Power in the 21st century : China's soft power in Latin America and its global rise.

The People's Republic of China pursues soft power in the western hemisphere to support its national interest. Joseph Nye's concept of soft power lacks the necessary detail to be considered mature theory, focuses far too heavily on soft power resource supply, and fails to account for state utility of soft power. As a result, Nye is wrongfully dismissive of China's soft power presence and capabilities. As the case of Latin America demonstrates, China's "utility of scale" soft power approach enables China to exact favorable policy outcomes that serve the national interest by driving its continued economic growth. Chinese soft power in Latin America has peripheral strategic implications, but does not directly impede on the long held Monroe Doctrine; rather, it very deliberately respects it. China's soft power reinforces a key component of PRC grand strategy called "hemispheric hedging," which provides a conceptual construct for understanding comprehensive Chinese smart power

Contextual intelligence behaviors of female hospital managers in the United States

Healthcare is a dynamic and challenging work environment with high levels of ambiguity and volatility. Leadership behaviors and models are needed that present a new framework for leadership behaviors in this type of environment. Contextual intelligence (CI) has been suggested as a useful and viable solution to leading in turbulent environments. This investigation explored the frequency of CI behaviors of female healthcare managers from 13 different hospitals. 474 females healthcare managers’ demographic data, including Myers–Briggs Type Indicator confirmed personality preference, were administered the Contextual Intelligence Profile (CIP), which rates the frequency 12 CI behaviors are demonstrated (0 = never to 6 = always). Internal consistency of the CIP was α = .92 and Exploratory Factor Analysis organized the behaviors into three factors (Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight). Three CI behaviors are practiced with very high frequency. Female healthcare managers with a preference for Extroversion (E) demonstrated eight CI behaviors (67%) more often than their counterparts with a preference for Introversion (I); and those with a preference for Intuition (N) demonstrated seven CI behaviors (58%) more often than their counterparts with a preference for Sensing (S). Our findings indicate that female healthcare managers practice CI with some frequency; and certain personality preferences (E/N), education level, and minority status may contribute to greater practice frequency of CI behaviors. However, certain behaviors, primarily those from Insight, were practiced with much lower frequency. Therefore, leadership development programing might want to consider including CI behaviors to enhance overall CI for leaders and managers in turbulent environments

Retrospective Evaluation of High School Primary Physical Activities and Adulthood Physical Activity Need Satisfaction

Presumably, individuals are taught skills throughout their primary education that are required to live a healthy lifestyle throughout the lifespan. The primary purpose of this study was to assess adult psycho- logical need satisfaction in relation to high school participation. Participation included university employees and students of two mid-sized universities and members of a state health organization. Participants (n = 512) completed the Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise (PNSE) and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The current study found modest associations between measured motivation constructs on physical activity levels. Standardized coefficients report competence and autonomy had a significant effect on physical activity in predicting adult physical activity levels. Results of this study provide insight into the determinants underlying the development of physical activity tendencies in adults and suggest high school physical education and sport participation have an equal influence on adult physical activity levels

The vortex state in geologic materials: a micromagnetic perspective

A wide variety of Earth and planetary materials are very good recorders of paleomagnetic information. However, most magnetic grains in these materials are not in the stable single domain grain size range but are larger and in nonuniform vortex magnetization states. We provide a detailed account of vortex phenomena in geologic materials by simulating first‐order reversal curves (FORCs) via finite‐element micromagnetic modeling of magnetite nanoparticles with realistic morphologies. The particles have been reconstructed from focused ion beam nanotomography of magnetite‐bearing obsidian and accommodate single and multiple vortex structures. Single vortex (SV) grains have fingerprints with contributions to both the transient and transient‐free zones of FORC diagrams. A fundamental feature of the SV fingerprint is a central ridge, representing a distribution of negative saturation vortex annihilation fields. SV irreversible events at multiple field values along different FORC branches determine the asymmetry in the upper and lower lobes of generic bulk FORC diagrams of natural materials with grains predominantly in the vortex state. Multivortex (MV) FORC signatures are modeled here for the first time. MV grains contribute mostly to the transient‐free zone of a FORC diagram, averaging out to create a broad central peak. The intensity of the central peak is higher than that of the lobes, implying that MV particles are more abundant than SV particles in geologic materials with vortex state fingerprints. The abundance of MV particles, as well as their single domain‐like properties point to MV grains being the main natural remanent magnetization carriers in geologic materials

MRI radiomic features are independently associated with overall survival in soft tissue sarcoma

Purpose: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) represent a heterogeneous group of diseases, and selection of individualized treatments remains a challenge. The goal of this study was to determine whether radiomic features extracted from magnetic resonance (MR) images are independently associated with overall survival (OS) in STS. Methods and Materials: This study analyzed 2 independent cohorts of adult patients with stage II-III STS treated at center 1 (N = 165) and center 2 (N = 61). Thirty radiomic features were extracted from pretreatment T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MR images. Prognostic models for OS were derived on the center 1 cohort and validated on the center 2 cohort. Clinical-only (C), radiomics-only (R), and clinical and radiomics (C+R) penalized Cox models were constructed. Model performance was assessed using Harrell\u27s concordance index. Results: In the R model, tumor volume (hazard ratio [HR], 1.5) and 4 texture features (HR, 1.1-1.5) were selected. In the C+R model, both age (HR, 1.4) and grade (HR, 1.7) were selected along with 5 radiomic features. The adjusted c-indices of the 3 models ranged from 0.68 (C) to 0.74 (C+R) in the derivation cohort and 0.68 (R) to 0.78 (C+R) in the validation cohort. The radiomic features were independently associated with OS in the validation cohort after accounting for age and grade (HR, 2.4; Conclusions: This study found that radiomic features extracted from MR images are independently associated with OS when accounting for age and tumor grade. The overall predictive performance of 3-year OS using a model based on clinical and radiomic features was replicated in an independent cohort. Optimal models using clinical and radiomic features could improve personalized selection of therapy in patients with STS

An Examination of Estimated BMI and Perceived Wellness among Students at a Midsized Midwest University

Health is complex and the perception of individual wellness can be influenced by various factors. Students at a Midwestern university estimated their BMI, completed the Perceived Wellness Survey, and had their BMI calculated. Measured BMI was significantly higher than estimated [F(2,155) = 62.03, p = 0.001]. Associations existed between the measured constructs of psychological (r = -0.231; p = 0.004), spiritual (r = 0.248; p = 0.002), and estimated BMI. Data indicates that perceived body composition is related to wellness. False perception of body composition could lead to wellness deficiencies

Calcium Bistriflimide-Mediated Sulfur(VI)–Fluoride Exchange (SuFEx): Mechanistic Insights toward Instigating Catalysis

We report a mechanistic investigation of calcium bistriflimide-mediated sulfur(VI)–fluoride exchange (SuFEx) between sulfonyl fluorides and amines. We determine the likely pre-activation resting state─a calcium bistriflimide complex with ligated amines─thus allowing for corroborated calculation of the SuFEx activation barrier at ∼21 kcal/mol, compared to 21.5 ± 0.14 kcal/mol derived via kinetics experiments. Transition state analysis revealed: (1) a two-point calcium-substrate contact that activates the sulfur(VI) center and stabilizes the leaving fluoride and (2) a 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane additive that provides Brønsted-base activation of the nucleophilic amine. Stable Ca–F complexes upon sulfonamide formation are likely contributors to inhibited catalytic turnover, and a proof-of-principle redesign provided evidence that sulfonamide formation is feasible with 10 mol % calcium bistriflimide

Sensory neuron differentiation is regulated by Notch signaling in the trigeminal placode

AbstractTrigeminal sensory neurons develop from the neural crest and neurogenic placodes, and have been studied as a principal model of sensory neuron formation. While the Notch pathway has been extensively characterized in central nervous system development and other developmental processes, it has not been well characterized in sensory neurogenesis. Here we studied the functional role of Notch signaling in the trigeminal ophthalmic (opV) placode, a prime model of sensory neurogenesis. To establish a good spatiotemporal description of Notch pathway genes in the chick trigeminal placode, a stage-specific expression analysis was conducted, showing that expression of most Notch pathway genes and effectors are expressed in the placode, with expression primarily being confined to ectodermal cells. Expression was highest at stages of peak neuronal differentiation. To test the function of Notch signaling in opV placode cell differentiation, Notch receptor cleavage was blocked using the gamma-secretase inhibitor, DAPT, or signaling was activated by misexpression of the Notch intracellular domain (NICD). Notch activation resulted in a significant reduction in sensory neurogenesis. Cells remained in the ectoderm and did not differentiate. Expression of the opV specification marker Pax3 was also lost in targeted cells. DAPT exposure resulted in a dramatic increase in neurogenesis without increasing proliferation, where many differentiated cells were found in the mesenchyme and, surprisingly, within the ectoderm. This is the first result clearly showing prolific neuronal differentiation in the ectoderm of the trigeminal placodes after experimental manipulation of a molecular signaling pathway, thus identifying Notch signaling as a primary regulator of the sensory neuron fate in the opV placode