Transition to farming more likely for small, conservative groups with property rights, but increased productivity is not essential

Theories for the origins of agriculture are still debated, with a range of different explanations offered. Computational models can be used to test these theories and explore new hypotheses; Bowles and Choi [Bowles S, Choi J-K (2013) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(22):8830–8835] have developed one such model. Their model shows the coevolution of farming and farming-friendly property rights, and by including climate variability, replicates the timings for the emergence of these events seen in the archaeological record. Because the processes modeled occurred a long time ago, it can be difficult to justify exact parameter values; hence, we propose a fitting to idealized outcomes (FIO) method to explore the model’s parameter space in more detail. We have replicated the model of Bowles and Choi, and used the FIO method to identify complexities and interactions of the model previously unidentified. Our results indicate that the key parameters for the emergence of farming are group structuring, group size, conservatism, and farming-friendly property rights (lending further support to Bowles and Choi’s original proposal). We also find that although advantageous, it is not essential that farming productivity be greater than foraging productivity for farming to emerge. In addition, we highlight how model behaviors can be missed when gauging parameter sensitivity via a fix-all-but-one variation approach

Effects of ecstasy/polydrug use on memory for associative information

Rationale. Associative learning underpins behaviours that are fundamental to the everyday functioning of the individual. Evidence pointing to learning deficits in recreational drug users merits further examination. Objectives. A word pair learning task was administered to examine associative learning processes in ecstasy/polydrug users. Methods. After assignment to either single or divided attention conditions, 44 ecstasy/polydrug users, and 48 nonusers were presented with 80 word pairs at encoding. Following this, four types of stimuli were presented at the recognition phase; the words as originally paired (old pairs), previously presented words in different pairings (conjunction pairs), old words paired with new words, and pairs of new words (not presented previously). The task was to identify which of the stimuli were intact old pairs. Results. Ecstasy/ploydrug users produced significantly more false positive responses overall compared to nonusers. Increased long-term frequency of ecstasy use was positively associated with the propensity to produce false positive responses. It was also associated with a more liberal signal detection theory (SDT) decision criterion value. Measures of long term and recent cannabis use were also associated with these same word pair learning outcome measures. Conjunction word pairs, irrespective of drug use, generated the highest level of false positive responses and significantly more false positive responses were made in the DA condition compared to the SA condition. Conclusions. Overall, the results suggest that long-term ecstasy exposure may induce a deficit in associative learning and this may be in part a consequence of users adopting a more liberal decision criterion value. Key Words: Ecstasy, Drug Use, Cognition, Memory, Associative Learning, Word Pair

Recent Basal Melting of a Mid-Latitude Glacier on Mars

Evidence for past basal melting of young (late Amazonian), debris-covered glaciers in Mars’ mid-latitudes is extremely rare. Thus, it is widely thought that these viscous flow features (VFFs) have been perennially frozen to their beds. We identify an instance of recent, localized wet-based mid-latitude glaciation, evidenced by a candidate esker emerging from a VFF in a tectonic rift in Tempe Terra. Eskers are sedimentary ridges deposited in ice-walled meltwater conduits and are indicative of glacial melting. We compare the candidate esker to terrestrial analogues, present a geomorphic map of landforms in the rift, and develop a landsystem model to explain their formation. We propose that the candidate esker formed during a transient phase of wet-based glaciation. We then consider the similarity between the geologic setting of the new candidate esker and that of the only other candidate esker to be identified in association with an existing mid-latitude VFF; both are within tectonic graben/rifts proximal to volcanic provinces. Finally, we calculate potential basal temperatures for a range of VFF thicknesses, driving stresses, mean annual surface temperatures, and geothermal heat fluxes, which unlike previous studies, include the possible role of internal strain heating. Strain heating can form an important additional heat source, especially in flow convergence zones, or where ice is warmer due to elevated surface temperatures or geothermal heat flux. Elevated geothermal heat flux within rifts, perhaps combined with locally-elevated strain heating, may have permitted wet-based glaciation during the late Amazonian, when cold climates precluded more extensive wet-based glaciation on Mars

Correction: How Long Is Too Long in Contemporary Peer Review? Perspectives from Authors Publishing in Conservation Biology Journals.

<p>Correction: How Long Is Too Long in Contemporary Peer Review? Perspectives from Authors Publishing in Conservation Biology Journals</p

Louis J. Gallagher, SJ Papers

All physical materials associated with the New England Province Archive are currently held by the Jesuit Archives in St. Louis, MO. Any inquiries about these materials should be directed to Jesuit Archives. Electronic versions of some items and the descriptions and finding aids to the Archives, which are hosted in CrossWorks, are provided only as a courtesy. Louis J. Gallagher was born on July 22, 1885 in the Savin Hill area of Dorchester (Boston), MA, the son of James P. and Sarah (Dempsey) Gallagher. He first attended the Harbor View Street School, later named the Cora L. Ethridge School, after one of his teachers. He completed the grammar school grades at the Immaculate Conception Parochial School in Malden. He graduated from Boston College High School. After attending Boston College for two years, he entered the Society of Jesus on August 14, 1906 at St. Andrew-on Hudson in Poughkeepsie, NY, where he completed his novitiate and juniorate. Two years of philosophy at Woodstock College, in Woodstock, MD, and one year in Montreal prepared him for his regency which consisted of five years of teaching, 1912-1917, at Fordham Preparatory School in NY, teaching second and third year French and first year Elocution. During that time, he was in charge of athletics for two years and formed the Fordham Ambulance Corps that served with the French Army before the United States entered World War I and afterwards transferred to the American overseas forces. In 1917 he returned to Woodstock College for theology studies. He was ordained by Cardinal Gibbons on June 29, 1920, at Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University. After completing his theology studies in 1921, he was appointed headmaster of Xavier High School in New York City. In June of 1922, he was asked by Fr. Edmund A. Walsh, S.J. who was then the Director of the Papal Mission for Famine Relief to Russia, to become his assistant. He served in Russia, acting as a layman for 15 months. Much of the work involved logistics, arranging for the transportation and distribution of food, locating appropriate facilities for kitchens and dining rooms, and hiring staff. The majority of the work was done in cities where the population was swollen with refugees from all areas of the country. While he was in Russia, Fr. Gallagher was named as a Diplomatic Courier by the State Department of the Soviet Government and also by the Vatican to bring the body of Saint Andrew Bobola (1592-1657), a Jesuit Martyr, from Moscow to Rome. He used these experiences to write two books: A Test of Heritage, A Russian Class-War Novel, 1938, and The Life of Saint Andrew Bobola (with Paul V. Donovan), 1939. After escorting the body of Bobola to the Vatican, he went to Tullabeg, Ireland, for his tertianship in 1923-24. &nbps; He returned to the United States in 1924 to begin a number of administrative assignments. From 1924-1926, he served as Prefect of Studies (Dean) at Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. From 1926-1932, he served as Socius (Executive Secretary) to the Provincial of the newly formed New England Province and the Prefect of Studies for the Province. After that assignment, he became the Rector (President) of Boston College from 1932-1937. After 1937, he combined writing with administrative positions. From 1937-1940 he was the Editor and Writer of the “New England Province News,” the newsletter of the New England Province. From 1940-1943, he served as the Associate Director of the Institute of Social Order in New York City at its opening. He returned to Boston in 1943 to become the Director of the Jesuit Seminary Guild and the Superior of St. Andrew Bobola House on 300 Newbury Street in the Back Bay of Boston until 1949. From 1944 until 1946, he also was the Editor of the Jesuit Seminary News and the “New England Province News.” &nbps; For a short time in 1949, he assisted at St. Mary’s Church, the Jesuit Parish in the North End of Boston. From 1949-1951, he returned to 300 Newbury Street, serving as the Province Archivist and writing. From 1951-1955, he resided at St. Robert’s Hall, the Province Tertianship in Pomfret, CT, writing. From 1955-1970, he lived at Georgetown University, continuing his writing and again working with Fr. Edmund A. Walsh, S.J. He returned to the New England Province in 1970, living at Weston College, in Weston, MA, and serving as House Confessor. Fr. Gallagher died at Glover Memorial Hospital in Needham on August 14, 1972, at the age of 87, on the 67th anniversary of his entrance to the Society of Jesus and after 52 years as a priest. He is buried in the Jesuit Cemetery at Campion Center, formerly Weston College, in Weston, MA. &nbps; Fr. Gallagher was the author of six published books and many articles. He also wrote a memoir of his life that gives a vivid account of his time in Russia serving the Papal Relief Mission to famine victims, and a detailed story of the recovery and escort of the body of St. Andrew Bobola, S.J. from Moscow to the Vatican. &nbps; The collection consists of 1-5” box of papers and 1-2.5” box of photographs. The papers consist of several versions of Fr. Gallagher’s memoir, some correspondence related to the publication of the memoir, some materials developed by the archives and other researchers, two short stories and a Proclamation of thanks from the Kirghiz Soviet Republic. (This Proclamation is labeled as a certificate of honorary citizenship.) Fr. Gallagher’s memoir, titled either “A Twentieth Century Jesuit” or “Recollections of a Jesuit Cossack” largely focuses on the 15 months Gallagher spent in Russia. It describes the challenges of famine relief work, some of the individuals he worked with in Russia and the incognito transfer of the body of St. Andrew Bobola from Moscow to Rome. There are three versions of the memoir in the collection. Permissions were received in the mid-1960s and the early 1970s to publish the memoir, but that has not happened as of 2014. The photographs are mainly of Russia during the famine of the early 1920s. There are also some portrait photos of Fr. Gallagher

Beliefs about the Minds of Others Influence How We Process Sensory Information

Attending where others gaze is one of the most fundamental mechanisms of social cognition. The present study is the first to examine the impact of the attribution of mind to others on gaze-guided attentional orienting and its ERP correlates. Using a paradigm in which attention was guided to a location by the gaze of a centrally presented face, we manipulated participants' beliefs about the gazer: gaze behavior was believed to result either from operations of a mind or from a machine. In Experiment 1, beliefs were manipulated by cue identity (human or robot), while in Experiment 2, cue identity (robot) remained identical across conditions and beliefs were manipulated solely via instruction, which was irrelevant to the task. ERP results and behavior showed that participants' attention was guided by gaze only when gaze was believed to be controlled by a human. Specifically, the P1 was more enhanced for validly, relative to invalidly, cued targets only when participants believed the gaze behavior was the result of a mind, rather than of a machine. This shows that sensory gain control can be influenced by higher-order (task-irrelevant) beliefs about the observed scene. We propose a new interdisciplinary model of social attention, which integrates ideas from cognitive and social neuroscience, as well as philosophy in order to provide a framework for understanding a crucial aspect of how humans' beliefs about the observed scene influence sensory processing

Are Commonly Used Resident Measurements Associated with Procedural Skills in Internal Medicine Residency Training?

BACKGROUND: Acquisition of competence in performing a variety of procedures is essential during Internal Medicine (IM) residency training. PURPOSES: Determine the rate of procedural complications by IM residents; determine whether there was a correlation between having 1 or more complications and institutional procedural certification status or attending ratings of resident procedural skill competence on the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) monthly evaluation form (ABIM-MEF). Assess if an association exists between procedural complications and in-training examination and ABIM board certification scores. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all procedure log sheets, procedural certification status, ABIM-MEF procedural skills ratings, in-training exam and certifying examination (ABIM-CE) scores from the period 1990–1999 for IM residency program graduates from a training program. RESULTS: Among 69 graduates, 2,212 monthly procedure log sheets and 2,475 ABIM-MEFs were reviewed. The overall complication rate was 2.3/1,000 procedures (95% CI: 1.4–3.1/1,000 procedure). With the exception of procedural certification status as judged by institutional faculty, there was no association between our resident measurements and procedural complications. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the need for a resident procedural competence certification system based on direct observation. Our data support the ABIM’s action to remove resident procedural competence from the monthly ABIM-MEF ratings

Detection of Massive Forming Galaxies at Redshifts Greater than One

The complex problem of when and how galaxies formed has not until recently been susceptible of direct attack. It has been known for some time that the excessive number of blue galaxies counted at faint magnitudes implies that a considerable fraction of the massive star formation in the universe occurred at z < 3, but, surprisingly, spectroscopic studies of galaxies down to a B magnitude of 24 found little sign of the expected high-z progenitors of current massive galaxies, but rather, in large part, small blue galaxies at modest redshifts z \sim 0.3. This unexpected population has diverted attention from the possibility that early massive star-forming galaxies might also be found in the faint blue excess. From KECK spectroscopic observations deep enough to encompass a large population of z > 1 field galaxies, we can now show directly that in fact these forming galaxies are present in substantial numbers at B \sim 24, and that the era from redshifts 1 to 2 was clearly a major period of galaxy formation. These z > 1 galaxies have very unusual morphologies as seen in deep HST WFPC2 images.Comment: 10 pages LaTeX + 5 PostScript figures in uuencoded gzipped tar file; aasms4.sty, flushrt.sty, overcite.sty (the two aastex4.0 and overcite.sty macros are available from xxx.lanl.gov) Also available (along with style files) via anonymous ftp to ftp://hubble.ifa.hawaii.edu/pub/preprints . E-print version of paper adds citation cross-references to other archived e-prints, where available. To appear in Nature October 19, 199