Maternal employment, breastfeeding, and health: Evidence from maternity leave mandates

Public health agencies around the world have renewed efforts to increase the incidence and duration of breastfeeding. Maternity leave mandates present an economic policy that could help achieve these goals. We study their efficacy focusing on a significant increase in maternity leave mandates in Canada. We find very large increases in mothers' time away from work post-birth and in the attainment of critical breastfeeding duration thresholds. However, we find little impact on the self-reported indicators of maternal and child health captured in our data.

A remarkable new leaf-cutter bee from Thailand (Hymenoptera: Magachilidae).

Die bemerkenswerte und als neu erkannte Blattschneiderbienen-Art, Megachile trichorhytisma Engel sp. n. wird beschrieben. Die Beschreibung wird ergänzt durch Abbildungen verschiedener Ansichten des Habitus und der Genitalien zweier Männchen, die im nördlichen Thailand gesammelt wurden. Die Art wird in die neue Untergattung Aethomegachile Engel & Baker subgen. n. gestellt, die von bisher bekannten Abstammungslinien von Megachile unterschieden wird.StichwörterApoidea, Anthophila, Megachilinae, Megachilini, Southeast Asia, taxonomy.Nomenklatorische HandlungenAethomegachile Engel & Baker, 2006 (Megachile), sgen. n.trichorhytisma Engel, 2006 (Megachile (Aethomegachile)), spec. n.A remarkable new species of leaf-cutter bee, Megachile trichorhytisma Engel sp. n., is described and figured from two males collected in northern Thailand. The species is placed in a new subgenus, Aethomegachile Engel & Baker subgen. n., and is differentiated from previously known lineages of Megachile.KeywordsApoidea, Anthophila, Megachilinae, Megachilini, Southeast Asia, taxonomy.Nomenclatural ActsAethomegachile Engel & Baker, 2006 (Megachile), sgen. n.trichorhytisma Engel, 2006 (Megachile (Aethomegachile)), spec. n

A remarkable new leaf-cutter bee from Thailand (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

This is the publisher's version, copyright by Akademie Verlag.A remarkable new species of leaf-cutter bee, Megachile trichorhytisma ENGEL sp. n., is described and figured from two males collected in northern Thailand. The species is placed in a new subgenus, Aethomegachile ENGEL & BAKER subgen. n., and is differentiated from previously known lineages of Megachile

Limitations for change detection in multiple Gabor targets

We investigate the limitations on the ability to detect when a target has changed, using Gabor targets as simple quantifiable stimuli. Using a partial report technique to equalise response variables, we show that the log of the Weber fraction for detecting a spatial frequency change is proportional to the log of the number of targets, with a set-size effect that is greater than that reported for visual search. This is not a simple perceptual limitation, because pre-cueing a single target out of four restores performance to the level found when only one target is present. It is argued that the primary limitation on performance is the division of attention across multiple targets, rather than decay within visual memory. However in a simplified change detection experiment without cueing, where only one target of the set changed, not only was the set size effect still larger, but it was greater at 2000 msec ISI than at 250 msec ISI, indicating a possible memory component. The steepness of the set size effects obtained suggests that even moderate complexity of a stimulus in terms of number of component objects can overload attentional processes, suggesting a possible low-level mechanism for change blindness

The Rotating Mass Matrix, the Strong CP Problem and Higgs Decay

We investigate a recent solution to the strong CP problem, obtaining a theta-angle of order unity, and show that a smooth trajectory of the massive eigenvector of a rank-one rotating mass matrix is consistent with the experimental data for both fermion masses and mixing angles (except for the masses of the lightest quarks). Using this trajectory we study Higgs decay and find suppression of $\Gamma(H\to c\bar{c})$ compared to the standard model predictions for a range of Higgs masses. We also give limits for flavour violating decays, including a relatively large branching ratio for the $\tau^-\mu^+$ mode.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; improvements to introduction and preliminarie

Proposing a Haptic Approach to Facilitating L2 Learners\u27 Pragmatic Competence

Pragmatic competence plays a critical role in successful communication. Pragmatics in the second language classroom has received substantial interest in TESOL, yet teachers often find the teaching of pragmatics challenging. Instruction generally tends to focus on grammar and vocabulary development, even though pragmatics is closely linked to the sound system (i.e., phonology) of the language. An effective method should combine attention to both pragmatic and phonological competence. We propose an integrated approach, drawing on haptic (movement and touch) pronunciation teaching techniques (Acton, Baker, Burri & Teaman, 2013) to facilitate study and uptake of pragmatics in the classroom. In part by mapping intonation and rhythm onto select prefabricated, high value language chunks - adding systematic gestures, movement, and touch - students\u27 ability to respond more appropriately in social context should be significantly enhanced. The process described is accessible to most experienced practitioners. The paper concludes with recommended applications in various educational settings

Mutation of the co-chaperone Tsc1 in bladder cancer diminishes Hsp90 acetylation and reduces drug sensitivity and selectivity

The molecular chaperone Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is essential for the folding, stability, and activity of several drivers of oncogenesis. Hsp90 inhibitors are currently under clinical evaluation for cancer treatment, however their efficacy is limited by lack of biomarkers to optimize patient selection. We have recently identified the tumor suppressor tuberous sclerosis complex 1 (Tsc1) as a new co-chaperone of Hsp90 that affects Hsp90 binding to its inhibitors. Highly variable mutations of TSC1 have been previously identified in bladder cancer and correlate with sensitivity to the Hsp90 inhibitors. Here we showed loss of TSC1 leads to hypoacetylation of Hsp90-K407/K419 and subsequent decreased binding to the Hsp90 inhibitor ganetespib. Pharmacologic inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDACs) restores acetylation of Hsp90 and sensitizes Tsc1-mutant bladder cancer cells to ganetespib, resulting in apoptosis. Our findings suggest that TSC1 status may predict response to Hsp90 inhibitors in patients with bladder cancer, and co-targeting HDACs can sensitize tumors with Tsc1 mutations to Hsp90 inhibitors

Retirement Income Security and Well-Being in Canada

A large international literature has documented the labor market distortions associated with social security benefits for near-retirees. In this paper, we investigate the 'other side' of social security programs, seeking to document improvements in wellbeing arising from the provision of public pensions. To the extent households adjust their savings and employment behavior to account for enhanced retirement benefits, the positive impact of the benefits may be crowded out. We proceed by using the large variation across birth cohorts in income security entitlements in Canada that arise from reforms to the programs over the past 35 years. This variation allows us to explore the effects of benefits on elderly well-being while controlling for other factors that affect well-being over time and by age. We examine measures of income, consumption, poverty, and happiness. For income, we find large increases in income corresponding to retirement benefit increases, suggesting little crowd out. Consumption also shows increases, although smaller in magnitude than for income. We find larger retirement benefits diminish income poverty rates, but have no discernable impact on consumption poverty measures. This could indicate smoothing of consumption through savings or other mechanisms. Finally, our limited happiness measures show no definitive effect.

A hybrid memory kernel approach for condensed phase non-adiabatic dynamics

The spin-boson model is a simplified Hamiltonian often used to study non-adiabatic dynamics in large condensed phase systems, even though it has not been solved in a fully analytic fashion. Herein, we present an exact analytic expression for the dynamics of the spin-boson model in the infinitely slow bath limit and generalize it to approximate dynamics for faster baths. We achieve the latter by developing a hybrid approach that combines the exact slow-bath result with the popular NIBA method to generate a memory kernel that is formally exact to second order in the diabatic coupling but also contains higher-order contributions approximated from the second order term alone. This kernel has the same computational complexity as NIBA, but is found to yield dramatically superior dynamics in regimes where NIBA breaks down---such as systems with large diabatic coupling or energy bias. This indicates that this hybrid approach could be used to cheaply incorporate higher order effects into second order methods, and could potentially be generalized to develop alternate kernel resummation schemes