The ownership of indivisible inputs and the agglomeration of resources

Agglomeration factors and ownership of indivisible economic resource

Scientific Research in Missouri

Scientific research projects, resources, and prospects of future research - economic stud

The Configuration of Performance Appraisal: Investigating the Impact of Leadership and Personality Using a Within- and Between-Supervisory Group Analysis

The key to improvfrig performance appraisals in organizations may be the leadership exchange processes that occur between managers and subordinates. We suggest two ways in which this might unfold: (a) the direct relationships among leadership attention, tenure with supervisor, and actual performance appraisal rating and (b) the cqnfiguration of these three variables around the organization\u27s structure in which differences between supervisory groups are highlighted. Our findings suggest that all three variables are significantly related. For leadership attention and performance appraisal, an individual-level model best applies. A group model is implied for leaders~ip attention and tenure with supervisor, whereby entire supervisory groups that have longer tenure with their supervisor also receive, on average, higher amounts of leadership attention

Getting Tossed from the Ivory Tower: The Legal Implications of Evaluating Faculty Performance

This Article examines some of the legal issues that permeate the performance review process in higher education and offers some suggestions for improving faculty evaluations. As will be apparent, the courts have generally given institutions of higher education great latitude in devising and administering performance review programs. However, colleges and universities do not have carte blanche with their performance reviews and there are critical constraints on what institutions of higher education can do. These constraints are rooted in principles of fundamental fairness and due process, as well as constitutional and statutory requirements

Some topographical changes associated with silicone hydrogel contact lenses may be due to inverted lenses

Purpose: It is possible that many reports of topographical and refractive changes associated with silicone hydrogel contact lens wear are the result of inadvertent wearing of inverted lenses. We wished to investigate differences in subjective, topographic, and refractive impact of wearing inverted silicone hydrogel lenses in comparison to wearing lenses in the normal (non-inverted) configuration. Methods: Baseline uncorrected visual acuity and topographical maps were taken for 14 subjects, and a comfort survey was completed for each. The subjects were then fit with Focus Night & Day (Ciba Vision) silicone hydrogel contact lenses; one of the two lenses was inverted on each subject, as determined by a randomized, masked schedule. Lenses were removed after 12 hours that included overnight wear. Acuities, topographical maps and the comfort survey were then repeated. Results: Significant change was noted from baseline for both lens conditions for acuities (p\u3c0.01) and the topographical maps (p\u3c0.05). The comfort of the two lenses did not significantly differ. Although the topographical maps were often distinctly different in appearance for the two conditions, numerical differences were small. Conclusions: Subjects\u27 inability to distinguish inverted from non-inverted lens comfort supports the suggestion that silicone hydrogel lenses may in fact often be worn insideout. Topographic changes occur with the lenses whether inverted or not, although the appearance of the maps are noticeably different. A potential exists for corneal reshaping with silicone hydrogel lenses

“All Voices Matter”: Perspectives on Bridging the Campus-to-Community Gap

Project Sharing Opinions and Advice about Research in the Deep South (SOAR) aims to increase the involvement of community members to enhance the importance, relevance, and cultural appropriateness of disease research and interventions offered in the Deep South. SOAR recruits and trains community partners to include them in conversations about how best to identify and address mental and physical health disparities. Additionally, SOAR underscores the importance of addressing issues faced by ethnically diverse and underserved community members

A Report of an Adult Education Program in Modern Mathematics

The problem was to establish a method, or methods, of informing the people of the community about the aims and purposes of the modified mRthem:1tics program which was being used in the Puyallup Junior High School

Laser Ablation of Optically Thin Absorbing Liquid Layer Predeposited onto a Transparent Solid Substrate

Ablation of optically thin liquid 2-propanol layers of variable thickness on IR-transparent solid Si substrate by a nanosecond CO 2laser has been experimentally studied using time-resolved optical interferometric and microscopy techniques. Basic ablation parameters - threshold fluences for surface vaporization and explosive homogeneous boiling of the superheated liquid, ablation depths, vaporization (ablation) rates, and characteristic ablation times versus laser fluence - were measured as a function of alcohol layer thickness. The underlying ablation mechanisms, their thermodynamics, and microscopic details are discussed. c 2006 American Institute of Physic

Electromechanical Coupling between Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle: Implications for Infarct Repair

Skeletal myoblasts form grafts of mature muscle in injured hearts, and these grafts contract when exogenously stimulated. It is not known, however, whether cardiac muscle can form electromechanical junctions with skeletal muscle and induce its synchronous contraction. Here, we report that undifferentiated rat skeletal myoblasts expressed N-cadherin and connexin43, major adhesion and gap junction proteins of the intercalated disk, yet both proteins were markedly downregulated after differentiation into myo-tubes. Similarly, differentiated skeletal muscle grafts in injured hearts had no detectable N-cadherin or connexin43; hence, electromechanical coupling did not occur after in vivo grafting. In contrast, when neonatal or adult cardiomyocytes were cocultured with skeletal muscle, ∼10% of the skeletal myotubes contracted in synchrony with adjacent cardiomyocytes. Isoproterenol increased myotube contraction rates by 25% in coculture without affecting myotubes in monoculture, indicating the cardiomyocytes were the pacemakers. The gap junction inhibitor heptanol aborted myotube contractions but left spontaneous contractions of individual cardiomyocytes intact, suggesting myotubes were activated via gap junctions. Confocal microscopy revealed the expression of cadherin and connexin43 at junctions between myotubes and neonatal or adult cardiomyocytes in vitro. After microinjection, myotubes transferred dye to neonatal cardiomyocytes via gap junctions. Calcium imaging revealed synchronous calcium transients in cardiomyocytes and myotubes. Thus, cardiomyocytes can form electromechanical junctions with some skeletal myotubes in coculture and induce their synchronous contraction via gap junctions. Although the mechanism remains to be determined, if similar junctions could be induced in vivo, they might be sufficient to make skeletal muscle grafts beat synchronously with host myocardium