Exploring the utility of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale.

Background: State boredom–the experience of boredom in the moment – is related to a number of psychosocial issues. Until the recent creation of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS), research was constrained by the lack of a comprehensive, validated measure. However, the MSBS could benefit from further evaluation. Aim: To more thoroughly validate the MSBS. Methods: In two studies, participants were induced into a state of either boredom or non-boredom, and then completed the MSBS. Results: Discriminant analysis showed that the full MSBS was able to correctly classify 68.1% (Study 2) – 84.1% (Study 1) of participants into their experimental condition. Based on 14 further DA analysis, a subset of eight items (a potential short form) is proposed. Differential item functioning (Study 1) found only one item to which responding differed by gender. Discussion: Use of the MSBS, including the full scale versus the short form, is discussed. Which experiential components of boredom may be particularly important for classifying bored individuals, and the issue of variability across boredom manipulations, are also considered

Angiogenin protects motoneurons against hypoxic injury.

Cells can adapt to hypoxia through the activation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), which in turn regulates the expression of hypoxia-responsive genes. Defects in hypoxic signaling have been suggested to underlie the degeneration of motoneurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We have recently identified mutations in the hypoxia-responsive gene, angiogenin (ANG), in ALS patients, and have shown that ANG is constitutively expressed in motoneurons. Here, we show that HIF-1alpha is sufficient and required to activate ANG in cultured motoneurons exposed to hypoxia, although ANG expression does not change in a transgenic ALS mouse model or in sporadic ALS patients. Administration of recombinant ANG or expression of wild-type ANG protected motoneurons against hypoxic injury, whereas gene silencing of ang1 significantly increased hypoxia-induced cell death. The previously reported ALS-associated ANG mutations (Q12L, K17I, R31K, C39W, K40I, I46V) all showed a reduced neuroprotective activity against hypoxic injury. Our data show that ANG plays an important role in endogenous protective pathways of motoneurons exposed to hypoxia, and suggest that loss of function rather than loss of expression of ANG is associated with ALS

Relational and Contractual Governance for Innovation

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via the DOI in this recordWhile the early years of Information Technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) were mainly characterized by a quest for cost savings (Loh and Venkatraman 1992; Lacity and Hirschheim 1993) and a focus on core competences (Quinn and Hilmer 1994), evidence from 2000 onwards suggests that client firms have been seeking added value from outsourcing by accessing suppliers’ competences (e.g. Dyer and Nobeoka 2000; Quinn 2000; Whitley and Willcocks 2011). Mol (2005) argued that “firms are increasingly relying on partnering relationships with outside suppliers that can act as an effective substitute to the internal generation of knowledge and innovation”. Similarly, Linder et al. (2003) and Weeks and Feeny (2008) argued that client firms rely on external suppliers in the search for new ideas. Accepting that innovation is outsourced and offshored, Lewin et al. (2009) studied the determinants driving firms to offshore innovations only to conclude that firms have been entering a global race for talent in which solutions will be sought wherever skills are available. Such observations suggest that innovation may be considered as one of the possible outcomes of outsourcing engagements