Feel the beat: using cross-modal rhythm to integrate perception of objects, others, and self

For a robot to be capable of development, it must be able to explore its environment and learn from its experiences. It must find (or create) opportunities to experience the unfamiliar in ways that reveal properties valid beyond the immediate context. In this paper, we develop a novel method for using the rhythm of everyday actions as a basis for identifying the characteristic appearance and sounds associated with objects, people, and the robot itself. Our approach is to identify and segment groups of signals in individual modalities (sight, hearing, and proprioception) based on their rhythmic variation, then to identify and bind causally-related groups of signals across different modalities. By including proprioception as a modality, this cross-modal binding method applies to the robot itself, and we report a series of experiments in which the robot learns about the characteristics of its own body

Validity and Reliability of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Working Alliance Self-Efficacy Scales

In this paper, the authors report on the development and initial psychometric evaluation of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Working Alliance Self-Efficacy Scales (LGB-WASES) with data collected from two studies and 534 counseling trainees. Exploratory factor analysis results yielded a 32-item scale with a three-factor model (a) Emotional Bond, (b) Establishing Tasks, and (c) Setting Goals. LGB-WASES scores were internally consistent and remained stable over a 3-week period. Construct validity evidence suggests the LGB-WASES scores were (a) positively related to general perceptions of counseling self-efficacy and multicultural counseling competency, (b) negatively related to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, and (d) unrelated to social desirability. Recommendations for future research are also discussed

‘In the name of capability’: a critical discursive evaluation of competency-based management development

This paper illustrates a number of ways in which competency or capability-based management development (CBMD) can work simultaneously both for and against the interests of organizational agents. It does so by demonstrating how CBMD might usefully be understood as both ideological and quasi-religiously faith-based. These features are shown to provide opportunities for resistance and micro-emancipation alongside those for repression and subordination. The study employs a combination of ‘middle range’ discourse analytical techniques. In the first instance, critical discourse analysis is applied to company documentation to distil the ideological stance of an international organization’s CBMD programme. Critical discursive psychology is then used to assess the ways in which employees’ evaluative accounts both support and resist such stance. The analysis builds upon previous insights from Foucauldian studies of CBMD by foregrounding processes of discursive agency. It also renders more visible and discussible the assumptions and dilemmas that CBMD might imply

Biochemical Characterization of Diamide Inhibitors with N-acetylglucosaminidases LytG from Bacillus subtilis

In recent years the frequency of antibiotic resistance has been on the rise creating a need for antibiotic development with specific and lethal targets. It has been recently reported that glycosyl trizole are a novel class of antibacterial agents (1). Further investigation on the antibacterial ability of glycosyl triazole inhibitors has shown that targets include exo-acting N-acetylglucosaminidases (GlcNAcase) LytG (Bacillus subtilis) and FlgJ (Salmonella enterica) of the GH73 family (2). The Glycoside Hydrolase Family 73 (GH73) is characterized by bacterial and viral glycoside hydrolase. This enzyme cleaves the β-1,4-glycosidic linkage between N-acetylglucosaminyl (NAG) and N-acetylmuramyl (NAM) of the carbohydrate backbone in bacterial peptidoglycan. Glycoside hydrolase can occur as an endo- or exo- process, depending on the region of the chain that is cleaved. Endo-acting refers to activity in the middle of the chain, whereas exo-acting refers to the ends (typically the non-reducing end) (3). Currently, there is no kinetic parameters that have been determined for any member of the GH73 family, however binding and kinetic characterization will be performed for select glycosyl triazole inhibitors and GH73 targets interactions. Further studies will involve crystallization and GlcNAcase activity assays to identify GH73 family members as the target of glycosyl triazole inhibitors. Through these studies the interaction between the non-competing inhibitor and the GH73 target will be characterized. Additionally, it will be demonstrated that these Ugi- derived compounds are competitive inhibitors of GH73 enzymes

Payments for Progress: A Hands-Off Approach to Foreign Aid

There are significant differences of opinion about the merits of additional aid in meeting the MDGs, including whether and how aid should be given in ‘fragile states’, whether additional aid on the scale envisioned can be effectively used even in well-managed economies, and whether the aid system, particularly in highly aid-dependent countries, undermines instead of strengthens local institutions. We discuss an approach to scaling up foreign aid that would explicitly be aimed at strengthening local capacity and institutions, including in fragile states. “Payments for progress” would link additional aid to clear evidence of progress already achieved on the ground. This approach would give flexibility and autonomy to local institutions, providing an opening for local institutional experimentation, while at the same time ensuring that aid pays only for real, measurable achievements. Donors would bind themselves as a group to pay a specific amount for clear evidence of progress against one or more agreed goals in low-income developing countries. Developing country governments would present an independently audited statement reporting their progress on the measures, and donors would pay the agreed amount. Payments would be determined as a function of the outcomes, and not linked to the implementation of any particular policies, any other intermediate outputs, or “tied” to purchases from particular suppliers or companies. Governments that found ways to provide services efficiently and so reduce the costs of providing them would benefit from a larger surplus. We discuss the issues such an approach raises—in setting the benchmarks against which progress is measured, in avoiding cheating, and in managing unintended negative consequences of an incentives-based approach. We conclude with a summary of the advantages for donors and recipients.foreign aid, MDGs, aid-dependent countries, local capacity, fragile states, tied aid

Selective Cytotoxicity of Rhodium Metalloinsertors in Mismatch Repair-Deficient Cells

Mismatches in DNA occur naturally during replication and as a result of endogenous DNA damaging agents, but the mismatch repair (MMR) pathway acts to correct mismatches before subsequent rounds of replication. Rhodium metalloinsertors bind to DNA mismatches with high affinity and specificity and represent a promising strategy to target mismatches in cells. Here we examine the biological fate of rhodium metalloinsertors bearing dipyridylamine ancillary ligands in cells deficient in MMR versus those that are MMR-proficient. These complexes are shown to exhibit accelerated cellular uptake which permits the observation of various cellular responses, including disruption of the cell cycle, monitored by flow cytometry assays, and induction of necrosis, monitored by dye exclusion and caspase inhibition assays, that occur preferentially in the MMR-deficient cell line. These cellular responses provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the selective activity of this novel class of targeted anticancer agents

“Texts From Hillary:” Political Meta-meming, Likeability, and Social Presence

In the age of viral social sharing, memes have become an increasingly important way for the public to engage in political debate and discussion. Through social media, politicians have an opportunity to participate in meme sharing with their followers, and to gain valuable likeability points with them by doing so. Hillary Clinton is one such politician, who created a meta-meme by participating in a viral meme about her, and was able to have some control over the narrative about her image as a result. The present research examined the uses of and responses to political meta-meming through analysis of both Hillary Clinton’s meta-memes and the reactions to them in the news media as shared on social media. This thesis used a theoretical foundation of social presence theory, which in recent years has come to be used in a social media setting and can predict likeability based on effective participation in social media norms. Analysis was conducted through the lens of the femininity/competency bind to center an understanding of Hillary Clinton’s image

Out of Practice: The Twenty-First-Century Legal Profession

Lawyering has changed dramatically in the past century, but scholarly and regulatory models have failed to keep pace. Because these models focus exclusively on the practice of law as defined by the profession, they ignore many types of work that today\u27s lawyers perform and many sources of ethical tension they encounter. To address these shortcomings, I examine significant twentieth- and twenty-first-century social dynamics that are fundamentally altering contemporary lawyers\u27 work by broadening and blurring the boundary between law and business. Within the resulting boundary zone, a growing number of lawyers occupy roles for which legal training is valuable but licensure is not required. I argue that the ambiguity surrounding these roles—regarding what constitutes legal practice, what roles lawyers play, and what professional obligations attach—creates opportunities for abuse by individual lawyers and for ethical arbitrage by sophisticated corporate clients. The proliferation of these roles gives rise to key ethical tensions, ignored by existing models of the profession, that threaten to extinguish the profession\u27s public-facing orientation in favor of its private interests. I conclude that we cannot effectively understand and regulate the twenty-firstcentury legal profession until we move beyond the rigid constraints of existing models and begin to study the full range of roles and work settings—both in and out of practice—that today\u27s lawyers occupy