Student Perceptions Of And Preferences For A Short Overseas Study Tour

Business programs and colleges of business have responded to calls from both AACSB and industry with many different methods of internationalizing business curricula.  One increasingly popular method of exposing business students to international issues is the short study tour.  This research investigates student perceptions of and preference for, different aspects of a short study tour.  Students at a medium-sized metropolitan university in the Midwest were asked to complete a survey.  Results suggest that for the students involved in this research, cost is the most important criteria, followed by the country or countries in which the tour will take place.  Students recognize the value of short study tours, and seem prepared to pay a reasonable price for the appropriate experience.  The paper concludes with a discussion of the value of study tours to developed versus emerging market countries

Importance of Full-Collapse Vesicle Exocytosis for Synaptic Fatigue-Resistance at Rat Fast and Slow Muscle Neuromuscular Junctions

We would like to thank Dr Robert Banks, Prof Arild Njå and Prof Bill Wisden and Dr Phil Sheard for their helpful comments and discussions during the preparation of this manuscript, as well as for the contributions made by undergraduate students Alison Cuthbert, Richard McWilliam and Karen Peters, who helped produce initial observations prompting this study. This work was supported by grants from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council of the UK (BBSRC-1/511921) and The Wellcome Trust (WT-057994/2/99/Z).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Decline in an Atlantic Puffin population : evaluation of magnitude and mechanisms

Funding: This study was funded annually by Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust (www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk) with contributions from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (jncc.defra.gov.uk). Funding was received from these two sources by Fair Isle Bird Observatory from 1986 to 2013. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust supplied guidance on study design, data collection, analyses, preparation of the manuscript and the decision to publish.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Postfledging Survival, Movements, and Dispersal of Ring Ouzels (Turdus torquatus)

We thank Invercauld Estate for cooperation with access to Glen Clunie. S. Redpath, J. Wilson, and S. Roos provided valuable comments on the manuscript. This study was funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority. J.L.L. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Use of the cell cycle progression (CCP) score for predicting systemic disease and response to radiation of biochemical recurrence

BACKGROUND: Determining the optimal treatment for biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP) is challenging. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the ability of CCP score (a prognostic RNA expression signature) to discriminate between systemic disease and local recurrence in patients with BCR after RP. METHODS: Sixty patients with BCR after RP were selected for analysis based on: 1) metastatic disease, 2) non-response to salvage external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), and 3) durable response to salvage EBRT. CCP scores were generated from the RNA expression of 46 genes. Logistic regression assessed the association between CCP score and patient group. RESULTS: Passing CCP scores were generated for 47 patients with complete clinical and pathologic data. CCP score predicted clinical status when comparing patients with metastatic disease or non-responders to salvage therapy to patients with durable response (p = 0.006). CCP score remained significantly predictive of clinical status after accounting for time to BCR, PSA level at BCR, and Gleason score (p = 0.0031). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated CCP score was associated with increased risk of systemic disease, indicating that CCP score may be useful in identifying patients with BCR who are most likely to benefit from salvage radiation therapy

Quantifying full phenological event distributions reveals simultaneous advances, temporal stability and delays in spring and autumn migration timing in long-distance migratory birds

Acknowledgements We thank all Fair Isle Bird Observatory staff and volunteers for help with data collection and acknowledge the foresight of George Waterston and Ken Williamson in instigating the observatory and census methodology. We thank all current and previous directors of Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust for their contributions, particularly Dave Okill and Mike Wood for their stalwart support for the long-term data collection and for the current analyses. Dawn Balmer and Ian Newton provided helpful guidance on manuscript drafts. We thank Ally Phillimore and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. This study would have been impossible without the Fair Isle community's invaluable support and patience over many decades, which is very gratefully acknowledged. WTSM and JMR designed and undertook analyses, wrote the paper and contributed to data collection and compilation, MB contributed to analysis and editing, all other authors oversaw and undertook data collection and compilation and contributed to editing.Peer reviewedPostprin

Hierarchical variation in phenotypic flexibility across timescales and associated survival selection shape the dynamics of partial seasonal migration

We thank everyone from UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and University of Aberdeen (UoA) who contributed to data collection, particularly Hannah Grist and Jenny Sturgeon; NatureScot for access to the Isle of May National Nature Reserve; Scottish Ornithologists' Club (SOC) for their support; and all volunteer observers, particularly Raymond Duncan and Moray Souter. This work was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC; award NE/R000859/1 and award NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCaPE programme delivering National Capability), Norwegian Research Council (SFF-III grant 223257), NTNU, UK Royal Society, Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS), SOC and UoA.Peer reviewedPostprin

Immune genotypes, immune responses, and survival in a wild bird population

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the Tsawout and Tseycum bands for allowing us to conduct research on Mandarte Island, and to the many contributors to long-term monitoring, especially L. Keller, P. Nietlisbach, and J. Krippel. We also thank C. Ritland, A. Miscampbell, and G. Huber for their assistance in the laboratory. All work was conducted under permit of the Canadian Wildlife Service and UBC Animal Care Committee. Funding Information: This study was generously supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada via a Post‐doctoral Fellowship award to MJNF (PDF‐2014–454522) and a Discovery Grant to EAMS.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The GALAH survey: Properties of the Galactic disc(s) in the solar neighbourhood

Using data from the GALAH pilot survey, we determine properties of the Galactic thin and thick discs near the solar neighbourhood. The data cover a small range of Galactocentric radius (7.9 RGC 9.5 kpc), but extend up to 4 kpc in height from the Galactic plane, and several kpc in the direction of Galactic anti-rotation (at longitude 260◦ ≤ ≤ 280◦). This allows us to reliably measure the vertical density and abundance profiles of the chemically and kinematically defined ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ discs of the Galaxy. The thin disc (low-α population) exhibits a steep negative vertical metallicity gradient, at d[M/H]/dz = −0.18 ± 0.01 dex kpc−1, which is broadly consistent with previous studies. In contrast, its vertical α-abundance profile is almost flat, with a gradient of d[α/M]/dz = 0.008 ± 0.002 dex kpc−1. The steep vertical metallicity gradient of the low-α population is in agreement with models where radial migration has a major role in the evolution of the thin disc. The thick disc (high-α population) has a weaker vertical metallicity gradient d[M/H]/dz = −0.058 ± 0.003 dex kpc−1. The αabundance of the thick disc is nearly constant with height, d[α/M]/dz = 0.007 ± 0.002 dex kpc−1. The negative gradient in metallicity and the small gradient in [α/M] indicate that the high-α population experienced a settling phase, but also formed prior to the onset of major Type Ia supernova enrichment. We explore the implications of the distinct α-enrichments and narrow [α/M] range of the sub-populations in the context of thick disc formation.LD and MA acknowledge funding from the Australian Government through ARC Laureate Fellowship FL110100012. LD, KCF, and RFGW acknowledge support from ARC grant DP160103747. LC gratefully acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (grants DP150100250, FT160100402). DMN was supported by the Allan C. and Dorothy H. Davis Fellowship. DS is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT1400147). TZ acknowledges financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P1-0188). Part of this research was supported by the Munich Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics (MIAPP) of the DFG cluster of excellence ‘Origin and Structure of the Universe’