The Gendered Division of Housework and Couples’ Sexual Relationships: A Re-Examination

Contemporary men and women increasingly express preferences for egalitarian unions. One recent high profile study (Kornrich, Brines, & Leupp, 2013) found that married couples with more equal divisions of labor had sex less frequently than couples with conventional divisions of domestic labor. Others (Gager & Yabiku, 2010) found that performing more domestic labor was associated with greater sexual frequency, regardless of gender. Both studies drew from the same data source, which was over two decades old. We utilize data from the 2006 Marital and Relationship Survey (MARS) to update this work. We find no significant differences in sexual frequency and satisfaction among conventional or egalitarian couples. Couples where the male partner does the majority of the housework, however, have less frequent and lower quality sexual relationships than their counterparts. Couples are content to modify conventional housework arrangements, but reversing them entirely has consequences for other aspects of their unions

Atomic Oxygen Erosion Yield Dependence Upon Texture Development in Polymers

The atomic oxygen erosion yield (volume of a polymer that is lost due to oxidation per incident atom) of polymers is typically assumed to be reasonably constant with increasing fluence. However polymers containing ash or inorganic pigments, tend to have erosion yields that decrease with fluence due to an increasing presence of protective particles on the polymer surface. This paper investigates two additional possible causes for erosion yields of polymers that are dependent upon atomic oxygen. These are the development of surface texture which can cause the erosion yield to change with fluence due to changes in the aspect ratio of the surface texture that develops and polymer specific atomic oxygen interaction parameters. The surface texture development under directed hyperthermal attack produces higher aspect ratio surface texture than isotropic thermal energy atomic oxygen attack. The fluence dependence of erosion yields is documented for low Kapton H (DuPont, Wilmington, DE) effective fluences for a variety of polymers under directed hyperthermal and isotropic thermal energy attack

Software process assessments

Software process assessments (SPA's) are part of an ongoing program of continuous quality improvements in AT&T. Their use was found to be very beneficial by software development organizations in identifying the issues facing the organization and the actions required to increase both quality and productivity in the organization

Common genomic features of Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doylei strains distinguish them from C. jejuni subsp. jejuni

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Campylobacter jejuni </it>has been divided into two subspecies: <it>C. jejuni </it>subsp. <it>jejuni </it>(<it>Cjj</it>) and <it>C. jejuni </it>subsp. <it>doylei </it>(<it>Cjd</it>). Nearly all of the <it>C. jejuni </it>strains isolated are <it>Cjj</it>; nevertheless, although <it>Cjd </it>strains are isolated infrequently, they differ from <it>Cjj </it>in two key aspects: they are obtained primarily from human clinical samples and are associated often with bacteremia, in addition to gastroenteritis. In this study, we utilized multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and a DNA microarray-based comparative genomic indexing (CGI) approach to examine the genomic diversity and gene content of <it>Cjd </it>strains.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A geographically diverse collection of eight <it>Cjd </it>strains was examined by MLST and determined to be phylogenetically distinct from <it>Cjj </it>strains. Microarray-based CGI approach also supported this. We were able to demonstrate that <it>Cjd </it>strains exhibited divergence from <it>Cjj </it>strains NCTC 11168 and RM1221 in many of the intraspecies hypervariable regions. Moreover, multiple metabolic, transport and virulence functions (e.g. cytolethal distending toxin) were shown to be absent in the <it>Cjd </it>strains examined.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data demonstrate that <it>Cjd </it>are phylogenetically distinct from <it>Cjj </it>strains. Using the CGI approach, we identified subsets of absent genes from amongst the <it>C. jejuni </it>genes that provide clues as to the potential evolutionary origin and unusual pathogenicity of <it>Cjd</it>.</p

Transitioning from military medics to registered nurses

The nursing shortage in the USA is expected to reach 260,000 registered nurses (RNs) by 2025. The most profound shortages are expected in California and Florida, translating into 109,779 and 128,364 RN jobs, respectively. Despite a foreseen growth in nursing career opportunities nationwide, the supply of nurses will be insufficient to meet the corresponding demand. Capitalizing on prior education, experience, and skills of military clinical personnel to fill these jobs could significantly reduce the projected nursing shortage. Florida International University’s Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences is circumventing barriers to recruit, retain, and graduate transitioning veteran medics and corpsmen as Bachelor of Science in Nursing prepared RNs who reintegrate into the civilian workforce. The Veteran Bachelor of Science in Nursing (VBSN) program is in the form of a cooperative agreement between Florida International University and the US Health Resources and Services Administration. The VBSN program’s main objective is to build upon the unique leadership skills, clinical education, and training of military medics and corpsmen to ensure successful completion of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing curriculum. VBSN students, as veterans themselves, have unique knowledge and exposure to the specific health issues and needs of the veteran population overall. They are poised and best prepared to effectively care for the US population, particularly the current 22 million US veterans and 1.6 million Florida veterans. Additionally, the VBSN program will alleviate the challenges, such as the lack of recognition of military skills, unemployment, the substandard income, and homelessness that many former service members face after separation from the military

Vernacular museum: communal bonding and ritual memory transfer among displaced communities

Eclectically curated and largely ignored by the mainstream museum sector, vernacular museums sit at the interstices between the nostalgic and the future-oriented, the private and the public, the personal and the communal. Eluding the danger of becoming trivialised or commercialised, they serve as powerful conduits of memory, which strengthen communal bonds in the face of the ‘flattening’ effects of globalisation. The museum this paper deals with, a vernacular museum in Vanjärvi in southern Finland, differs from the dominant type of the house museum, which celebrates masculinity and social elites. Rather, it aligns itself with the small amateur museums of everyday life called by Angela Jannelli Wild Museums (2012), by analogy with Lévi-Strauss’ concept of ‘pensée sauvage’. The paper argues that, despite the present-day flurry of technologies of remembering and lavishly funded memory institutions, there is no doubt that the seemingly ‘ephemeral’ institutions such as the vernacular museum, dependent so much on performance, oral storytelling, living bodies and intimate interaction, nevertheless play an important role in maintaining and invigorating memory communities

Masticatory loading and soft-tissue plasticity in the mammalian circumorbital region

Abstract only availableMasticatory loading is the key to understanding the plasticity or epigenetic responses of many of the soft and hard tissues of the mammalian skull. Diet-induced variation in the magnitude and/or frequency of masticatory loads influences the organization, functional adaptation and postnatal development of craniofacial systems. While experimental work exists concerning masticatory stress as a determinant of maxillomandibular form, similar research concerning the mammalian circumorbital region of soft-tissue structures remains sparse. Indeed, controversy remains over the function of the circumorbital region, specifically whether the postorbital region in primates and other mammals is responsive to biomechanical loading. This hinders our understanding of evolutionary transformations during primate origins, where the earliest primates evolved a bony postorbital bar from an ancestor with a soft-tissue structure along the lateral orbital margin. To fill this gap, we examined the postorbital microanatomy of white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Rabbits exhibit a masticatory complex and feeding behaviors like primates, yet retain a primitive circumorbital region similar to their common ancestor. To address the plasticity and function of soft tissues of the lateral orbital wall, three cohorts of 10 rabbits each were raised from weaning (1 month old) to adulthood (6 months old) on diets of different mechanical properties (under-use, control, over-use). Once sacrificed, tissues were collected from the left lateral orbital wall. Dissections revealed that, rather than the anticipated postorbital ligament, rabbits instead exhibit fibrocartilage. Samples were analyzed histologically and immunohistochemically for general anatomy, fibril architecture, collagen expression/organization, and protein abundance using Western Blot analysis. Preliminary data suggests that collagen fibers are aligned differently, with an overexpression of collagen in the over-use dietary cohort versus both the control and under-use groups. In sum, these experimental findings suggest that the postorbital fibrocartilage is mechanically responsive, which contrasts with the non-masticatory nature of bony elements in the circumorbital region.Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Progra