The Tragedy of the Commons in a Fishery when Relative Performance Matters

This paper presents a simple model of a common access fishery where fishermen care about relative performance as well as absolute profits. Our specification captures the idea that status (which depends on relative performance) in a community infuences a person's well-being. We consider two alternative specifications of relative performance. In our first specication, relative performance is equated to relative after-tax profits. In our second specification, it is relative harvests that matter. We show that overharvesting resulting from the tragedy of the commons problem is exacerbated by the desire for higher relative performance, leading to a smaller steady-state fish stock and smaller steady-state profit for all the fishermen. We examine a tax package, consisting of a tax on relative profit and a tax on effort, and an individual quota as alternatives to implement the socially effcient equilibrium.relative income, relative performance, status, fishery, tragedy of the commons

Sustainability and Spread of Community-based Initiatives: A case study of Community Cares, a Children’s Hospital’s 16 year effort to serve its community

The sustainability and spread of innovations is often elusive, presenting continuous challenges to clinicians and healthcare leaders. Somewhere between 33 - 70% of all innovations are reportedly not sustained, and even fewer are spread beyond the original team, or to other units within an organization. In plain language, sustainability is defined as locking in progress, while continually building upon that foundation, while spread is the exchange of knowledge and experience to others beyond the original implementing team. The literature supports the concept that sustainability is both multi-dimensional and multi-factorial and has several characteristics and pre-conditions. Tax-exempt, not-for-profit organizations in the USA must provide measurable community benefits to the populations they seek to serve. Many of these community benefits take the form of locating necessary services closer to or directly within the communities being served in order to enhance access. A case study of a 16 year effort to provide a medical home-oriented primary care model to underserved children in Houston, Texas Children’s Pediatrics’ Community Cares, is presented as illustrative of such a community benefit. Many of the characteristics and preconditions essential to a model for sustainability and spread are highlighted and the Community Cares case study is discussed from the standpoint of this framework

Replacement of dichloromethane within chromatographic purification : a guide to alternative solvents

Replacement of dichloromethane as the bulk medium within chromatographic purification has been evaluated with a broad range of molecules containing functionality common within Medicinal Chemistry programmes. Analysis of the data set has generated a set of general guidelines to assist in the selection of alternative solvents for CH2Cl2 as the bulk media in these ubiquitously employed processes

Beyond Critical Period Learning: Striatal FoxP2 Affects the Active Maintenance of Learned Vocalizations in Adulthood.

In humans, mutations in the transcription factor forkhead box P2 (FOXP2) result in language disorders associated with altered striatal structure. Like speech, birdsong is learned through social interactions during maturational critical periods, and it relies on auditory feedback during initial learning and on-going maintenance. Hearing loss causes learned vocalizations to deteriorate in adult humans and songbirds. In the adult songbird brain, most FoxP2-enriched regions (e.g., cortex, thalamus) show a static expression level, but in the striatal song control nucleus, area X, FoxP2 is regulated by singing and social context: when juveniles and adults sing alone, its levels drop, and songs are more variable. When males sing to females, FoxP2 levels remain high, and songs are relatively stable: this "on-line" regulation implicates FoxP2 in ongoing vocal processes, but its role in the auditory-based maintenance of learned vocalization has not been examined. To test this, we overexpressed FoxP2 in both hearing and deafened adult zebra finches and assessed effects on song sung alone versus songs directed to females. In intact birds singing alone, no changes were detected between songs of males expressing FoxP2 or a GFP construct in area X, consistent with the marked stability of mature song in this species. In contrast, songs of males overexpressing FoxP2 became more variable and were less preferable to females, unlike responses to songs of GFP-expressing control males. In deafened birds, song deteriorated more rapidly following FoxP2 overexpression relative to GFP controls. Together, these experiments suggest that behavior-driven FoxP2 expression and auditory feedback interact to precisely maintain learned vocalizations

Characteristics of the Adult Female Endurance Runner: A survey

Objective: This study investigated the behaviors and characteristics of the adult female endurance runner and potential components of the female athlete triad (FAT). The FAT consists of three components that are interrelated: low energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone mineral density. Low energy availability may occur with or without disordered eating. Reproduction becomes non-essential leading to irregular menstrual cycles. A reduction in estrogen levels may contribute to low bone mineral density which may lead to stress fractures. Research investigating the FAT has primarily focused on adolescent and young adult females. Adult females training for endurance events may also be at risk for the FAT. Method: A survey was constructed and distributed to females in a local half-marathon and marathon training group in Central Florida. The data was collected at one point in time and no additional follow-up was required. The survey aimed to identify specific behaviors and characteristics related to components of the FAT and determine the potential prevalence in a small sample of female endurance athletes aged 18 and older. Results: 72 females with a mean age of 40.92(± 9.61) years completed the survey. Subjects had an average height of 163.60(±6.41) cm, weighed an average of 62.24(±10.05) kg and had 10 years of running experience. Conclusion: Adult female endurance runners demonstrate behaviors and characteristics that may be indicative of the FAT. Participants demonstrated signs of inadvertent or intentional low energy availability. These characteristics can be due to either body dissatisfaction or wanting to increase performance

Engaging an Unengaged Demographic: A Phenomenological Study of Christian Millennials’ Engagement with Religious and Nonreligious Memberships

Church membership is declining worldwide. Studies show that Millennials are less likely to belong to a church than previous generations. Even among churched Millennials, only 48% of church-attending Millennials are church members. Simultaneously, organizations such as health, fitness, and social clubs are seeing an increase in Millennial membership growth. Brand loyalty is high among Millennials, but church loyalty is low even among practicing Christian Millennials who attend church at least once per month. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how practicing Christian Millennials understand the nature of engagement with church and nonreligious memberships and the factors that shape those commitments. Practicing Christian Millennials were generally defined as anyone born between 1981 and 1996 who self-identified as a Christian and attended a trinitarian Protestant church in the United States at least once per month. The methodology guiding this study was Husserl’s phenomenological approach to gaining insight into the phenomenon of Christian Millennials’ engagement rates with religious and nonreligious memberships