Women in leadership: An analysis of bias and its effects in the workplace

The purpose of this report is to provide an analysis of the issues that face women in today’s leadership landscape, particularly the issue of gender bias. Female leadership has been shown to provide benefits to companies when a certain percentage, or critical mass, of representation is reached. Unfortunately, progress towards gender equality has stalled globally. A significant issue facing women in today’s leadership landscape is gender bias. Unconscious bias training has attempted to address this issue, yet no positive correlation to these training efforts and actual alleviation of gender bias has been documented. As a result, women must continue to navigate their leadership journeys with much attention to the task of perception management. The study will utilize qualitative analysis to identify which groups of people a female leader must execute perception management with, and at what level. A discussion of the future outlook of women in leadership and the gender bias landscape follows

Myths of Meritocracy, Friendship, and Fun Work: Class and Gender in North American Academic Communities

Using the example of Andean archaeology, this article focuses on subtle forms of inequality that arise when academic communities are conceptualized as friendship‐based and egalitarian, rejecting explicit hierarchy. I describe this as performative informality and argue that it stems from a meritocratic ideology that inadvertently reproduces Euro‐American white‐male privilege. In a discipline that prides itself on its friendliness, openness, and alcohol‐fueled drinking culture, those who find themselves unable to enact or perform informality appropriately are at a distinct disadvantage. Drawing from a multisited ethnography of Andeanist archaeologists, I make the case that it is the ephemerality and plausible deniability of performative informality that makes it hard to recognize and thus mitigate against it. In doing so, I draw on and contribute to the theorization of gender/class intersectionality in anthropology and science studies, US conceptualizations of meritocracy in academia and higher education, and feminist Jo Freeman’s concept of “the tyranny of structurelessness.” [anthropology of science, ethnography of archaeology, class, gender, anthropology of work and education]RESUMENUsando el ejemplo de la arqueología andina, este artículo se enfoca en las formas sutiles de la desigualdad que surgen cuando las comunidades académicas se conceptualizan como basadas en la amistad e igualitarias, rechazando la jerarquía explícita. Describo esto como informalidad performativa y argumento que proviene de una ideología de meritocracia que reproduce inadvertidamente el privilegio de hombre blanco euroamericano. En una disciplina que se enorgullece de su amabilidad, apertura, y una cultura impulsada por el consumo de alcohol, aquellos que se ven así mismos incapaces de actuar o representar la informalidad apropiadamente están en una desventaja distinta. Basada en una etnografía multilocal de arqueólogos andinos presento el argumento de que es la efimeralidad y la deseabilidad plausible de la informalidad performativa lo que hace difícil reconocer y por tanto mitigar en su contra. Al hacerlo, me baso en y contribuyo a la teorización de la interseccionalidad de género/clase en antropología y estudios de las ciencias, conceptualizaciones estadounidenses de meritocracia en academia y educación superior, y el concepto feminista de Jo Freeman de “la tiranía de la falta de estructuras”. [antropología de la ciencia, etnografía de la arqueología, clase, género, antropología del trabajo y la educación]Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156442/2/aman13455_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156442/1/aman13455.pd

Comprehensive evaluation of CAZyme prediction tools in fungal and bacterial species

Carbohydrate Active enZymes (CAZymes) are pivotal in pathogen recognition, signalling, structure and energy metabolism. CAZy is the most comprehensive CAZyme database, cataloguing CAZymes into sequence-based CAZy families. The CAZyme prediction tools dbCAN, CUPP and eCAMI annotate CAZymes with CAZy families. However, these tools have not been independently evaluated on a common high-quality dataset. Additionally, previous evaluations did not evaluate the binary classification of CAZymes/non-CAZymes, and the multilabel classification of CAZymes to multiple CAZy families.Publisher PDFNon peer reviewe

cazy_webscraper : for creating a local CAZy database

Carbohydrate Active enZymes (CAZymes) are pivotal in pathogen recognition, signalling, structure and energy metabolism. CAZy (www.cazy.org) is the most comprehensive CAZyme database, but it does not provide methods for automating data retrieval or submitting sequences for annotation. cazy_webscraper retrieves user-specified datasets from CAZy, producing a local SQL database enabling thorough interrogation of the data. cazy_webscraper can also retrieve protein sequences from GenBank and download structure files from RCSB PDB.Publisher PDFNon peer reviewe

Communicating Environmental Research: Harnessing the Power of Curation

Never before has public communication of critical research, science, and knowledge on climate change and biodiversity loss been more important. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report, Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, stated that we only have 12 years to limit the catastrophic effects of climate change, including extreme weather, flood, drought, and poverty. The 2019 Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services revealed that roughly 1 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction. Given these dire warnings, the threat of climate change and biodiversity loss have never been more relevant, considering the impact these unprecedented issues will have on human survival, health, and well-being. This paper describes the results of our study, which explores findings used to develop the practice of research curation, which found that adapting and applying museum engagement strategies, using art to communicate science, and applying social media content curation and marketing strategies in combination with social learning practices are key to successful knowledge mobilization. This article focuses primarily on the methodologies and results of three projects: an art and literary exhibit, a biodiversity conversation series, and a sustainability-themed Instagram account. Based on our experience and findings, we share the lessons learned that we believe are actional for other researchers with similar goals, in particular those who are communicating research on climate change and biodiversity loss

Pesticide spraying for West Nile virus control and emergency department asthma visits in New York City, 2000

Pyrethroid pesticides were applied via ground spraying to residential neighborhoods in New York City during July–September 2000 to control mosquito vectors of West Nile virus (WNV). Case reports link pyrethroid exposure to asthma exacerbations, but population-level effects on asthma from large-scale mosquito control programs have not been assessed. We conducted this analysis to determine whether widespread urban pyrethroid pesticide use was associated with increased rates of emergency department (ED) visits for asthma. We recorded the dates and locations of pyrethroid spraying during the 2000 WNV season in New York City and tabulated all ED visits for asthma to public hospitals from October 1999 through November 2000 by date and ZIP code of patients’ residences. The association between pesticide application and asthma-related emergency visits was evaluated across date and ZIP code, adjusting for season, day of week, and daily temperature, precipitation, particulate, and ozone levels. There were 62,827 ED visits for asthma during the 14-month study period, across 162 ZIP codes. The number of asthma visits was similar in the 3-day periods before and after spraying (510 vs. 501, p = 0.78). In multivariate analyses, daily rates of asthma visits were not associated with pesticide spraying (rate ratio = 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.80–1.07). Secondary analyses among children and for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease yielded similar null results. This analysis shows that spraying pyrethroids for WNV control in New York City was not followed by population-level increases in public hospital ED visit rates for asthma

Major trends in mobility technology research and development: Overview of the results of the NSF-WTEC European study

Mobility technologies, including wheelchairs, prostheses, joint replacements, assistive devices, and therapeutic exercise equipment help millions of people participate in desired life activities. Yet, these technologies are not yet fully transformative because many desired activities cannot be pursued or are difficult to pursue for the millions of individuals with mobility related impairments. This WTEC study, initiated and funded by the National Science Foundation, was designed to gather information on European innovations and trends in technology that might lead to greater mobility for a wider range of people. What might these transformative technologies be and how might they arise? Based on visits to leading mobility technology research labs in western Europe, the WTEC panel identified eight major trends in mobility technology research. This commentary summarizes these trends, which are then described in detail in companion papers appearing in this special issue