United Nations peacekeeping is an important instrument for maintaining international peace, but the mandates that peacekeeping operations are expected to implement are increasingly complex. This trend has consequences. We argue that certain member states are incentivized by the benefits of partaking in complex missions. These include ‘process’ benefits such as reimbursement payments, training, and reputation building. Specifically, non-democratic states are more likely to make greater contributions to missions with complex mandates than democratic states. In a global analysis of UN member peacekeeping contributions from 1990 to 2022, we show that as mandate complexity increases, non-democracies make larger contributions relative to democracies. While democracies do not shy away from supporting peacekeeping, they resist substantial contributions to the ambitiously mandated missions that they have often themselves promoted. These findings contribute to ongoing academic discussions about the challenge of recruiting sufficient resources to pursue peacekeeping while insisting on a liberal global order.

States often use reservations to modify their treaty obligations. Prior research demonstrates why states enter reservations and why states object to reservations, but little work explains why states withdraw them. We argue that states withdraw reservations in response to international social pressure. Using novel data on reservations and reservation withdrawals for the nine core international human rights treaties, our analyses reveal two factors that compel states to withdraw reservations: (1) pressure from peer states and (2) pressure from human rights treaty bodies conducting periodic reviews. While previous work emphasizes domestic factors, our research shows that the international community encourages states to withdraw reservations and strengthen their commitments to human rights and international law.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: A negative circumferential resection margin (CRM) after surgical resection of rectal cancer decreases local recurrence and increases overall survival. While MRI is used to predict this risk, there is no predictive model that incorporates clinical factors to predict the risk of CRM positivity. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Utilizing the National Cancer Database from 2010-2014, we performed a retrospective study evaluating factors predictive for positive CRM after surgical resection of rectal cancer. The primary outcome was positive CRM (tumor≤1 mm from the surgical margin). Our population included patients with clinical stage I-III rectal cancer who underwent total mesorectal excision. For the primary outcome, multivariable logistic models were used to estimate the probability of a positive CRM. Model performance was evaluated by using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Model calibration was assessed by examining the calibration plot. Bootstrapping method (300-iteration) was used to internally validate and estimate optimism-adjusted measures of discrimination and overall model fit. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: There were 28,790 patients included. 2,245 (7.8%) had positive CRM. Older age, race, larger tumor size, higher tumor grade, mucinous and signet tumor histology, APR, open operative approach, facility location, higher T stage, lymphovascular invasion, lack of neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiation, and perineural invasion were all significantly associated with positive CRM (p DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: An objective model that predicts positive CRM and associated poor clinical outcomes is possible to be used in conjunction with MRI. Positive CRM is associated with specific patient demographics, tumor characteristics, and operative approach. These factors can be used to predict CRM positivity in the preoperative period and plan accordingly.

Twin studies demonstrate significant environmental influences and a lack of genetic effects on disordered eating before puberty in girls. However, genetic factors could act indirectly through passive gene–environment correlations (rGE; correlations between parents’ genes and an environment shaped by those genes) that inflate environmental (but not genetic) estimates. The only study to explore passive rGE did not find significant effects, but the full range of parental phenotypes (e.g., internalizing symptoms) that could impact daughters’ disordered eating was not examined. We addressed this gap by exploring whether parents’ internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms) contribute to daughters’ eating pathology through passive rGE. Participants were female twin pairs (aged 8–14 years; M = 10.44) in pre-early puberty and their biological parents (n = 279 families) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Nuclear twin family models explored passive rGE for parents’ internalizing traits/symptoms and twins’ overall eating disorder symptoms. No evidence for passive rGE was found. Instead, environmental factors that create similarities between co-twins (but not with their parents) and unique environmental factors were important. In pre-early puberty, genetic factors do not influence daughters’ disordered eating, even indirectly through passive rGE. Future research should explore sibling-specific and unique environmental factors during this critical developmental period.

Objectives: Preterm children demonstrate deficits in executive functions including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility; however, their goal setting abilities (planning, organization, strategic reasoning) remain unclear. This study compared goal setting abilities between very preterm (VP: <30 weeks/<1250 grams) and term born controls during late childhood. Additionally, early risk factors (neonatal brain abnormalities, medical complications, and sex) were examined in relationship to goal setting outcomes within the VP group. Methods: Participants included 177 VP and 61 full-term born control children aged 13 years. Goal setting was assessed using several measures of planning, organization, and strategic reasoning. Parents also completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Regression models were performed to compare groups, with secondary analyses adjusting for potential confounders (sex and social risk), and excluding children with major neurosensory impairment and/or IQ<70. Within the VP group, regression models were performed to examine the relationship between brain abnormalities, medical complications, and sex, on goal setting scores. Results: The VP group demonstrated a clear pattern of impairment and inefficiency across goal setting measures, consistent with parental report, compared with their full-term born peers. Within the VP group, moderate/severe brain abnormalities on neonatal MRI predicted adverse goal setting outcomes at 13. Conclusions: Goal setting difficulties are a significant area of concern in VP children during late childhood. These difficulties are associated with neonatal brain abnormalities, and are likely to have functional consequences academically, socially and vocationally. (JINS, 2018, 24, 372–381)

Grandmothers serve as primary care-givers for a significant number of South African children. Previous research has documented that South African grandmothers experience physical, financial, emotional and social adversity. However, less attention has been given to South African grandmothers' resilience, or their capacity to respond to the challenges associated with raising their grandchildren. Utilising Walsh's (2003; 2012) family resilience model, this qualitative study examined resilience and resilient processes among 75 Black South African grandmothers raising grandchildren. Grandmothers participated in structured interviews during a weekly visit to a local luncheon (social) club. Results indicated that the grandmothers perceived themselves as engaging in a number of resilient processes, including relying on their spirituality, accessing sources of instrumental support, and seeking emotional support and companionship from their grandchildren and larger communities. Grandmothers also believed that focusing on their grandchildren contributed to their sense of resilience. This involved maintaining a sense of responsibility to their grandchildren, having hope for their grandchildren's futures and finding enjoyment in the grandmother–grandchild relationship. The findings reveal that, by engaging in various resilient processes, South African grandmothers raising grandchildren perceive themselves and their families as having strategies they can utilise in order to successfully cope with adversity. Findings also highlight the need for prevention and intervention efforts designed to promote grandmothers' resilience, as well as the resilience of their grandchildren.

While United Nations peacekeeping missions were created to keep peace and perform post-conflict activities, since the end of the Cold War peacekeepers are more often deployed to active conflicts. Yet, we know little about their ability to manage ongoing violence. This article provides the first broad empirical examination of UN peacekeeping effectiveness in reducing battlefield violence in civil wars. We analyze how the number of UN peacekeeping personnel deployed influences the amount of battlefield deaths in all civil wars in Africa from 1992 to 2011. The analyses show that increasing numbers of armed military troops are associated with reduced battlefield deaths, while police and observers are not. Considering that the UN is often criticized for ineffectiveness, these results have important implications: if appropriately composed, UN peacekeeping missions reduce violent conflict.

Background: Subjective memory complaints are a requirement in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as they are thought to indicate a decline in objective memory performance. However, recent research suggests that the relationship between subjective memory complaint and objective memory impairment is less clear. Thus, it is possible that many people without subjective memory complaints who develop Alzheimer's disease are precluded from a diagnosis of MCI.

Methods: The present study examined the relationship between subjective memory complaint assessed using the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) and objective memory impairment assessed using standard neuropsychological measures in cases of amnestic MCI (n = 48), non-amnestic MCI (n = 27), and unimpaired healthy participants (n = 64).

Results: Correlational and regression analyses indicated that subjective memory complaints displayed a poor relationship with objective memory performance. A subsequent discriminant function analysis indicated that subjective memory complaints failed to improve the diagnostic accuracy of MCI and resulted in increased rates of false negative and false positive diagnoses.

Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that a diagnostic criterion of subjective memory complaint reduces the accuracy of MCI diagnosis, resulting in an elevated rate of false positive and false negative diagnoses. The results of this study in conjunction with recent research indicate that a criterion of subjective memory complaint should be discarded from emerging diagnostic criteria for MCI.

The wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton, is a major insect pest in dryland wheat (Triticum L. spp.; Poaceae) fields in the northern Great Plains of the United States and in southern regions of the prairie provinces of Canada. Field infestations by this pest commonly show a distinct “edge effect”, with infestation levels highest at the field edge and declining inwards. In this study, we characterized the edge effect of C. cinctus infested wheat fields in Montana at four locations in two separate years. "Infestation level" refers to the average proportion of wheat stems infested with C. cinctus in samples collected in a given wheat field. The gradual decrease in C. cinctus infestation towards the centre of wheat fields is referred to as the “infestation slope”, and it was presented as a proportion of infestation level at field edges. We showed that (i) for most of the fields bordering grassland or fallow wheat, a simple exponential decline curve provided a significant fit to the infestation slope; (ii) the infestation slopes in different fields and in different directions within fields were similar and appeared to be independent of the overall infestation level; and (iii) the relationship between infestation level and the proportion of samples infested followed an asymptotic curve, which indicates a high level of dispersal of ovipositing C. cinctus females. The general perception has been that the edge effect of C. cinctus infestation is a result of ovipositing C. cinctus females being both weak flyers and short-lived, but our results do not fully corroborate this perception. Currently, the only reliable way to detect C. cinctus infestations is to dissect individual stems and look for developing instars. However, this type of sampling is extremely time consuming and labor intensive and therefore impractical for wheat growers. Increasing the understanding of the spatial patterns in C. cinctus infestations is a first step towards development of an optimal sampling plan for this important field pest. Thus, the results presented are relevant for researchers involved in sampling designs and integrated pest management procedures for field pests. We discuss behavioral and evolutionary factors that may contribute to the edge effect of C. cinctus infestations.

According to data from the 1997 NICHD Study of Child Care, center-based child care can have deleterious effects on children's social–emotional development. We hypothesized that training child care professionals to develop positive relationships with children in their care would improve the quality of center-based child care. Thirty-three professional caregiver–child pairs participated in the intervention group and 24 professional caregiver–child pairs were assigned to a care as usual comparison group. The intervention consisted of an informational and a practice component with an emotional availability (EA) coach. The infants and toddlers (ages 11 to 23 months) in the classrooms were enrolled in the project only if they spent at least 20 hr per week in center-based care. The measures included were (a) the EA Scales, (b) the Attachment Q-Sort, and (c) the Classroom Interaction Scale. The intervention group professional caregiver–child relationships showed improvements on the EA Scales, Attachment Q-Sort, and the Classroom Interaction Scale from pre- to posttest, compared to the comparison group, who showed some decrements over a comparable period of time.

This study used van Dijk’s critical-discourse approach to explore the current societal discourse on hope and to explore the hope of older terminally ill cancer patients, their significant others and primary nurse. Forty-three newspaper articles dealing with hope and cancer were collected and analyzed to explore how hope is socially constructed by print media. Individual face-to-face, qualitative, open-ended interviews were conducted with three triads, each consisting of an older palliative cancer patient, a significant other, and a primary nurse. The predominant discourse of hope and cancer in the newspaper articles was considered ageist, conveying the message that only one legitimate hope existed for persons with cancer: hope for a cure. The study findings suggested that this message caused confusion and distress for the patients, significant others, and their primary nurses because their own discourses of hope were focused on comfort, peace, and maintaining relationships at the end of life.

Scholars and policymakers argue that the bias of a third party affects its ability to resolve conflicts. In an investigation of international territorial claims, however, we find that the conflict management technique is much more important for ending disputes than a third party’s level of bias. Binding third-party mechanisms (arbitration and adjudication) more effectively end territorial claims than other conflict management techniques because they provide legality, increased reputation costs, and domestic political cover. The characteristics of the third party, on the other hand, have no effect on the success of a settlement attempt. Bias plays only an indirect role in conflict resolution, as territorial rivals generally turn to unbiased intermediaries to broker binding negotiations. We conclude that impartial third-party conflict management does not directly lead to successful negotiations. Rather, disputants favor unbiased third parties to broker the types of talks most likely to end international disputes.

Simplicity of construction and operation are advantages of iTMC (ionic transition metal complex) OLEDs compared with multi-layer OLED devices. Unfortunately, lifetimes do not compare favorably with the best multi-layer devices. We have previously shown for Ru(bpy)3(PF6)2 based iTMC OLEDs that electrical drive produces emission-quenching dimers of the active species. We report evidence here that a chemical process may also be implicated in degradation of devices based on Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)PF6 albeit by a very different mechanism. It appears that degradation of operating devices made with this Ir-based complex is related to current-induced heating of the organic layer, resulting in loss of the dtb-bpy ligand. (The dtb-bpy ligand is labile compared with the cyclometallated ppy ligands.) Morphological changes observed in electrically driven Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)PF6 OLEDs provide evidence of substantial heating during device operation. Evidence from UV-vis spectra in the presence of an electric field as well as MALDI-TOF mass spectra of the OLED materials before and after electrical drive add support for this model of the degradation process.

The processes underlying degradation of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are gradually becoming understood. In ruthenium-based ionic transition metal complex (iTMC) OLEDs, a dimeric species forms during device operation that quenches light emission [1]. Water has been implicated in this degradation process [2]. We report recent studies on degradation of OLEDs fabricated with Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)PF6 [ppy = 2-phenylpyridine, dtb-bpy = 4,4'-di-tert-butyl 2,2'-bipyridine [3]. We have found that applying a thicker-than-usual metal electrode results in shorter turn-on times and higher light emission, though little improvement in lifetime. It appears that the degradation of these devices occurs by a different mechanism from that of the ruthenium-based devices and may involve local heating leading to chemical decomposition of the organic material.

Observation of recurring but often transient dark-colored substances in both the Ru(bpy)3(PF6)2 and Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)PF6 systems, seen both in the solid state and in solution samples, may also be indicative of decomposition.