138 research outputs found

    Generalized Lévy walks and the role of chemokines in migration of effector CD8+ T cells.

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    Chemokines have a central role in regulating processes essential to the immune function of T cells, such as their migration within lymphoid tissues and targeting of pathogens in sites of inflammation. Here we track T cells using multi-photon microscopy to demonstrate that the chemokine CXCL10 enhances the ability of CD8+ T cells to control the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii in the brains of chronically infected mice. This chemokine boosts T-cell function in two different ways: it maintains the effector T-cell population in the brain and speeds up the average migration speed without changing the nature of the walk statistics. Notably, these statistics are not Brownian; rather, CD8+ T-cell motility in the brain is well described by a generalized Lévy walk. According to our model, this unexpected feature enables T cells to find rare targets with more than an order of magnitude more efficiency than Brownian random walkers. Thus, CD8+ T-cell behaviour is similar to Lévy strategies reported in organisms ranging from mussels to marine predators and monkeys, and CXCL10 aids T cells in shortening the average time taken to find rare targets

    Produção de forragem e grãos de variedades de feijão-miúdo em consórcio com milho.

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    Espécies leguminosas tropicais são melhoradoras de solos, pela capacidade de fixação biológica de nitrogênio e pelo residual de fertilidade que permitem aos cultivos subsequentes. O feijãomiúdo é uma espécie que tem se destacado na região Sul do Brasil devido à sua multiplicidade de uso. Seu cultivo vem se difundindo rapidamente, principalmente nas bacias leiteiras, mas informações sobre seu cultivo e potencial de uso são escassos. Um experimento foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar a produção de forragem e grãos de quatro variedades de feijão-miúdo em cultivo consorciado com milho. Foram determinadas a densidade real de plantas e as produções de massa verde e seca totais e de massa seca de lâminas foliares, colmos e de grãos (kg ha-1) de feijão-miúdo, na ocasião da colheita do milho. Não foram verificadas diferenças estatísticas nas variáveis analisadas, devido, provavelmente, aos altos coeficientes de variação obtidos. Contudo, verificam-se diferenças numéricas expressivas entre os tratamentos. As produções podem ser consideradas satisfatórias para o sistema e região de cultivo, mas outros estudos deverão ser realizados para que sejam possíveis conclusões mais pontuais sobre as características das variedades de feijão-miúdo e seu cultivo consorciado com milho. Mesmo sem respaldo estatístico, podem ser destacadas as produções de massa seca total, de lâminas foliares e de grãos obtidas pela variedade Amendoim

    A meta‐analysis of change in applicants' perceptions of fairness

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    Using an event‐triggered multi‐stage framework, this random‐effects meta‐analysis examined the changes in applicants' perceptions of fairness between consecutive stages and throughout the entire personnel selection process. We integrated findings of studies with at least two measurement points, resulting in 45 effect sizes (overall N = 3,038). Trajectories of perceptions of fairness decreased nonlinearly across the process, with a steeper decrease for people who held high levels of initial fairness expectations. Unjust treatment produced a decrease in perceptions of fairness from pretest to posttest and an increase from posttest to postdecision. Furthermore, the length of the time interval moderated the changes in fairness perceptions between the posttest and postdecision stage. Practical implications and an agenda for future research are discussed

    Applicant perspectives during selection

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    We provide a comprehensive but critical review of research on applicant reactions to selection procedures published since 2000 (n = 145), when the last major review article on applicant reactions appeared in the Journal of Management. We start by addressing the main criticisms levied against the field to determine whether applicant reactions matter to individuals and employers (“So what?”). This is followed by a consideration of “What’s new?” by conducting a comprehensive and detailed review of applicant reaction research centered upon four areas of growth: expansion of the theoretical lens, incorporation of new technology in the selection arena, internationalization of applicant reactions research, and emerging boundary conditions. Our final section focuses on “Where to next?” and offers an updated and integrated conceptual model of applicant reactions, four key challenges, and eight specific future research questions. Our conclusion is that the field demonstrates stronger research designs, with studies incorporating greater control, broader constructs, and multiple time points. There is also solid evidence that applicant reactions have significant and meaningful effects on attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. At the same time, we identify some remaining gaps in the literature and a number of critical questions that remain to be explored, particularly in light of technological and societal changes

    How authentic leadership influences team performance:the mediating role of team reflexivity

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    This study examines how authentic leadership influences team performance via the mediating mechanism of team reflexivity. Adopting a self-regulatory perspective, we propose that authentic leadership will predict the specific team regulatory process of reflexivity, which in turn will be associated with two outcomes of team performance; effectiveness and productivity. Using survey data from 53 teams in three organizations in the United Kingdom and Greece and controlling for collective trust, we found support for our stated hypotheses with the results indicating a significant fully mediated relationship. As predicted the self-regulatory behaviors inherent in the process of authentic leadership served to collectively shape team behavior, manifesting in the process of team reflexivity, which, in turn, positively predicted team performance. We conclude with a discussion of how this study extends theoretical understanding of authentic leadership in relation to teamwork and delineate several practical implications for leaders and organizations

    Moving Forward in Fostering Humour: Towards Training Lighter Forms of Humour in Multicultural Contexts

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    The following theoretical position paper has the aim to outline two important future directions of humour intervention research. Firstly, existing humour trainings have not differentiated explicitly between different uses of humour or humour that may be virtuous or not. Within the realm of Positive Psychology, all virtuous forms of humour need to be identified and interventions developed that aim at fostering these benevolent/lighter forms. Secondly, most humour trainings have been adapted and conducted in one cultural context. Future trainings should consider cross-cultural perspectives to allow for comparative research and practice. Thus, the current paper first gives an overview on the extant literature on the distinction between lighter and darker forms of humour, as well as showing how humour can serve the virtues proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004). Then, we elaborate on the findings on humour and well-being, as well as findings on existing humour interventions. The second section starts with open questions and hypotheses on how a new generation of trainings targeting lighter forms of humour could look like. Then, we discuss (potential) cultural differences in humour and how this may affect the design of interventions. When aiming for cross-cultural adaptations of the same humour program, several challenges have to be overcome, such as the term “humour” not having the same meaning in every culture, and cultural rules on what can be laughed at
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