The Impact of Task- and Team-Generic Teamwork Skills Training on Team Effectiveness

This study examined the effects of training team members in three task- and teamgeneric teamwork skills: planning and task coordination, collaborative problem solving, and communication. We first examined the degree to which task- and team-generic teamwork skills training impacted team performance on a task unrelated to the content of the training program.We then examined whether the effects of task- and team-generic teamwork skills training on team performance were due to the transfer of skills directly related to planning and task coordination, collaborative problem solving, and communication. Results from 65 four-person project teams indicated that task- and team-generic teamwork skills training led to significantly higher levels of team performance. Results also indicated that the effects of task- and teamgeneric teamwork skills training on team performance were mediated by planning and task coordination and collaborative problem solving behavior. Although communication was positively affected by the task- and team-generic teamwork skills training, it did not mediate the relationship between task- and team-generic teamwork skills training and team performance.Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research

Antibody Levels in Beef Calves (Birth through Weaning) Following \u3ci\u3eClostridium perfringens \u3c/i\u3eType C Toxoid and/or Antitoxin Administration

According to National Cattlemen\u27s Association data, there are approximately 35 million beef cows and 10 million dairy cows in the United States. Combining pre-calving, pre-weaning, yearling, breeding bulls and replacement heifer vaccination opportunities to utilize Clostridial immunization programs, it is estimated that well in excess of 100 million doses of various Clostridial containing products are used each year. Knowing which products stimulate satisfactory antibody levels and their duration of response is an essential part of making informed recommendations to producers for controlling disease. Presently, non-industry, controlled field studies assessing Clostridial products are not available. Specifically, Clostridium perfringens Type C is a common cause of neonatal calf diarrhea. Although histopathological diagnoses of this disease are made, these cases are frequently difficult to confirm. They are often referred to as sudden/unknown death in calves. From 18 veterinary diagnostic laboratories across the United States contributing to the USDA:APHIS:VS DxMONITOR (summer, 1992), 237 suspected cases of Clostridium perfringens Types C were tested during the period January 1, 1992 to March 31, 1992, but only 22 cases were confirmed. As such, Veterinary Clinicians must rely on gross necropsy results and frequently make recommendations with limited confirmatory information. Anecdotal information from several veterinary clinicians suggests that the incidence of these non-confirmed diagnoses diminished greatly with the use of Clostridium perfringens C&D products prophylactically. Various opinions abound as to whether the best response to controlling Clostridium perfringens Type C or sudden death in young beef calves is achieved with the use of toxoid, antitoxin, or both, and whether an acceptable response is achieved by administration at birth, two-weeks, or at two-months-of-age. Lack of definitive information regarding optimum protection afforded by the use of these products and their timing leads to possible ineffective use. This, therefore, results in increased cost of the production by both product purchase and labor, and possible increased tissue damage as observed by several Beef Quality Assurance Programs using 7-way Clostridial products

Antibody Levels in Beef Calves (Birth through Weaning) Following \u3ci\u3eClostridium perfringens \u3c/i\u3eType C Toxoid and/or Antitoxin Administration

According to National Cattlemen\u27s Association data, there are approximately 35 million beef cows and 10 million dairy cows in the United States. Combining pre-calving, pre-weaning, yearling, breeding bulls and replacement heifer vaccination opportunities to utilize Clostridial immunization programs, it is estimated that well in excess of 100 million doses of various Clostridial containing products are used each year. Knowing which products stimulate satisfactory antibody levels and their duration of response is an essential part of making informed recommendations to producers for controlling disease. Presently, non-industry, controlled field studies assessing Clostridial products are not available. Specifically, Clostridium perfringens Type C is a common cause of neonatal calf diarrhea. Although histopathological diagnoses of this disease are made, these cases are frequently difficult to confirm. They are often referred to as sudden/unknown death in calves. From 18 veterinary diagnostic laboratories across the United States contributing to the USDA:APHIS:VS DxMONITOR (summer, 1992), 237 suspected cases of Clostridium perfringens Types C were tested during the period January 1, 1992 to March 31, 1992, but only 22 cases were confirmed. As such, Veterinary Clinicians must rely on gross necropsy results and frequently make recommendations with limited confirmatory information. Anecdotal information from several veterinary clinicians suggests that the incidence of these non-confirmed diagnoses diminished greatly with the use of Clostridium perfringens C&D products prophylactically. Various opinions abound as to whether the best response to controlling Clostridium perfringens Type C or sudden death in young beef calves is achieved with the use of toxoid, antitoxin, or both, and whether an acceptable response is achieved by administration at birth, two-weeks, or at two-months-of-age. Lack of definitive information regarding optimum protection afforded by the use of these products and their timing leads to possible ineffective use. This, therefore, results in increased cost of the production by both product purchase and labor, and possible increased tissue damage as observed by several Beef Quality Assurance Programs using 7-way Clostridial products

Comparative genomics of Australian isolates of the wheat stem rust pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici reveals extensive polymorphism in candidate effector genes

The wheat stem rust fungus Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) is one of the most destructive pathogens of wheat. In this study, a draft genome was built for a founder Australian Pgt isolate of pathotype (pt.) 21-0 (collected in 1954) by next generation DNA sequencing. A combination of reference-based assembly using the genome of the previously sequenced American Pgt isolate CDL 75-36-700-3 (p7a) and de novo assembly were performed resulting in a 92 Mbp reference genome for Pgt isolate 21-0. Approximately 13 Mbp of de novo assembled sequence in this genome is not present in the p7a reference assembly. This novel sequence is not specific to 21-0 as it is also present in three other Pgt rust isolates of independent origin. The new reference genome was subsequently used to build a pan-genome based on five Australian Pgt isolates. Transcriptomes from germinated urediniospores and haustoria were separately assembled for pt. 21-0 and comparison of gene expression profiles showed differential expression in ∼10% of the genes each in germinated spores and haustoria. A total of 1,924 secreted proteins were predicted from the 21-0 transcriptome, of which 520 were classified as haustorial secreted proteins (HSPs). Comparison of 21-0 with two presumed clonal field derivatives of this lineage (collected in 1982 and 1984) that had evolved virulence on four additional resistance genes (Sr5, Sr11, Sr27, SrSatu) identified mutations in 25 HSP effector candidates. Some of these mutations could explain their novel virulence phenotypes.Authors wish to thank the Two Blades Foundation for financial support. Part of this work was supported through access to facilities managed by Bioplatforms Australia and funded by the Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Education Investment Fund Super Science Initiative

Fibroblast growth factors 1 and 2 in cerebrospinal fluid are associated with HIV disease, methamphetamine use, and neurocognitive functioning.

BackgroundHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and methamphetamine use commonly affect neurocognitive (NC) functioning. We evaluated the relationships between NC functioning and two fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) in volunteers who differed in HIV serostatus and methamphetamine dependence (MAD).MethodsA total of 100 volunteers were categorized into four groups based on HIV serostatus and MAD in the prior year. FGF-1 and FGF-2 were measured in cerebrospinal fluid by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays along with two reference biomarkers (monocyte chemotactic protein [MCP]-1 and neopterin). Comprehensive NC testing was summarized by global and domain impairment ratings.ResultsSixty-three volunteers were HIV+ and 59 had a history of MAD. FGF-1, FGF-2, and both reference biomarkers differed by HIV and MAD status. For example, FGF-1 levels were lower in subjects who had either HIV or MAD than in HIV- and MAD- controls (P=0.003). Multivariable regression identified that global NC impairment was associated with an interaction between FGF-1 and FGF-2 (model R(2)=0.09, P=0.01): higher FGF-2 levels were only associated with neurocognitive impairment among subjects who had lower FGF-1 levels. Including other covariates in the model (including antidepressant use) strengthened the model (model R(2)=0.18, P=0.004) but did not weaken the association with FGF-1 and FGF-2. Lower FGF-1 levels were associated with impairment in five of seven cognitive domains, more than FGF-2, MCP-1, or neopterin.ConclusionThese findings provide in vivo support that HIV and MAD alter expression of FGFs, which may contribute to the NC abnormalities associated with these conditions. These cross-sectional findings cannot establish causality and the therapeutic benefits of recombinant FGF-1 need to be investigated

Role strain, satisfaction and success: The case of the collegiate scholar

http://web.ku.edu/~starjrn

Classification of phase transitions and ensemble inequivalence, in systems with long range interactions

Systems with long range interactions in general are not additive, which can lead to an inequivalence of the microcanonical and canonical ensembles. The microcanonical ensemble may show richer behavior than the canonical one, including negative specific heats and other non-common behaviors. We propose a classification of microcanonical phase transitions, of their link to canonical ones, and of the possible situations of ensemble inequivalence. We discuss previously observed phase transitions and inequivalence in self-gravitating, two-dimensional fluid dynamics and non-neutral plasmas. We note a number of generic situations that have not yet been observed in such systems.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures. Accepted in Journal of Statistical Physics. Final versio

Ground-Truth Transcriptions of Real Music from Force-Aligned MIDI Syntheses

Many modern polyphonic music transcription algorithms are presented in a statistical pattern recognition framework. But without a large corpus of real-world music transcribed at the note level, these algorithms are unable to take advantage of supervised learning methods and also have difficulty reporting a quantitative metric of their performance, such as a Note Error Rate. We attempt to remedy this situation by taking advantage of publicly-available MIDI transcriptions. By force-aligning synthesized audio generated from a MIDI transcription with the raw audio of the song it represents we can correlate note events within the MIDI data with the precise time in the raw audio where that note is likely to be expressed. Having these alignments will support the creation of a polyphonic transcription system based on labeled segments of produced music. But because the MIDI transcriptions we find are of variable quality, an integral step in the process is automatically evaluating the integrity of the alignment before using the transcription as part of any training set of labeled examples. Comparing a library of 40 published songs to freely available MIDI files, we were able to align 31 (78%). We are building a collection of over 500 MIDI transcriptions matching songs in our commercial music collection, for a potential total of 35 hours of note-level transcriptions, or some 1.5 million note events

Supersymmetric Electroweak Parity Nonconservation in Top Quark Pair Production at the Fermilab Tevatron

We evaluate the supersymmetric (SUSY) electroweak corrections to the effect of parity nonconservation in $q {\bar q} \to t {\bar t}$ production at the Fermilab Tevatron predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric Model (MSSM). We find that the parity nonconserving asymmetry from the SUSY electroweak and SUSY Yukawa loop corrections predicted by the minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model and the MSSM models with scenarios motivated by current data is about one percent. It will be challenging to observe such a small asymmetry at the Tevatron with 10 fb^{-1} of luminosity. It could however be observable if both the top- and bottom-squarks are light and $\tan \beta$ is smaller than 1, though theses parameters are not favored by mSUGRA.Comment: revised version, some new numerical results adde

Supersymmetric minisuperspace with non-vanishing fermion number

The Lagrangean of $N=1$ supergravity is dimensionally reduced to one (time-like) dimension assuming spatial homogeneity of any Bianchi type within class A of the classification of Ellis and McCallum. The algebra of the supersymmetry generators, the Lorentz generators, the diffeomorphism generators and the Hamiltonian generator is determined and found to close. In contrast to earlier work, infinitely many physical states with non-vanishing even fermion number are found to exist in these models, indicating that minisuperspace models in supergravity may be just as useful as in pure gravity.Comment: 4 page