On the Prevalence of Linear versus Nonlinear Thinking in Undergraduate Business Education: A Lot of Rhetoric, Not Enough Evidence

The purpose of this research is to examine the undergraduate learning goals of business programs and determine if these goals are skewed in the directions posed by critics of undergraduate business education. The underlying theme of many critiques is that nonlinear-thinking processes are underrepresented in undergraduate business curricula, whereas linear-thinking processes are overrepresented. The learning goals of 208 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International-accredited business programs were coded into two goal categories: linear thinking and nonlinear thinking. The results support the contention that nonlinear-thinking processes have a lesser presence in the typical undergraduate business program’s curriculum. These findings are consistent across research and teaching universities

Sphingosine-1-Phosphate: Its Pharmacological Regulation and the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis: A Review Article.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), via its G-protein-coupled receptors, is a signaling molecule with important regulatory properties on numerous, widely varied cell types. Five S1P receptors (S1PR1-5) have been identified, each with effects determined by their unique G-protein-driven downstream pathways. The discovery that lymphocyte egress from peripheral lymphoid organs is promoted by S1P via S1PR-1 stimulation led to the development of pharmacological agents which are S1PR antagonists. These agents promote lymphocyte sequestration and reduce lymphocyte-driven inflammatory damage of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal models, encouraging their examination of efficacy in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Preclinical research has also demonstrated direct protective effects of S1PR antagonists within the CNS, by modulation of S1PRs, particularly S1PR-1 and S1PR-5, and possibly S1PR-2, independent of effects upon lymphocytes. Three of these agents, fingolimod, siponimod and ozanimod have been approved, and ponesimod has been submitted for regulatory approval. In patients with MS, these agents reduce relapse risk, sustained disability progression, magnetic resonance imaging markers of disease activity, and whole brain and/or cortical and deep gray matter atrophy. Future opportunities in the development of more selective and intracellular S1PR-driven downstream pathway modulators may expand the breadth of agents to treat MS

DOMINO++: Domain-aware Loss Regularization for Deep Learning Generalizability

Out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization poses a serious challenge for modern deep learning (DL). OOD data consists of test data that is significantly different from the model's training data. DL models that perform well on in-domain test data could struggle on OOD data. Overcoming this discrepancy is essential to the reliable deployment of DL. Proper model calibration decreases the number of spurious connections that are made between model features and class outputs. Hence, calibrated DL can improve OOD generalization by only learning features that are truly indicative of the respective classes. Previous work proposed domain-aware model calibration (DOMINO) to improve DL calibration, but it lacks designs for model generalizability to OOD data. In this work, we propose DOMINO++, a dual-guidance and dynamic domain-aware loss regularization focused on OOD generalizability. DOMINO++ integrates expert-guided and data-guided knowledge in its regularization. Unlike DOMINO which imposed a fixed scaling and regularization rate, DOMINO++ designs a dynamic scaling factor and an adaptive regularization rate. Comprehensive evaluations compare DOMINO++ with DOMINO and the baseline model for head tissue segmentation from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) on OOD data. The OOD data consists of synthetic noisy and rotated datasets, as well as real data using a different MRI scanner from a separate site. DOMINO++'s superior performance demonstrates its potential to improve the trustworthy deployment of DL on real clinical data.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables, Accepted by the International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) 202

SN 2021csp -- the explosion of a stripped envelope star within a H and He-poor circumstellar medium

We present observations of SN 2021csp, a unique supernova (SN) which displays evidence for interaction with H- and He- poor circumstellar material (CSM) at early times. Using high-cadence spectroscopy taken over the first week after explosion, we show that the spectra of SN 2021csp are dominated by C III lines with a velocity of 1800 km s$^{-1}$. We associate this emission with CSM lost by the progenitor prior to explosion. Subsequently, the SN displays narrow He lines before metamorphosing into a broad-lined Type Ic SN. We model the bolometric light curve of SN 2021csp, and show that it is consistent with the energetic ($4\times10^{51}$ erg) explosion of a stripped star, producing 0.4 M$_\odot$ of 56Ni within a $\sim$1 M$_\odot$ shell of CSM extending out to 400 R$_\odot$...

Lick Observatory Supernova Search Follow-Up Program: Photometry Data Release of 93 Type Ia Supernovae

We present BVRI and unfiltered light curves of 93 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS) follow-up program conducted between 2005 and 2018. Our sample consists of 78 spectroscopically normal SNe Ia, with the remainder divided between distinct subclasses (three SN 1991bg-like, three SN 1991T-like, four SNe Iax, two peculiar, and three super-Chandrasekhar events), and has a median redshift of 0.0192. The SNe in our sample have a median coverage of 16 photometric epochs at a cadence of 5.4 days, and the median first observed epoch is ~4.6 days before maximum B-band light. We describe how the SNe in our sample are discovered, observed, and processed, and we compare the results from our newly developed automated photometry pipeline to those from the previous processing pipeline used by LOSS. After investigating potential biases, we derive a final systematic uncertainty of 0.03 mag in BVRI for our dataset. We perform an analysis of our light curves with particular focus on using template fitting to measure the parameters that are useful in standardising SNe Ia as distance indicators. All of the data are available to the community, and we encourage future studies to incorporate our light curves in their analyses.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Oral Communication Skills: Are the Priorities of the Workplace and AACSB-Accredited Business Programs Aligned?

Our purpose in this study was to assess the alignment of oral communication (OC) skills between the workplace and business schools. Drawing on theory related to communication interactivity, we differentiate three types of OC: presenting, listening, and conversing. In reviewing prior empirical research, we found that listening was the most important of these OC types in the workplace, followed by conversing and presenting, respectively. We review and analyze learning goals of U.S. undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. We found that 76% of the business programs had an oral presentation learning goal, 22%, a conversing goal, and 11%, a listening goal. Our research reveals a misalignment between the OC skills needed in the workplace compared to those emphasized in business curricula. We discuss potential reasons for the misalignment and offer suggestions for closing the gap

Another Perspective on MBA Program Alignment: An Investigation of Learning Goals

In recent AMLE issues, Rubin and Dierdorff (2009, 2011) reported a marked misalignment between the competencies needed for managerial effectiveness and those that are being taught in required MBA courses of AACSB-accredited business programs. We extend their work by investigating the pervasiveness of this curricular misalignment. We consider whether the learning goals of MBA programs are also misaligned with key managerial competencies. Through an analysis of the learning goals of 250 MBA programs, we found that learning goals are mostly in alignment with the competencies that lead to managerial success. Explanations for the conflicting findings between our learning goal study and Rubin and Dierdorff’s (2009) study are provided, along with recommendations for reducing curricular gaps and suggestions for future research