Gender And Attitude Toward An International Career: A Survey Of Russian Nationals

This paper examines attitudes of Russian MBA students toward international careers and finds that gender is not an issue but that respondents with family constraints were less favorable toward an international career.  Respondents who are male, are single, or do not have children were slightly favorable toward international careers.  Women and respondents with spouses without a career were neutral toward international careers.  Respondents who are married, respondents with children, and respondents with a spouse with a career, were slightly unfavorable toward an international career.  The results of this survey indicate that Russian MBA students are, on average, only slightly favorable toward international careers.  These results contrast with an earlier study that found a stronger preference for international careers among Russian MBA students.  Current MBA students in Moscow have more career opportunities than before.  The results are based on the responses of twenty-nine Russian students in an AACSB accredited MBA program in Moscow who speak both Russian and English and work for an international company or agency

The bovine mammary gland expresses multiple functional isoforms of serotonin receptors

Recent studies in dairy cows have demonstrated that serotonergic ligands affect milk yield and composition. Correspondingly, serotonin (5-HT) has been demonstrated to be an important local regulator of lactational homeostasis and involution in mouse and human mammary cells. We determined the mRNA expression of bovine 5-HT receptor (HTR) subtypes in bovine mammary tissue (BMT) and used pharmacological agents to evaluate functional activities of 5-HT receptors. The mRNAs for five receptor isoforms (HTR1B, 2A, 2B, 4, and 7) were identified by conventional real-time (RT)-PCR, RT quantitative PCR, and in situ hybridization in BMT. In addition to luminal mammary epithelial cell expression, HTR4 was expressed in myoepithelium, and HTR1B, 2A, and 2B were expressed in small mammary blood vessels. Serotonin suppressed milk protein mRNA expression (α-lactalbumin and β-casein mRNA) in lactogen-treated primary bovine mammary epithelial cell (BMEC) cultures. To probe the functional activities of individual receptors, caspase-3 activity and expression of α-lactalbumin and β-casein were measured. Both SB22489 (1B antagonist) and ritanserin (2A antagonist) increased caspase-3 activity. Expression of α-lactalbumin and β-casein mRNA levels in BMEC were stimulated by low concentrations of SB224289, ritanserin, or pimozide. These results demonstrate that there are multiple 5-HT receptor isoforms in the bovine mammary gland, and point to profound differences between serotonergic systems of the bovine mammary gland and the human and mouse mammary glands. Whereas human and mouse mammary epithelial cells express predominately the protein for the 5-HT7 receptor, cow mammary epithelium expresses multiple receptors that have overlapping, but not identical, functional activities

Emerging roles of ATG7 in human health and disease

The cardinal stages of macroautophagy are driven by core autophagy-related (ATG) proteins, whose ablation largely abolishes intracellular turnover. Disrupting ATG genes is paradigmatic of studying autophagy deficiency, yet emerging data suggest that ATG proteins have extensive biological importance beyond autophagic elimination. An important example is ATG7, an essential autophagy effector enzyme that in concert with other ATG proteins, also regulates immunity, cell death and protein secretion, and independently regulates the cell cycle and apoptosis. Recently, a direct association between ATG7 dysfunction and disease was established in patients with biallelic ATG7 variants and childhood-onset neuropathology. Moreover, a prodigious body of evidence supports a role for ATG7 in protecting against complex disease states in model organisms, although how dysfunctional ATG7 contributes to manifestation of these diseases, including cancer, neurodegeneration and infection, in humans remains unclear. Here, we systematically review the biological functions of ATG7, discussing the impact of its impairment on signalling pathways and human pathology. Future studies illuminating the molecular relationship between ATG7 dysfunction and disease will expedite therapies for disorders involving ATG7 deficiency and/or impaired autophagy.Peer reviewe

Process Development: Methodology and Implementation Strategy

This white paper investigates methods to conduct effective and efficient process development within the context of the NSF funded construction of the Ocean Observatory Facility. The basis of this process development investigation was the CGSN Sensor Life Cycle project. During the course of this project the sensor life process was developed with CGSN project team members and sensor manufacturers. Initial process collaboration meetings were also conducted across the OOI organization with the Regional Scale Node (RSN) and CyberInfrastructure (CI) implementing organizations. The CGSN Sensor Life Cycle project provided valuable insights into collaborative process development. The input and feedback from CGSN, RSN, and CI captured during the collaborative process development are reflected throughout this white paper. Process development is defined as creating and implementing business processes--the steps and procedures that govern how resources are used to create products and services that meet the needs of particular customers.1 Process development is part of an extensive body of knowledge often referred to as business process management (BPM). Process development is not new; and there are many existing methodologies. 2-8 This white paper focuses on process development within the context of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) program. OOI process development faces the same challenges as any large organization: Complex cross functional processes, individual contribution vs. standardization, resistance to changing existing processes, organizational silos of activity, reliance on complex technology, remote locations and virtual teams, scarce project resources, and a diverse customer base. This white paper provides a practical guide and methodology that addresses these challenges. This “how to” guide for process development is comprised of three main components: 1) The Process Development Template, a series of steps for developing processes; 2) the Process Development Implementation Steps, a series of steps for managing process development within an organization; and 3) Step-by-step examples created during the Sensor Life Cycle project that illustrate process development deliverables. An integral part of process development is leveraging existing best practices. During the CGSN Sensor Life Cycle project, best practice organizations and individuals were identified, contacted, and engaged. The CGSN process project team continues to nurture these relationships, and collect and analyze information. The source documents have been placed in the Confluence project repository under CGSN Process Development (pending). The OOI Implementing Organizations (IOs) operations and maintenance strategies refer to a Telecom Operations Map (TOM).9-11 The TOM, a best practices publication developed by the TeleManagement Forum, is a reference framework for categorizing processes. This white paper discusses how the TOM, the Process Development Template (PDT), and the Process Development Implementation Steps (PDIS) complement each other. Together they provide a complete process development methodology. Process development may cross Implementing Organization (IO) boundaries or be contained within an IO. The scale of process development projects range from a simple process involving a few resources, to a complex process executed over many months. This practical process development methodology accommodates different levels of effort, efficiently and effectively utilizes project resources, and rapidly develops sustainable processes. This white paper may be seen as a “living training document” that can be applied, improved and updated as the OOI process development methodology continues to evolve. The organization of the white paper is as follows. Section 1 provides a general process development methodology overview, and demonstrates the complimentary aspects of the TOM, PDT and PDIS. Section 2 introduces the PDT and describes it in detail. Section 3 provides process development implementation steps that greatly increase the quality, speed, and collaborative nature of process development. Section 4 provides examples of PDT project deliverables, providing insights into understanding the application of the PDT.Keywords: Process, Process Development, Ocean Observatories Initiative, Process Methodology, OO

Studies of hydrothermal processes in Crater Lake, OR

As a result of the past three years of field studies and our interpretation of these and other data from the literature, we conclude that there are inputs of hydrothermal fluids into the bottom of Crater Lake. The dissolved materials associated with these thermally and chemically enriched fluids, coupled with the overall hydrologic balance, control the observed chemical composition of the lake. Because the hydrothermal input dominates the flux of most dissolved chemicals into Crater Lake, the hydrothermal process is highly significant. Furthermore, the geothermal inputs have a direct effect on the density structure of the deep lake, and therefore can profoundly affect the rate of heat transport and the redistribution of dissolved salts and nutrients within the body of the lake

Mixing processes in Crater Lake, Oregon

Subsurface hydrothermal activity dominates the heat and salt budgets of the deep water column in Crater Lake, Oregon. From a time series of conductivity-temperature-depth data and data from a thermistor chain mooring, we estimate that the net hydrothermal heat flow is ~1 W m⁻² and the corresponding salt flux is ~5 μg m⁻² s⁻¹. This paper discusses the observation of these fluxes and the mechanisms and time scales of mixing responsible for the redistribution of these properties through the water column. Free convection and wind mixing homogenize the upper 200 m of the lake twice annually. Deep-lake ventilation occurs during early winter and to some extent during late spring. However, since the deep lake does not reach atmospheric saturation with respect to dissolved oxygen at any time during the year, ventilation of the deep water appears to be incomplete. During periods of seasonal stratification, the active input of hydrothermally enriched fluids produces heterogeneities and instabilities in the density structure of the deep lake that may drive deep-lake mixing. As a result of these and other mixing processes, Crater Lake remains relatively well mixed, despite its great depth

The role of dust in supplying nitrogen and phosphorus to the Southeast Mediterranean

This study assesses the role of the atmospheric dry fallout as a source of new nitrogen and phosphorus to the surface Levantine seawater. Leaching experiments of inorganic nitrogen (LINO-3, LINH+4) and phosphorus (LIPO4), using SE Mediterranean surface seawater, were performed on 41 aerosol (hereafter dust) samples collected on Whatman 41 filters between April 1996 and January 1999 at Tel Shikmona, Israel and on four desert-event dust powder samples. A geometric mean of 2.8 and 3.2 mmol NO-3 and NH+4 per gram of dust was leached by seawater from normal (background) dry deposition captured by the filters. Significantly lower amounts of IN with lower NH+4:NO-3 ratios were leached from both the filters and the dust powder sampled during dust events (mean of 0.18 and 0.02 mmol NO-3 and NH+4 per gram of dust). Similarly, relatively lower values of LIPO4 were measured in desert type events, attributed to systematic decrease in IP solubility with increased rock/soil component. The calculated LINO-3 and LINH+4 fluxes were 34 and 20 mmol m-2 yr-1 from normal dry deposition, 2.5 higher than the wet IN deposition, and twice the riverine input (23 mmol m-2 yr-1, Guerzoni et al.). This high ratio is due to the semiarid climate in this basin. The estimated flux of total dry IP was 1 mmol P m-2 yr-1, approximately 3 times higher than the input of wet IP and somewhat lower than the estimated riverine input (1.4 mmol m-2 yr-1, Guerzoni et al. 1999). The similarity of atmospheric and burial fluxes of P in the Levantine basin reinforces the hypothesis that the atmosphere is the dominant source of P to the sediments in the deeper parts of the basin. It was estimated that the leachable fluxes of IP and IN (dry 1 wet) can support between ~15 or ~70% (1–4 g C m-2 yr-1) of the new production in the SE Mediterranean, effective mainly during dust events and stratification. This input may contribute significantly to the relatively high N: P ratios in Levantine deep water (~27)

Environmental control of living symbiotic and asymbiotic foraminifera of the California Current

Plankton tows from the northern California Current constrain biological and physical influences on living planktonic foraminifera. In this region, the dominant factors controlling the size and distribution of symbiotic and asymbiotic species are light and food. Food decreases offshore. Light, needed for symbiont photosynthesis, increases offshore as water turbidity lessens. Asymbiotic foraminifera (e.g., right-coiling Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, Globigerina quinqueloba, and Globigerina bulloides), which survive by grazing, dominate the coastal fauna. The most abundant of these species, right-coiling Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, did not change in size in response to increasing food. Species that benefit from symbiont photosynthesis (Orbulina universa, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinoides ruber, and Globigerinita glutinata) dominate the offshore fauna. Individuals of these species are rare and have smaller shells in turbid waters where light is limited. G. ruber, which is near its thermal tolerance limit of ≈14°C, is the only species to demonstrate a clear temperature response. Although temperature may control a foramimferal species distribution near the limits of its thermal tolerance, food and light appear to provide the primary control under more favorable thermal conditions. We infer that gradients in food and light can result in quantifiable sedimentary patterns related to oceanic productivity through changes in plankton biomass and turbidity.Copyright 1995 by the American Geophysical Union

Resistance Mutations to Zidovudine and Saquinavir in Patients Receiving Zidovudine plus Saquinavir or Zidovudine and Zalcitabine plus Saquinavir in AIDS Clinical Trials Group 229

The relationships among treatment regimens, plasma human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA levels, and resistance mutations to saquinavir (codons 48 and 90) and zidovudine (codon 215) were examined in a cohort of 144 patients from the AIDS Clinical Trials Group 229 study. After 24-40 weeks of therapy, no patients who had received the two-drug combination (zidovudine plus saquinavir) had only codon 48 mutations, 45.8% had only codon 90 mutations, and 8.3% had both codon 48 and 90 mutations. Mutations developed by patients who had received the three-drug combination (zidovudine and zalcitabine plus saquinavir) were codon 48 alone in 1.4%, codon 90 alone in 33.3%, and both codons 48 and 90 in 4.2%. The difference between the groups showed a trend toward reduced mutations with three versus two drugs but did not reach significance (p = .11, two-sided χ2). Higher baseline HIV RNA levels correlated with the development of protease mutations. Mutations at codon 215 were present in 82% of all patients at baseline and in 87% after therap

Intensive HST, RXTE and ASCA Monitoring of NGC 3516: Evidence Against Thermal Reprocessing

During 1998 April 13-16, NGC 3516 was monitored almost continuously with HST for 10.3 hr in the UV and 2.8 d in the optical, and simultaneous RXTE and ASCA monitoring covered the same period. The X-rays were strongly variable with the soft (0.5-2 keV) showing stronger variations (~65% peak-to-peak) than the hard (2-10 keV; ~50% peak-to-peak). The optical continuum showed much smaller but highly significant variations: a slow ~2.5% rise followed by a faster ~3.5% decline. The short UV observation did not show significant variability. The soft and hard X-ray light curves were strongly correlated with no significant lag. Likewise, the optical continuum bands (3590 and 5510 A) were also strongly correlated with no measurable lag above limits of <0.15 d. However no significant correlation or simple relationship could be found for the optical and X-ray light curves. These results appear difficult to reconcile with previous reports of correlations between X-ray and optical variations and of measurable lags within the optical band for some other Seyfert 1s. These results also present serious problems for "reprocessing" models in which the X-ray source heats a stratified accretion disk which then reemits in the optical/ultraviolet: the synchronous variations within the optical would suggest that the emitting region is <0.3 lt-d across, while the lack of correlation between X-ray and optical variations would indicate, in the context of this model, that any reprocessing region must be >1 lt-d in size. It may be possible to resolve this conflict by invoking anisotropic emission or special geometry, but the most natural explanation appears to be that the bulk of the optical luminosity is generated by some other mechanism than reprocessing.Comment: 23 pages including 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap