Charles M. Breder, Jr.: Dry Tortugas, 1929

During the summer of 1929, Dr. Charles M. Breder, Jr., employed at that time by the New York Aquarium and American Museum of Natural History, visited the Carnegie Laboratory in the Dry Tortugas to study the development and habits of flying fishes and their allies. The diary of the trip was donated to the Mote Marine Laboratory Library by his family. Dr. Breder's meticulous handwritten account gives us the opportunity to see the simple yet great details of his observations and field experiments. His notes reveal the findings and thoughts of one of the world's greatest ichthyologists. The diary was transcribed as part of the Coastal Estuarine Data/Document Rescue and Archeology effort for South Florida. (PDF contains 75 pages

Unemployment alters the set-point for life satisfaction

According to set-point theories of subjective well-being, people react to events, but then return to initial levels of happiness and satisfaction over time. We test this idea by examining reaction and adaptation to unemployment in a 15-year longitudinal study. In accordance with set-point theory, individuals first reacted strongly to unemployment and then shifted back toward their former (or “baseline”) levels of life satisfaction. However, on average, individuals did not completely return to their former levels of life satisfaction, even after they became re-employed. The findings suggests that even a short period of unemployment can cause an alteration in a person’s long-term set-point. Within-person analyses showed, however, that there are considerable individual differences in reaction and adaptation to unemployment. Although there was substantial stability in life satisfaction over the years, unemployment did influence long-term levels, thus suggesting that in addition to personality, long-term subjective well-being can also be influenced by life circumstances

The effect of CEO risk appetite on firm volatility: an empirical analysis of financial firms

This paper examines the effect of CEO risk appetite on the return volatility of a sample of large, listed financial firms over the period 2000-2008. After controlling for firm specific characteristics, the results give strong evidence that the CEO risk appetite has an important effect on firm volatility. The biographical measures for CEO risk appetite are significant explanatory variables of all measures of firm volatility employed in this study. The effect of CEO age is significant and positive for all four volatility measures, while CEO education and current job tenure are negative and significant for all four measures. Executive experience with other firm boards has a negative and significant effect on total and idiosyncratic volatility. Interestingly, CEO wealth is complementary to the other biographical variables with a positive effect on all but the default volatility measure. Our results carry implications for shareholders, financial regulators, governments and managers

In the age of ‘liquid modernity’: self-initiated expatriates in Crete, their multi-generational families and the community

In this paper, we aim to broaden and deepen the current debate on expatriation in business and management discourse, and especially self-initiated expatriation. Following Bauman’s [Liquid Modernity (2000), Cambridge: Polity; Liquid Love, On the Frailty of Human Bonds (2003), Cambridge: Polity] critique of postmodern society and, employing an anthropological lens, we examine work-related expatriation as set within a wider life context. Whereas conventional expatriation research focus is on the workplace, the focus of this study is the wider community. We take a longitudinal approach demonstrating the essential fluid nature of expatriation in general, self-initiated expatriation in particular. We show the importance of multi-generational links as overall critical considerations in effecting decisions to move or stay; we also show how over time, changes in circumstances, career plans and demands of significant others, drive the expatriate agenda. We pay particular attention to nontraditional expatriates and issues of health and disability in the extended family. Finally, we document the importance of the wider family and of the community in the process of adjustment and in engendering a sense of belonging

Fibroblast migration and collagen deposition during dermal wound healing: mathematical modelling and clinical implications,

The extent to which collagen alignment occurs during dermal wound healing determines the severity of scar tissue formation. We have modelled this using a multiscale approach, in which extracellular materials, for example collagen and fibrin, are modelled as continua, while fibroblasts are considered as discrete units. Within this model framework, we have explored the effects that different parameters have on the alignment process, and we have used the model to investigate how manipulation of transforming growth factor-β levels can reduce scar tissue formation. We briefly review this body of work, then extend the modelling framework to investigate the role played by leucocyte signalling in wound repair. To this end, fibroblast migration and collagen deposition within both the wound region and healthy peripheral tissue are considered. Trajectories of individual fibroblasts are determined as they migrate towards the wound region under the combined influence of collagen/fibrin alignment and gradients in a paracrine chemoattractant produced by leucocytes. The effects of a number of different physiological and cellular parameters upon the collagen alignment and repair integrity are assessed. These parameters include fibroblast concentration, cellular speed, fibroblast sensitivity to chemoattractant concentration and chemoattractant diffusion coefficient. Our results show that chemoattractant gradients lead to increased collagen alignment at the interface between the wound and the healthy tissue. Results show that there is a trade-off between wound integrity and the degree of scarring. The former is found to be optimized under conditions of a large chemoattractant diffusion coefficient, while the latter can be minimized when repair takes place in the presence of a competitive inhibitor to chemoattractants

Convexity, magnification, and translation: the effect of managerial option-based compensation on corporate cash holdings

Using the distinctions among the convexity, magnification, and translation effects, we identify the pertinent parameters and examine empirically the relation between cash holdings and option-based managerial compensation. We show that changes in delta reduce the effects of magnification and convexity on managerial risk aversion. We also provide evidence that there is a negative relation between the option-based incentives delta and vega and cash holdings. These results are robust when incentives are extended to include all executive board members and when the sample is broken down according to different risk characteristics

Investigation of the dc-excited xenon laser final report, 24 mar. 1964 - 24 mar. 1965

Electron energy spectra in gas laser discharges and investigation of new discharge configuration

The role of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-like axis in inflammatory pilosebaceous disorders

Skin is the largest peripheral endocrine organ and functions as a hormone target and endocrine gland. A cutaneous hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-like axis enables the skin to respond to stress and regulates its steroidogenic activity. The pilosebaceous unit is a site for production and metabolism of a number of steroid hormones, including stress and sex hormones. This is an overview of the important role that the cutaneous HPA-like-axis plays in the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory pilosebaceous disorders, including acne, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, and hidradenitis suppurativa

Proposed parametric cooling of bilayer cuprate superconductors by terahertz excitation

We propose and analyze a scheme for parametrically cooling bilayer cuprates based on the selective driving of a $c$-axis vibrational mode. The scheme exploits the vibration as a transducer making the Josephson plasma frequencies time-dependent. We show how modulation at the difference frequency between the intra- and interbilayer plasmon substantially suppresses interbilayer phase fluctuations, responsible for switching $c$-axis transport from a superconducting to resistive state. Our calculations indicate that this may provide a viable mechanism for stabilizing non-equilibrium superconductivity even above $T_c$, provided a finite pair density survives between the bilayers out of equilibrium.Comment: 4 pages + 7 page supplementa