189 research outputs found
Is the Learning Organization for Real? Examining the Impacts of the Dimensions of the Learning Organization on Organizational Performance
Despite the controversial nature of the learning organization concept, few empirical studies have examined the relationship between the learning organization concept and firm performance. An exploratory study was conducted using the DLOQ© along with objective measures of firm financial performance to assess this association. Findings suggest positive associations between the learning organization concept and firm performance
The Ideal Review Process Is a Three-Way Street
In response to the increasing difficulty of obtaining high quality peer reviews, our invited paper describes the concept of review avoidance and why this phenomenon occurs. In reaffirming the professional responsibilities and potential benefits of reviewing, we also emphasize the interdependent nature of the ideal peer review process. We suggest that the review process is a three-way street where the respective roles and responsibilities of authors, editors and editorial teams, and reviewers are inextricably linked. We present thematic illustrations of undesirable reviewer comments, and a brief synthesis of broad themes in the literature on high-quality reviewing. The synthesis is complemented by a master reviewer’s fine-grained perspective on crafting high quality reviews. A final Appendix presents additional sources that may be informative for prospective reviewers, submitting authors, and those mentors and colleagues who may wish to provide guidance and training to them
Automatic replenishment: the relationship between resource commitment and program performance
Some firms have adopted a new approach to order fulfillment, i.e., automatic inventory replenishment. With automatic replenishment programs (ARPs), sellers replenish or restock inventory based upon actual product usage and stock level information provided by buyers. This paper reports on a recent survey of logistics professionals regarding .ARP involvement. In addition to providing a profile of current usage, the research also examines the relationship between investment in automatic replenishment related resources and .ARP performance. Firms making a greater commitment to ARP (in terms of resource allocation) reported enhanced day-to-day operational performance and greater success in the overall performance of the trading relationship
Urology consultants versus large language models : potentials and hazards for medical advice in urology
Background Current interest surrounding large language models (LLMs) will lead to an increase in their use for medical advice. Although LLMs offer huge potential, they also pose potential misinformation hazards. Objective This study evaluates three LLMs answering urology-themed clinical case-based questions by comparing the quality of answers to those provided by urology consultants. Methods Forty-five case-based questions were answered by consultants and LLMs (ChatGPT 3.5, ChatGPT 4, Bard). Answers were blindly rated using a six-step Likert scale by four consultants in the categories: ‘medical adequacy’, ‘conciseness’, ‘coherence’ and ‘comprehensibility’. Possible misinformation hazards were identified; a modified Turing test was included, and the character count was matched. Results Higher ratings in every category were recorded for the consultants. LLMs' overall performance in language-focused categories (coherence and comprehensibility) was relatively high. Medical adequacy was significantly poorer compared with the consultants. Possible misinformation hazards were identified in 2.8% to 18.9% of answers generated by LLMs compared with <1% of consultant's answers. Poorer conciseness rates and a higher character count were provided by LLMs. Among individual LLMs, ChatGPT 4 performed best in medical accuracy (p < 0.0001) and coherence (p = 0.001), whereas Bard received the lowest scores. Generated responses were accurately associated with their source with 98% accuracy in LLMs and 99% with consultants. Conclusions The quality of consultant answers was superior to LLMs in all categories. High semantic scores for LLM answers were found; however, the lack of medical accuracy led to potential misinformation hazards from LLM ‘consultations’. Further investigations are necessary for new generations.Peer reviewe
Influences of organizational investments in social capital on service employee commitment and performance
a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Improving customers' service experiences by identifying ways to develop organizational cultures that better motivate and engage service employees is an important issue for service organizations and a top priority in services research. However, extant services research focuses far more on managing customer relationships than on the dynamics of effectively supporting and developing the service personnel who interact with customers. This study assesses the influence of an organizational human resource developmental initiative on service employees. The authors utilize social capital theory and the theory of reasoned action to propose and test a model that examines relationships between organizational investments in social capital and service employees' work-related attitudes, norms, and behaviors. Results from a field study of 407 customerfacing employees from multiple service organizations suggest that making organizational investments in social capital favorably influences service employees' commitment, job performance, and organizational citizenship behavior
MicroRNAs in Renal Cell Carcinoma: Diagnostic Implications of Serum miR-1233 Levels
BACKGROUND: MicroRNA expression is altered in cancer cells, and microRNAs could serve as diagnostic/prognostic biomarker for cancer patients. Our study was designed to analyze circulating serum microRNAs in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first explored microrna expression profiles in tissue and serum using taqman low density arrays in each six malignant and benign samples: Although 109 microRNAs were circulating at higher levels in cancer patients' serum, we identified only 36 microRNAs with up-regulation in RCC tissue and serum of RCC patients. Seven candidate microRNAs were selected for verification based on the finding of up-regulation in serum and tissue of RCC patients: miR-7-1*, miR-93, miR-106b*, miR-210, miR-320b, miR-1233 and miR-1290 levels in serum of healthy controls (n = 30) and RCC (n = 33) patients were determined using quantitative real-time PCR (TaqMan MicroRNA Assays). miR-1233 was increased in RCC patients, and thus validated in a multicentre cohort of 84 RCC patients and 93 healthy controls using quantitative real-time PCR (sensitivity 77.4%, specificity 37.6%, AUC 0.588). We also studied 13 samples of patients with angiomyolipoma or oncocytoma, whose serum miR-1233 levels were similar to RCC patients. Circulating microRNAs were not correlated with clinical-pathological parameters. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: MicroRNA levels are distinctly increased in cancer patients, although only a small subset of circulating microRNAs has a tumor-specific origin. We identify circulating miR-1233 as a potential biomarker for RCC patients. Larger-scaled studies are warranted to fully explore the role of circulating microRNAs in RCC
Xenobiotic CAR activators induce Dlk1-Dio3 locus non-coding RNA expression in mouse liver
Predicting the impact of human exposure to chemicals such as pharmaceuticals and
agrochemicals requires the development of reliable and predictive biomarkers
suitable for the detection of early events potentially leading to adverse outcomes. In
particular, drug-induced non-genotoxic carcinogenesis (NGC) during preclinical
development of novel therapeutics intended for chronic administration in humans is a
major challenge for drug safety.
We previously demonstrated Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) and WNT
signaling-dependent up-regulation of the pluripotency associated Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted
gene cluster non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the liver of mice treated with tumorpromoting
doses of phenobarbital (PB). Here, to explore the sensitivity and the
specificity of this candidate liver tumor promotion ncRNAs signature we compared
phenotypic, transcriptional and proteomic data from wild-type, CAR/PXR double
knock-out and CAR/PXR double humanized animals treated with tumor-promoting
doses of PB or chlordane, both well-established CAR activators. We further
investigated selected transcriptional profiles from mouse liver samples exposed to
seven NGC compounds working through different mode of actions, overall
suggesting CAR-activation specificity of the Dlk1-Dio3 long ncRNAs activation. We
propose that Dlk1-Dio3 long ncRNAs up-regulation is an early CAR-activation
dependent transcriptional signature during xenobiotic-induced mouse liver tumor
promotion. This signature may further contribute mode of action-based ‘weight of
evidence’ cancer risk assessment for xenobiotic-induced rodent liver tumors
The composition of the protosolar disk and the formation conditions for comets
Conditions in the protosolar nebula have left their mark in the composition
of cometary volatiles, thought to be some of the most pristine material in the
solar system. Cometary compositions represent the end point of processing that
began in the parent molecular cloud core and continued through the collapse of
that core to form the protosun and the solar nebula, and finally during the
evolution of the solar nebula itself as the cometary bodies were accreting.
Disentangling the effects of the various epochs on the final composition of a
comet is complicated. But comets are not the only source of information about
the solar nebula. Protostellar disks around young stars similar to the protosun
provide a way of investigating the evolution of disks similar to the solar
nebula while they are in the process of evolving to form their own solar
systems. In this way we can learn about the physical and chemical conditions
under which comets formed, and about the types of dynamical processing that
shaped the solar system we see today.
This paper summarizes some recent contributions to our understanding of both
cometary volatiles and the composition, structure and evolution of protostellar
disks.Comment: To appear in Space Science Reviews. The final publication is
available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0167-
One of the earliest refractory inclusions and its implications for solar system history
A ∼175 µm refractory inclusion, A-COR-01 from one of the least altered carbonaceous chondrites, ALHA 77307 (CO3.0), has been found to bear unique characteristics that indicate that it is one of the first solids to have formed at the very birth of the solar system while isotopic reservoirs were still evolving rapidly. Its core is composed mainly of hibonite and corundum, the two phases predicted to condense first from a gas of solar composition, and like many common types of Calcium-, Aluminium-rich Inclusions (CAIs) is surrounded by a rim of diopside. Core minerals in A-COR-01 are very 16O-rich (Δ17OCore = -32.5 ± 3.3 (2SD) ‰) while those in the rim display an O isotopic composition (Δ17ORim = -24.8 ± 0.5 (2SD) ‰) indistinguishable from that found in the vast majority of the least altered CAIs. These observations indicate that this CAI formed in a very 16O-rich reservoir and either recorded the subsequent evolution of this reservoir or the transit to another reservoir. The origin of A-COR-01in a primitive reservoir is consistent with the very low content of excess of radiogenic 26Mg in its core minerals corresponding to the inferred initial 26Al/27Al ratio ((26Al/27Al)0 = (1.67 ± 0.31) × 10-7), supporting a very early formation before injection and/or homogenisation of 26Al in the protoplanetary disk. Possible reservoir evolution and short-lived radionuclide (SLRs) injection scenarios are discussed and it is suggested that the observed isotope composition resulted from mixing of a previously un-observed early reservoir with the rest of the disk
Asymmetries in core-collapse supernovae from maps of radioactive 44Ti in CassiopeiaA
Asymmetry is required by most numerical simulations of stellar core-collapse explosions, but the form it takes differs significantly among models. The spatial distribution of radioactive 44Ti, synthesized in an exploding star near the boundary between material falling back onto the collapsing core and that ejected into the surrounding medium1, directly probes the explosion asymmetries. Cassiopeia A is a young2, nearby3, core-collapse4 remnant from which 44Ti emission has previously been detected5, 6, 7, 8 but not imaged. Asymmetries in the explosion have been indirectly inferred from a high ratio of observed 44Ti emission to estimated 56Ni emission9, from optical light echoes10, and from jet-like features seen in the X-ray11 and optical12 ejecta. Here we report spatial maps and spectral properties of the 44Ti in Cassiopeia A. This may explain the unexpected lack of correlation between the 44Ti and iron X-ray emission, the latter being visible only in shock-heated material. The observed spatial distribution rules out symmetric explosions even with a high level of convective mixing, as well as highly asymmetric bipolar explosions resulting from a fast-rotating progenitor. Instead, these observations provide strong evidence for the development of low-mode convective instabilities in core-collapse supernovae
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