Budget Participation, Job Performance, Job Satisfaction, and Yadda, Yadda, Yadda ...

Measurements of the variables budget participation, job performance, job satisfaction, and job relevant information were obtained at a manufacturing plant located in South East United States. The plant manager expected a report card of ‘Excellent’ but the results indicated that there was a lot of room for improvement at this plant. This study is a great reminder to managers that they must not become complacent. If they believe that management is about people, then they must remain vigilant in order to motivate their employees. It was found that the budget participation process was not working properly and that the job performance and job satisfaction was not as expected

International Students As Peer Tutors: Is It Lawful?

Students enrolled in Principles of Accounting courses might require peer tutoring services.  Accounting Departments (schools) can assist these students by maintaining a list of students offering tutoring services for a fee.  The opportunity to be included in the list of tutors must be offered to all university students, both domestic and foreign.  Universities might be hesitant to maintain such a list in fear of a violation of employment and immigration laws of F-1 international students.  Failure to assist in locating tutors for Principles of Accounting students can be disadvantageous for students needing help, as well as for potential tutors who would welcome extra income and who can benefit from “teaching what they know.”  This paper discusses a system that universities can establish and manage where foreign students can serve as peer tutors and remain within legal requirements of campus employment

Ethical Decision Making of Future Mexican Managers

A study to measure ethical decision making of Mexican business students compared to their US counterparts. Results suggest that Mexican students’ ethical decision-making frameworks differ from those documented by Keller et al. (2007) in their study of US students. Mexican students were not found to be highly religious, but subscribed more to utilitarian, deontological and hermeneutical frameworks for their ethical values. It is suggested that multinational firms doing business in Mexico might want to schedule ethics training of managers and to have a set of standards that employees can follow

Singularity and symmetry analyses of mathematical models of epidemics

We present a summary of the methods of Lie symmetry and Painlevé singularity analyses and apply them to a number of well-known epidemiological models to demonstrate the utility of these analyses in the analysis of dynamical systems which arise during investigations of the evolution of diseases

Development of modern auditing standards: the strange case of Raymond Marien and the fraud at Interstate Hosiery Mills, 1934-1937

In February 1938, the police arrested Raymond Marien, a small, bookish man, for forging checks at Interstate Hosiery Mills, Inc. During the ensuing investigation, the New York Attorney General\u27s office found that Marien had juggled the books of the corporation and that these accounting irregularities inflated Interstate Hosiery Mills\u27 assets by $1.9 million or about 40$2,000, Marien and others were exonerated from any financial gain in the fraud due to the increased value in Interstate\u27s shares. In the end, the fraud and the SEC rulings would serve as a foundation of many modern accounting and auditing principles related to auditor independence, supervision, and management responsibility

An Update On Budgetary Participation, Locus Of Control, And The Effects On Mexican Managerial Performance And Job Satisfaction

This study examines the effects of budgetary participation, and the personality variable, locus of control, on the performance and job satisfaction of Mexican managers working for US controlled maquiladoras on the US/Mexican border and within interior Mexico. This study follows the methodology employed by Frucot and Shearon (1991), finds similar empirical results, but reaches quite different interpretations and conclusions. While Frucot and Shearon interpreted their results as suggesting caution in the use of participative budgeting by US companies operating in Mexico, we find that Mexican managers working for US controlled maquiladoras in Mexico may exhibit cultural values much like their US counterparts and that the performance of these Mexican managers may benefit from budgetary participation

ATP dependent NS3 helicase interaction with RNA: insights from molecular simulations

Non-structural protein 3 (NS3) helicase from hepatitis C virus is an enzyme that unwinds and translocates along nucleic acids with an ATP-dependent mechanism and has a key role in the replication of the viral RNA. An inchworm-like mechanism for translocation has been proposed based on crystal structures and single molecule experiments. We here perform atomistic molecular dynamics in explicit solvent on the microsecond time scale of the available experimental structures. We also construct and simulate putative intermediates for the translocation process, and we perform non-equilibrium targeted simulations to estimate their relative stability. For each of the simulated structures we carefully characterize the available conformational space, the ligand binding pocket, and the RNA binding cleft. The analysis of the hydrogen bond network and of the non-equilibrium trajectories indicates an ATP-dependent stabilization of one of the protein conformers. Additionally, enthalpy calculations suggest that entropic effects might be crucial for the stabilization of the experimentally observed structures

Compromised barrier integrity of human feto-placental vessels from gestational diabetic pregnancies is related to downregulation of occludin expression

© 2020, The Author(s). Aims/hypothesis: Reduced occupancy of junctional occludin is a feature of human placental vessels in the diabetic milieu. However, the functional consequence of this and whether this loss is due to differential expression of occludin splice variants is not known. Our study aimed to investigate the effects of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and its treatment, on endothelial junctional integrity, gene and protein expression of occludin splice variants, and potential regulation of expression by microRNAs (miRNAs). Methods: Term placentas were obtained from normal pregnancies (n = 21), and pregnancies complicated by GDM where glucose levels were controlled by diet (n = 11) or metformin (n = 6). Gene and microRNA (miRNA) expression were determined by quantitative real-time PCR; protein expression by immunoblotting; endothelial junctional occupancy by fluorescence microscopy and systematic sampling; and paracellular leakage by perfusion of placental microvascular beds with 76 Mr dextran. Transfection studies of miRNAs that target OCLN were performed in HUVECs, and the trans-endothelial electrical resistance and tracer permeability of the HUVECs were measured. Results: All three predicted OCLN gene splice variants and two occludin protein isoforms were found in human placental samples. In placental samples from diet-controlled GDM (d-GDM) pregnancies we found a lower percentage of conduit vessels showing occludin immunoreactivity (12%, p < 0.01), decreased levels of the fully functional occludin isoform-A protein (29%), and differential gene expression of OCLN variant 2 (33% decrease), variant 3 (3.3-fold increase). These changes were not seen in samples from the group with metformin-controlled GDM. In d-GDM placentas, increased numbers of conduit microvessels demonstrated extravasation of 76 Mr dextran (2.0-fold). In d-GDM expression of one of the five potential miRNAs targeting OCLN, miR-181a-5p, expression was 2.1-fold that in normal pregnancies. Experimental overexpression of miR-181a-5p in HUVECs from normal pregnancies resulted in a highly significant downregulation of OCLN variant 1 (69%) and variant 2 (46%) gene expression, with decreased trans-endothelial resistance (78%) and increase in tracer permeability (1.3-fold). Conclusions/interpretation: Downregulation of expression of OCLN variant 2 and the fully functional occludin isoform-A protein are a feature of placentas in d-GDM pregnancies. These may be behind the loss of junctional occludin and the increased extravasation of exogenous dextran observed. miR-181a-5p was in part responsible for the downregulation of occludin in placentas from d-GDM pregnancies. Induced overexpression of miR-181a-5p compromised the integrity of the endothelial barrier. Our data suggest that, despite good glucose control, the adoption of lifestyle changes alone during a GDM pregnancy may not be enough to prevent an alteration in the expression of occludin and the subsequent functional consequences in placentas and impaired vascular barrier function in offspring. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Closed-loop auditory stimulation method to modulate sleep slow waves and motor learning performance in rats

Slow waves and cognitive output have been modulated in humans by phase-targeted auditory stimulation. However, to advance its technical development and further our understanding, implementation of the method in animal models is indispensable. Here, we report the successful employment of slow waves’ phase-targeted closed-loop auditory stimulation (CLAS) in rats. To validate this new tool both conceptually and functionally, we tested the effects of up- and down-phase CLAS on proportions and spectral characteristics of sleep, and on learning performance in the single-pellet reaching task, respectively. Without affecting 24 hr sleep-wake behavior, CLAS specifically altered delta (slow waves) and sigma (sleep spindles) power persistently over chronic periods of stimulation. While up-phase CLAS does not elicit a significant change in behavioral performance, down-phase CLAS exerted a detrimental effect on overall engagement and success rate in the behavioral test. Overall CLAS-dependent spectral changes were positively correlated with learning performance. Altogether, our results provide proof-of-principle evidence that phase-targeted CLAS of slow waves in rodents is efficient, safe, and stable over chronic experimental periods, enabling the use of this high-specificity tool for basic and preclinical translational sleep research.Fil: Moreira, Carlos G. Universitat Zurich; SuizaFil: Baumann, Christian R.. Universitat Zurich; Suiza. Neuroscience Center Zurich; SuizaFil: Scandella, Maurizio. Universitat Zurich; SuizaFil: Nemirovsky, Sergio Ivan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Leach, Sven. University Children's Hospital Zurich; SuizaFil: Huber, Reto. University Children's Hospital Zurich; Suiza. Universitat Zurich; SuizaFil: Noain, Daniela Maria Clara. University Hospital Zurich; Suiza. Universitat Zurich; Suiz

The crosstalk between insulin resistance, systemic inflammation, redox imbalance and the thyroid in subjects with obesity

We aimed at assessing the interaction between visceral adipose tissue (VAT), insulin resistance (IR), circulating levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and the thyroid parameters in obese subjects. Methods. Obese subjects without thyroid pathologies or diseases associated with systemic inflammation and OS were recruited. Insulinemia, visceral fat thickness, metabolic and thyroid parameters were assayed. Circulating levels of MCP-1 and MDA were used to quantify inflammation and OS. Results. A number of 160 obese subjects were included. The MCP-1 level increased with the degree of obesity and HOMA-IR. MCP 1 was positively associated with antithyroperoxidase antibody (TPOab) levels and the frequency of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). The MDA level was positively correlated with the degree of obesity, aspartate aminotransferase and MCP-1. MDA was an independent predictor for the occurrence of hypothyroidism. IR patients showed higher fT3 levels and a positive association between insulin and TPOab levels. Conclusions. Systemic inflammation increased with VAT, IR and OS and was correlated with the frequency and the severity of HT, suggesting that, in obesity, MCP-1 could be part of the etiopathogenesis of autoimmune thyroiditis. MDA was an independent risk factor for hypothyroidism; therefore, redox imbalance associated with obesity can produce cell damage and thyroid dysfunction. FT3 is increased in IR patients, thus being a marker for the severity of metabolic impairment