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Existing theories offer conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between career specialization and labor market outcomes. While some scholars argue it is better for workers to specialize and focus on one area, others argue it is advantageous for workers to diversify and compile experience across multiple work domains. We attempt to reconcile these competing perspectives by developing a theory highlighting the voluntary versus involuntary nature of worker–firm separations as a theoretical contingency that alters the relative advantages and disadvantages associated with specialized versus generalized careers. Our theory is rooted in the notion that the characteristics of involuntary worker–firm separations (i.e., job displacement) simultaneously amplify the disadvantages associated with specialized careers and the advantages associated with generalized careers, thereby giving displaced generalists a relative advantage over displaced specialists. We find support for our theory in the context of U.S. congressional staffing, using administrative employment records and a regression discontinuity identification strategy that exploits quasi-random staffer displacement resulting from narrowly decided congressional reelection bids. Our theoretical contingency is further supported in supplemental regressions where correlational evidence suggests that while specialists tend to be relatively penalized in the labor market after involuntary separations, specialists appear to be relatively privileged when separations are plausibly voluntary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Short tandem repeats (STRs) are repetitive DNA sequences and highly mutable in various human disorders. While the involvement of STRs in various genetic disorders has been extensively studied, their role in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains largely unexplored. In this study, we aimed to investigate genetic association of STR expansions with ASD using whole genome sequencing (WGS) and identify risk loci associated with ASD phenotypes. Methods: We analyzed WGS data of 634 ASD families and performed genome‐wide evaluation for 12,929 STR loci. We found rare STR expansions that exceeded normal repeat lengths in autism cases compared to unaffected controls. By integrating single cell RNA and ATAC sequencing datasets of human postmortem brains, we prioritized STR loci in genes specifically expressed in cortical development stages. A deep learning method was used to predict functionality of ASD‐associated STR loci. Results: In ASD cases, rare STR expansions predominantly occurred in early cortical layer‐specific genes involved in neurodevelopment, highlighting the cellular specificity of STR‐associated genes in ASD risk. Leveraging deep learning prediction models, we demonstrated that these STR expansions disrupted the regulatory activity of enhancers and promoters, suggesting a potential mechanism through which they contribute to ASD pathogenesis. We found that individuals with ASD‐associated STR expansions exhibited more severe ASD phenotypes and diminished adaptability compared to non‐carriers. Conclusion: Short tandem repeat expansions in cortical layer‐specific genes are associated with ASD and could potentially be a risk genetic factor for ASD. Our study is the first to show evidence of STR expansion associated with ASD in an under‐investigated population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revisits the portability of performance paradox—the common finding that external hires fail to replicate prior performance after switching firms—by examining how the nature of an employee's human capital and social capital resources relate to the ease with which external hires can be utilized in an organization's value creating activities. Drawing theoretically from the person–organization fit and social capital literatures, we theorize that the integration and utilization of external hires will correlate with two types of human capital resource fit: similarity and complementarity, and two dimensions of retained social capital resources: internal and external. Using data from the U.S. lobbying industry and novel empirical estimates of worker–firm fit, we provide descriptive evidence that employee utilization (performance) decreases post-mobility, consistent with the portability paradox. However, this relationship attenuates—in magnitude and duration—when there is human capital resource complementarity (but not similarity) between the employee and hiring firm or when the employee transfers social capital resources (internal or external). We also find some evidence that human capital and social capital function as substitutes, and post hoc analyses suggest the characteristics of human and social capital which facilitate the utilization of external hires also correlate with hiring firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to increased multiculturalism in the US and abroad, there is a need for increased understanding of the different ways in which parenting stress is related to child problems across cultures. In the present study, we investigated (a) differences in reported parenting stress and childhood problem behaviors across a Korean (n = 71) and US (n = 71) sample, as well as (b) differences in the ways in which parenting stress and childhood problems were related across Korean and US children based on mothers' reports. Results revealed that Korean mothers reported significantly higher parenting stress yet significantly lower childhood problem behaviors compared to US mothers. In addition, mother-based reports of child problems were significantly associated with parenting stress in the US sample, but not in the Korean sample. Clinical implications and culturally-relevant issues relevant to these findings are addressed, including a potential under-reporting bias of child problems among Asian parents.

The sink hole problem is a critical issue for data collection in wireless sensor networks. Recent research has indicated that the mobility of actuators in wireless sensor actuator networks (WSANs) alleviates the sink hole problem. However, mobile actuator-based data collection may result in unsatisfactory data gathering delay, which is not acceptable for delay-sensitive real time applications. Thus, planning the optimal path for mobile collector is a critical challenge in WSANs to balance between the prolongation of network lifetime and the reduction of the data gathering delay. To address this issue, we propose a mobile collector-based cost balancing algorithm to achieve uniform data gathering delay and energy consumption based on the adaptive region partitioning and dynamic polling point selection. The proposed algorithm uses multiple mobile collectors and partitions the sensing area into several regions that are monitored by the mobile collectors according to the distribution of cost in the area. It also dynamically determines moving trajectory of each mobile collector by selecting the polling points to visit considering the distance to travel and the nodes’ energy consumption. The superiority of the proposed algorithm is validated by theoretical analysis and simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]