Standing Up for Charity

When Who Really Cares was first released in late 2006 the political right greeted it as a bombshell exposing the widely-held, yet fraudulent, belief that liberals are more compassionate than conservatives. As Arthur C. Brooks states early on, “The data tell us that the conventional wisdom is dead wrong. In most ways, political conservatives are not personally less charitable than political liberals—they are more so.” Putting aside partisan politics, let’s find out what makes charity—personal voluntary sacrifice for the good of another person— tick

Storage of Sperm in the Reptilian Oviduct

Female reptiles have the ability to store sperm within their reproductive tracts for extended periods of time. Sites of sperm storage in lizards and snakes include both the anterior vagina and the infundibulum. Vaginal receptacles are found in between longitudinal folds (snakes) and in tubules formed by invaginations of the epithelium (lizards). Infundibular receptacles are alveolar or tubular in structure and are formed from invaginations into the lamina propria of the oviduct wall. In turtles, sperm are stored in the posterior portion of the tuba, in tubular albumen-secreting glands. Sperm may be embedded within the cells of the receptacles, but the membranes of each remain intact. The morphology of the receptacles is characteristic of the normal glands of the area

Sustainable Wealth Creation: Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory to the Improvement of Social Welfare

This chapter briefly reviews core ideas and research results in the existing instrumental stakeholder theory (IST) literature and then applies the IST concept to the simultaneous pursuit of two objectives—advancing social welfare, the presumed goal of morally legitimate social systems in general, and preserving the key elements of shareholder wealth enhancement—the traditional goal of the corporation. In so doing, we expand the range of ethical approaches to IST beyond deontological principles (e.g., treat stakeholders fairly; be trustworthy in dealing with stakeholders) present in extant versions of IST, to a consequentialist focus (i.e., a utilitarian concern for “the greatest good for the greatest number”). Our analysis leads to a suggestion for a modified corporate objective and lays out several research questions as a starting point for a new research agenda

Inference of single-cell phylogenies from lineage tracing data using Cassiopeia.

The pairing of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing with massively parallel single-cell readouts now enables large-scale lineage tracing. However, the rapid growth in complexity of data from these assays has outpaced our ability to accurately infer phylogenetic relationships. First, we introduce Cassiopeia-a suite of scalable maximum parsimony approaches for tree reconstruction. Second, we provide a simulation framework for evaluating algorithms and exploring lineage tracer design principles. Finally, we generate the most complex experimental lineage tracing dataset to date, 34,557 human cells continuously traced over 15 generations, and use it for benchmarking phylogenetic inference approaches. We show that Cassiopeia outperforms traditional methods by several metrics and under a wide variety of parameter regimes, and provide insight into the principles for the design of improved Cas9-enabled recorders. Together, these should broadly enable large-scale mammalian lineage tracing efforts. Cassiopeia and its benchmarking resources are publicly available at www.github.com/YosefLab/Cassiopeia

Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Makes Ethically Based Relationship Building Palatable to Managers Focused on the Bottom Line

We appreciate the opportunity to engage in this dialogue with Weitzner and Deutsch (2019) to clarify the meaning and intent of some of the arguments found in our article, “How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage” (Jones, Harrison, & Felps, 2018). We are grateful for the high praise from the authors regarding the rigor and logic of our applications of resource-based criteria to instrumental stakeholder theory (IST). We begin this response by highlighting a few areas of agreement, followed by some points where we disagree

How Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory Can Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Instrumental stakeholder theory considers the performance consequences for firms of highly ethical relationships with stakeholders, characterized by high levels of trust, cooperation, and information sharing. While research suggests performance benefits, an obvious question remains: If instrumental stakeholder theory-based stakeholder treatment is so valuable, why isn\u27t it the dominant mode of relating to stakeholders? We argue that the existing instrumental stakeholder theory literature has three shortcomings that limit its ability to explain variance in performance. (1) Little theory exists around how instrumental stakeholder theory-based stakeholder management could provide sustainable competitive advantage. (2) The literature has largely neglected the potential downsides (i.e., costs) associated with pursuing these sorts of stakeholder relationships. (3) There is a paucity of theory on the contexts in which the incremental benefits of instrumental stakeholder theory-based stakeholder relationships are most likely to exceed the costs. As our primary contribution, we develop a theoretical path from a communal sharing relational ethics strategy--characterized by an intention to rely on relational contracts, joint wealth creation, high levels of mutual trust and cooperation, and communal sharing of property--to a close relationship capability, which we argue is valuable, rare, and difficult to imitate and, thus, a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. We also consider the potential costs of achieving this capability and identify contexts in which the resulting relationships are likely to have the greatest net value

Open-Source Conceptual Sizing Models for the Hyperloop Passenger Pod

Hyperloop is a new mode of transportation proposed as an alternative to California's high speed rail project, with the intended benefits of higher performance at lower overall costs. It consists of a passenger pod traveling through a tube under a light vacuum and suspended on air bearings. The pod travels up to transonic speeds resulting in a 35 minute travel time between the intended route from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Of the two variants outlined, the smaller system includes a 1.1 meter tall passenger capsule traveling through a 2.2 meter tube at 700 miles per hour. The passenger pod features water-based heat exchangers as well as an on-board compression system that reduces the aerodynamic drag as it moves through the tube. Although the original proposal looks very promising, it assumes that tube and pod dimensions are independently sizable without fully acknowledging the constraints of the compressor system on the pod geometry. This work focuses on the aerodynamic and thermodynamic interactions between the two largest systems; the tube and the pod. Using open-source toolsets, a new sizing method is developed based on one-dimensional thermodynamic relationships that accounts for the strong interactions between these sub-systems. These additional considerations require a tube nearly twice the size originally considered and limit the maximum pod travel speed to about 620 miles per hour. Although the results indicate that Hyperloop will need to be larger and slightly slower than originally intended, the estimated travel time only increases by approximately five minutes, so the overall performance is not dramatically affected. In addition, the proposed on-board heat exchanger is not an ideal solution to achieve reasonable equilibrium air temperatures within the tube. Removal of this subsystem represents a potential reduction in weight, energy requirements and complexity of the pod. In light of these finding, the core concept still remains a compelling possibility, although additional engineering and economic analyses are markedly necessary before a more complete design can be developed

How Does High Impact Practice Predict Student Engagement? A Comparison of White and Minority Students

This High Impact Practices (HIPS) contribute to higherretention and graduation rates. HIPS are effective for racial and ethnic minorities in particular, who disproportionately experience high and persistent levels of post-secondary attrition. Little is known aboutthe mechanism by which HIPS promote retention. Based on a random survey of 268 undergraduate students, we conclude that HIPS correlate with engagement, defined as the alignment of student and institution (identifiedin the present study by behavioral and cognitive measures) and posit that this is the likely mechanism by which HIPS affect retention. Moreover, exposure to HIPS and the relationship between HIPS and engagement varies based on race/ethnicity. HIPS that have an effect on engagement across racial categories are service learning, undergraduate research, group assignments, learning communities, sequence courses, and, especially, having a close faculty mentor. In addition to these factors, diversity-related course content is especially effective for racial/ethnic minority engagement. Implications for educators and policy-makers are elucidated