From the Tallest to (One of) the Fattest: The Enigmatic Fate of the American Population in the 20th Century

Within the course of the 20th century the American population went through a metamorphosis from being the tallest in the world, to being among the most overweight. The American height advantage over Western and Northern Europeans was between 3 and 9 cm in the middle of the 19th century. Americans were also underweight. However, today, the exact opposite is the case as the Dutch, Swedes, and Norwegians are the tallest, and the Danes, British and Germans – even the East-Germans - are also taller, towering over the Americans by as much as 3-7 cm. Americans also live shorter. The hypothesis is worth considering that this adverse development is related to the greater social inequality, an inferior health-care system, and fewer social safety nets in the United States than in Western and Northern Europe, in spite of higher per capita income. The West- and Northern European welfare states, with cradle to grave health and unemployment insurance currently provide a more propitious environment for the biological standard of living than its US counterpart

From the Tallest to (One of) the Fattest: The Enigmatic Fate of the American Population in the 20th Century

Within the course of the 20th century the American population went through a metamorphosis from being the tallest in the world, to being among the most overweight. The American height advantage over Western and Northern Europeans was between 3 and 9 cm in the middle of the 19th century. Americans were also underweight. However, today, the exact opposite is the case as the Dutch, Swedes, and Norwegians are the tallest, and the Danes, British and Germans – even the East-Germans - are also taller, towering over the Americans by as much as 3-7 cm. Americans also live shorter. The hypothesis is worth considering that this adverse development is related to the greater social inequality, an inferior health-care system, and fewer social safety nets in the United States than in Western and Northern Europe, in spite of higher per capita income. The West- and Northern European welfare states, with cradle to grave health and unemployment insurance currently provide a more propitious environment for the biological standard of living than its US counterpart.

From the Tallest to (One of) the Fattest: The Enigmatic Fate of the American Population in the 20th Century

Within the course of the 20th century the American population went through a metamorphosis from being the tallest in the world, to being among the most overweight. The American height advantage over Western and Northern Europeans was between 3 and 9 cm in the middle of the 19th century. Americans were also underweight. However, today, the exact opposite is the case as the Dutch, Swedes, and Norwegians are the tallest, and the Danes, British and Germans – even the East-Germans - are also taller, towering over the Americans by as much as 3-7 cm. Americans also live shorter. The hypothesis is worth considering that this adverse development is related to the greater social inequality, an inferior health-care system, and fewer social safety nets in the United States than in Western and Northern Europe, in spite of higher per capita income. The West- and Northern European welfare states, with cradle to grave health and unemployment insurance currently provide a more propitious environment for the biological standard of living than its US counterpart.Height; Biological Standard of Living; Welfare State; Anthropometry; Social inequality; Health

Estimating the Selection Gradient of a Function-valued Trait

Kirkpatrick and Heckman initiated the study of function-valued traits in 1989. How to estimate the selection gradient of a function-valued trait is a major question asked by evolutionary biologists. In this dissertation, we give an explicit expansion of the selection gradient and construct estimators based on two different samples: one consisting of independent organisms (the independent case), and the other consisting of independent families of equally related organisms (the dependent case). In the independent case we first construct and prove the joint consistency of sieve estimators of the mean and covariance functions of a Gaussian process, based on previous developments by Beder. From this we prove the consistency of the estimator of the selection gradient. This is supported by simulations. Using this estimator of the selection gradient, the estimated between-generation change in the mean phenotype is shown in simulations to be consistent. In the dependent case we are able to estimate both the phenotypic and the genetic covariance functions. Simulations indicate consistency of these estimators, but appear not to support the consistency of the estimator of the selection gradient, nor of the estimator of the between-generation change in the mean phenotype. A probable source of this problem is identified

Weitere gute Nachrichten aus den neuen Bundesländern

Wie schon im ifo Schelldienst 11/2001 berichtet, nähert sich die Körpergröße junger Männer (auf der Basis des Gesundheitsurveys 1998) in den neuen und alten Bundesländern schnell an. Prof. John Komlos Ph.D. und Marieluise Baur, Universität München, untermauern dies mit neuen Zahlen.Männer; Jugendliche; Maßeinheit; Deutschland; Körpergröße

Diffusional Interactions at Dual Disk Microelectrodes: Comparison of Experiment with Three-dimensional Random Walk Simulations

Three dimensional random walk simulations were used to model the diffusional interactions between coplanar dual disk microelectrodes. Working curves for the dependence of shielding factor, collection efficiency, and amplification factor on the size of the gap between the electrodes were developed. The simulations showed that when the gap size was ≥22 radii, the electrodes could be considered as independent and diffusionally isolated. Empirical equations for determining the gap size from simple shielding and generator-collector experiments were established. The simulation was used to model the collector electrode response for square waves of various frequencies applied to the generator electrode. Simulation results were in excellent agreement with the experimental results for several dual disk electrodes having various gap sizes

Do the ends justify the means: A role identity examination of pro-social rule breaking

Pro-social rule breaking, the volitional violation of explicit organizational rules in an attempt to increase organizational efficiency or to provide a greater service to a stakeholder such as a customer or coworker, has drawn the interest of several theorists in the development of conceptual models. However, scant empirical research exists examining either the reasons that employees are likely to engage in such behaviors or the resulting implications of their actions. As a component of the umbrella construct of positive or constructive deviance, an outgrowth of the positive organizational scholarship movement, pro-social rule breaking, like other prosocial behaviors, has traditionally been conceptualized as a collection of behaviors that are beneficial and should be fostered and encouraged. Yet results to date suggest that employees that engage in pro-social rule breaking are high in risk-taking propensity and low in conscientiousness, a personality profile that may be less than ideal in the eyes of practicing managers. Further, employees who deviate from the organization’s rules to help others also experience negative repercussions through lower performance evaluations as assessed by supervisors as well as coworkers. Therefore, there is much ambiguity surrounding the construct that I suggest is synonymous with organizational martyrdom such that, in seeking to help others, the employee’s career is negatively impacted. I seek to glean important understanding of pro-social rule breaking through a number of approaches. First, through the use of a pilot study, I attempt to replicate and extend earlier categorization efforts as well as develop a collection of narratives to serve as exemplars. Next, I offer a revised conceptualization of pro-social rule breaking such that it is suggested to be the behaviors of good employees in negative contexts who feel constrained by the rules of the organization. Guided by role identity theory, a new theoretical perspective for the literature, I develop an interactionist model that depicts the employees who engage in these behaviors in a more positive light as well as provides the first examination of any contextual antecedents. Central to the dispositional factors of the employees, I suggest that those with salient empowerment role identities are more likely to engage in pro-social rule breaking, behaviors that are congruent with their role identities, as well as provide a collection of more distal antecedents. Additionally, I further suggest that employees who perceive their organization to be highly political, as impacted by the hypothesized causes for these perceptions, will also be more likely to engage in pro-social rule breaking. Finally, I also consider the first boundary condition by assessing how relational factors, as measured by leaders’ behaviors, impact employees’ engagement in pro-social rule breaking before developing a hypothesis for a three-way interaction between the individual, relational and organizational factors and their effect on the enactment of such constructively deviant behaviors. A largely unexplored but critical aspect of pro-social rule breaking requires attention to the implications or outcomes of these behaviors. While the construct was conceptualized to focus on the intentionality behind the behaviors as independent of the outcomes, intentionality is difficult to assess by observers and, as such, responses to the behaviors and the subsequent outcomes may be driven by the behaviors themselves. I seek to advance this understanding by developing a multi-stakeholder perspective of the outcomes of such behaviors. In doing so, I examinee how the reactions from various stakeholders can provide feedback which either confirms or disconfirms the employee’s role identity. Further, I consider whether the same behavior may be perceived differently by various stakeholders such that the categorization as either destructive of constructive deviance may be in the eye of the beholder. I also create a series of hypotheses regarding these perceptions and their implications on future behaviors as well as key organizational attitudes. Through a multi-wave, multi-source field study of 270 employees, I test the hypothesized relationships. Support is found for the majority of the hypotheses which suggest that my adapted conceptualization of the focal construct warrants additional consideration such that pro-social rule breaking may be an outcry by employees who desire empowerment and want to make a meaningful impact but feel restricted by organizational rules within an organization that is perceived to be highly political and under the supervision of a leader who does not support creativity. Additionally, I find support for several important implications of pro-social rule breaking and their subsequent responses from multiple stakeholders. While customers and coworkers generally look favorably on an employee engaging in such behaviors, the organization has the opposite response and these responses guide future behaviors. However, regardless of the direction or source of feedback, having to break rules in order to be more efficient or provide a greater service is likely to lead to perceptions of psychological contract violations and, in turn, low satisfaction and perceptions of fit within the organization. Finally, through the inclusion of a post-hoc exploratory set of analyses I find that other-rated measures may be an acceptable solution in seeking to reduce common method bias in deviance research and that observers are able to distinguish between various forms of prosocial behaviors although biases may still exist in such responses. I then conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for researchers and practitioners as well as how the limitations of the current study provide directions for future research

An Accessible Seeded Field for Humanitarian Mine Action Research

The detection of buried and surface explosive remnants of war (ERW) is a critical task in the land release process.[1] The goal of this project is to create a long-term study site and benchmark to accelerate humanitarian mine action (HMA) research for the detection of buried ERW, including unexploded ordnance (UXO), landmines, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). A crucial step in transitioning experimental detection techniques from the lab to the field is conducting rigorous field testing in a realistic and safe environment.[2],[3],[4] With most academic institutions lacking access to stockpiles of inert ERW to conduct testing and prioritizing scientific publications over real-world field applicability, this step is too often neglected. The result is that most HMA studies lack sufficient benchmarking among detection variables such as depth of burial, size and diversity of ERW, and environmental context, making it nearly impossible to objectively compare the effectiveness of different instruments and sensors. Consequently, the humanitarian demining community is less willing to accept novel methods and instead relies largely on traditional approaches. To address this issue, the Demining Research Community, (a US-based non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the field of HMA though bridging academic research in accordance with demining organizations), in partnership with the Global Consortium for Explosive Hazard Mitigation at Oklahoma State University (OSU), have seeded a comprehensive field with 143 diverse items including landmines, submunitions, UXO, and IEDs located at OSU’s Center for Fire and Explosives, Forensic Investigation, Training and Research (CENFEX) range in Pawnee, Oklahoma

Study of Trilinear Gauge Boson Couplings at the Tevatron Collider

We review studies of the trilinear gauge boson couplings at the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider from data collected by the CDF and D0 collaborations during the period 1992--1996. The gauge boson couplings are a fundamental prediction of the standard model, resulting from the non-Abelian nature of the theory. Therefore, experimental tests of the couplings are of foremost importance. We introduce the experimental results by reviewing the effective Lagrangian formalism, the indirect constraints on the couplings from low-energy experiments, and the expected values of the couplings in theories beyond the standard model. Finally, we consider the prospects for future measurements.Comment: 81 pages, including 18 figures. Paper to be published in Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Scienc