Instructional Methods For Optimal Learning For An Aerospace Assembly Task: digital animation v pictogram-based instructions

Previous studies on work instruction delivery for complex assembly tasks have shown that the mode and delivery method for the instructions in an engineering context can influence both build time and product quality. The benefits of digital, animated instructional formats when compared to static pictures and text only formats have already been demonstrated. Although pictograms have found applications for relatively straight forward operations and activities, their applicability to relatively complex assembly tasks has yet to be demonstrated. This study compares animated instructions and pictograms for the assembly of an aircraft panel. Based around a series of build experiments, the work records build time as well as the number of media references to measure and compare build efficiency. The number of build errors and the time required to correct them is also recorded. The experiments included five participants completing five builds over five consecutive days for each media type. Results showed that on average the total build time was 13.1% lower for the group using animated instructions. The benefit of animated instructions on build time was most prominent in the first three builds, by build four this benefit had disappeared. There were a similar number of instructional references for the two groups over the five builds but the pictogram users required a lot more references during build 1. There were more errors among the group using pictograms requiring more time for corrections during the build.

Asset Liquidity and Stock Liquidity: International Evidence

This study examines the relationship between asset liquidity and stock liquidity across 47 countries. In support of the valuation uncertainty hypothesis, we find that firms with greater asset liquidity on average have higher stock liquidity. More importantly, our study shows that asset liquidity plays amore significant role in resolving valuation uncertainty in countries with poor information environment. For example, we find that the asset–stock liquidity relationship is stronger in countries with poor accounting standards. We further find evidence that after the adoption of IFRS, the improved accounting information environment results in a weaker asset–stock liquidity relation, but only in countries with a strong legal regime. Finally, our study shows that the positive asset–stock liquidity relationship may be attributed to transparency and/or liquidity reasons.

Parties, cleavages, and issue evolution: The case of the religious-secular cleavage in Chile

Several recent articles have reached different conclusions regarding the impact of the religious–secular cleavage in Chile. The resolution of this debate has important consequences for the understanding of cleavages. Studies subscribing to the view that parties have considerable agency in the maintenance of cleavages have found that religiosity no longer affects vote choice, while studies rooted in a sociological perspective argue that religiosity still matters. We show that the reason for the discrepant results is because a partisan realignment is underway, whereby religious voters are gradually shifting their loyalties from the parties of the left to the parties of the right, matching a division that has taken place at the elite level. These results are consistent with an issue evolution perspective, which provides a clearer articulation of how cleavages form than either the agency or the sociological approaches.

"...and they won land among the Picts by friendly treaty or the sword": How a re-examination of early historical sources and an analysis of early medieval settlement in north Co. Antrim confirms the validity of traditional accounts of Dál Riatic migration to Scotland from Ulster

Much recent scholarship has been critical of the concept of a Dál Riatic migration to, or colonisation of, Argyll. Scepticism of the accuracy of the early medieval accounts of this population movement, arguing that these are late amendments to early sources, coupled with an apparent lack of archaeological evidence for such a migration have led to its rejection. It is argued here, however, that this rejection has been based on too narrow a reading of historical sources and that there are several early accounts which, while differing in detail, agree on one point of substance, that the origin of Scottish Dál Riata lies in Ireland. Also, the use of archaeological evidence to suggest no migration to Argyll by the Dál Riata is flawed, misunderstanding the nature of early migrations and how they might be archaeologically identified, and it's proposed that there is actually quite a lot of evidence for migration to Argyll by the Dál Riata, in the form of settlement and artefactural evidence, but that it is to be found in Ireland through the mechanism of counterstream migration, rather than in Scotland./>

Intermarriage in a Divided Society: Ireland a Century Ago

This paper explores the characteristics associated with marriages between Roman Catholics and members of other religious denominations in Ireland before the Great War. Using the entire digitized returns of the 1911 population census, we find that such marriages were relatively rare, occurring in less than one percent of total marriages. Some of this infrequency can be attributed to ethno-religious hostility-especially in the north of the country. However, we also show that the rarity of intermarriage reflects local marriage markets, as non-Roman Catholics living in communities with fewer coreligionists were more likely to intermarry. We examine the individual characteristics of partners in these marriages, looking at the religious denomination of their children, their decision to marry out, and their fertility behavior. Our findings illustrate how the frequency of intermarriage reflects historical levels of intolerance, but only after local marriage market conditions have been accounted for.

Defining the role of common variation in the genomic and biological architecture of adult human height

Using genome-wide data from 253,288 individuals, we identified 697 variants at genome-wide significance that together explained one-fifth of the heritability for adult height. By testing different numbers of variants in independent studies, we show that the most strongly associated 1/42,000, 1/43,700 and 1/49,500 SNPs explained 1/421%, 1/424% and 1/429% of phenotypic variance. Furthermore, all common variants together captured 60% of heritability. The 697 variants clustered in 423 loci were enriched for genes, pathways and tissue types known to be involved in growth and together implicated genes and pathways not highlighted in earlier efforts, such as signaling by fibroblast growth factors, WNT/I 2-catenin and chondroitin sulfate-related genes. We identified several genes and pathways not previously connected with human skeletal growth, including mTOR, osteoglycin and binding of hyaluronic acid. Our results indicate a genetic architecture for human height that is characterized by a very large but finite number (thousands) of causal variants.>

Hirschsprung's disease prevalence in Europe: A register based study

Background: Hirschsprung's disease is a congenital gut motility disorder, characterised by the absence of the enteric ganglion cells along the distal gut. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of Hirschsprung's disease, including additional congenital anomalies, total prevalence, trends, and association with maternal age. <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Methods:> Cases of Hirschsprung's disease delivered during 1980 to 2009 notified to 31 European Surveillance of Congenital Anomaly registers formed the population-based case-series. Prevalence rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated as the number of cases per 10,000 births. Multilevel Poisson regression was performed to investigate trends in prevalence, geographical variation and the association with maternal age. <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Results:> There were 1,322 cases of Hirschsprung's disease among 12,146,210 births. The total prevalence was 1.09 (95% confidence interval, 1.03–1.15) per 10,000 births and there was a small but significant increase in prevalence over time (relative risk = 1.01; 95% credible interval, 1.00–1.02; m style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">p</em> = 0.004). There was evidence of geographical heterogeneity in prevalence (<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">p</em> &lt; 0.001). Excluding 146 (11.0%) cases with chromosomal anomalies or genetic syndromes, there were 1,176 cases (prevalence = 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.91–1.03 per 10,000 births), of which 137 (11.6%) had major structural anomalies. There was no evidence of a significant increased risk of Hirschsprung's disease in cases born to women aged ≥35 years compared with those aged 25 to 29 (relative risk = 1.09; 95% credible interval, 0.91–1.31; m style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">p</em> = 0.355). <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Verdana, Helvetica, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Conclusion:> This large population-based study found evidence of a small increasing trend in Hirschsprung's disease and differences in prevalence by geographic location. There was also no evidence of an association with maternal age.p>

Geographical differences in first acquisition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis

RATIONALE: Risk of infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) may be associated with environmental factors.</p>

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether residential location is associated with risk of first acquisition of P. aeruginosa.</p>

METHODS: We performed bronchoalveolar lavage and upper airway cultures in children newly diagnosed with CF to identify infection with P. aeruginosa during infancy and early childhood. Children were assessed according to their residence in a regional or metropolitan area. Multilocus sequence typing was used to determine P. aeruginosa genotype. An environmental questionnaire was also administered.>>MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A total of 105 of 120 (87.5%) infants diagnosed with CF were included in this study. Diagnosis in 65 infants (61.9%) followed newborn screening at mean age of 4.6 weeks. Sixty subjects (57.1%) were homozygous ΔF508, and 47 (44.8%) were female. Fifty-five (52.3%) infants were regional, of whom 26 (47.3%), compared with 9 of 50 (18.0%) metropolitan children, acquired infection with P. aeruginosa (odds ratio, 4.084; 95% confidence interval, 1.55-11.30). Age at acquisition was similar (regional: median, 2.31 yr; range, 0.27-5.96 yr; metropolitan: median, 3.10 yr, range, 0.89-3.70 yr). Strain typing identified P. aeruginosa genotypes often encountered in different ecological settings and little evidence of cross-infection. Ninety questionnaires (85.7%) were completed. Those who acquired P. aeruginosa were more likely to be living in a household that used water sprinkler systems (P = 0.032), but no differences were identified to explain increased risk of acquisition of P. aeruginosa in regional children.</p>

CONCLUSIONS: Geographical difference in residence of children with CF was associated with increased risk of first acquisition of P. aeruginosa, usually with strains associated with the environment rather than with cross-infection.</p>

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P &lt; 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms.</p>