qumran and in the Dead Sea Scrolls

The identification of the sectarians at Qumran with the Essenes, a group that Josephus and Philo characterized as rigorously ascetic, has led many scholars to conclude that the Qumran sectarians identified wealth with corruption and immorality and poverty with virtue. Some of these scholars further support their argument by pointing to several disparaging references to wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Archaeological evidence, however, can attest that the ideological relationship that the Qumran community had with wealth was much more complex. The industrial remains at Qumran indicate that the site probably manufactured many different products. It is also inaccurate to say that the inhabitants of Qumran participated in the thriving economy of the Judean region only enough to ensure their survival, for evidence of surplus wealth is also present at the site. The hoard of Tyrian tetradrachmas, multiple isolated coins, sherds of Nabatean fineware, a jar of precious oil, and multiple metal items are a few examples. In addition, a closer textual analysis of IQS and the Damascus Document reveals some of the positive, purifying connotations that wealth held for the Yahad. Indeed, in IQS, merging one’s wealth with that of the community’s is a high honor and the final step in becoming a sectarian. Among many Jews of the Second Temple Period, wealth could be used to help fulfill religious obligations: the hoard of Tyrian tetradrachmas and the treasures listed in the Copper Scroll have both been tentatively identified with the Temple tax, an institution described in Ordinances 4Q159 and 4Q513. In this paper, I will explore how the evidence of economic prosperity at Qumran can be squared with the references to wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls. What were the positive aspects of wealth for the members of the Yahad, and how could wealth be used for religious purposes? More specifically, what was the Yahad’s attitude towards and interpretation of the Temple taxes and sacrifices mentioned in the Hebrew Bible

Downstream Alteration of Copyrighted Works in a World of Licensed, Digital Distribution

The prospect of downstream alteration raises questions about the appropriate scope of licensing terms, the objectives of copyright law and even the meaning of art. It provides an impetus to tackle these questions by concretizing what was once but a thought experiment. Part I introduces the notion of copy ownership and contrasts it with the increasingly popular method of licensing copyrighted works. Part II argues that downstream alteration of a copyrighted work through the use of software-like updates impermissibly expands authorial control. Finally, Part III briefly outlines several ways in which licensing terms that purport to allow the copyright holder to make downstream changes to a copyrighted work can be limited

“Send Me Your Location”: Examining Cyber Dating Abuse Victimization and Self-Esteem in Adolescents

Although research on the impact cyber dating abuse (CDA) has on individuals’ psychological well-being is beginning to grow, little is known about its relation to self-esteem. This study examined the bidirectional relationship of CDA victimization and self-esteem in adolescents using a longitudinal design. Participants were 28 adolescents (71% female, 25% male, 4% transgender) ranging in age from 14 to 18 years (M = 15.89, SD = 1.29) who had been in a romantic relationship for at least one month. Participants completed self-report assessments of CDA victimization and self-esteem 3 months apart. It was hypothesized that a reciprocal relationship would emerge between self-esteem and CDA victimization, in which individuals with lower self-esteem at Time 1 would experience increased CDA from Time 1 to Time 2, and individuals who experienced more cyber dating abuse at Time 1 would show decreases in self-esteem from Time 1 to Time 2. Electronic intrusiveness and direct aggression, two subscales of CDA, were also examined individually. A series of linear regressions revealed that lower Time 1 self-esteem predicted an increase in direct aggression victimization from Time 1 to Time 2; however lower self-esteem at Time 1 was not found to be a significant predictor of increased electronic intrusiveness victimization at Time 2. Further, the reverse relations, with CDA victimization predicting self-esteem were not significant. These findings suggest adolescents low in self-esteem may be at increased risk for online direct aggression victimization. Implications, results for adolescents’ well-being, as well as prevention, intervention, and future directions are discussed

Legal Services and the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984

Part I of this note outlines the major nontariff barriers (NTBs) to trade in services. Part II discusses the provisions of the Trade and Tariff Act that are aimed at the reduction of those barriers. Part III examines the applicability of the TTA to legal services and the potential limitations on the provisions of an international agreement for that particular service industry. It concludes that concerns over state sovereignty, while no longer posing a constitutional obstacle to an international agreement on trade in services, will remain an important political force in the shaping of such an agreement