Linking personality to cultural intelligence : an interactive effect of openness and agreeableness

The personality trait of openness is generally believed to influence an individual's cultural intelligence, which is an ability to deal effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. This study examines whether a relationship between the two depends on the individual's degree of agreeableness, a personality trait important for building interpersonal relationships. Data collected from 244 international professionals shows that openness is positively related to three facets of cultural intelligence when agreeableness is high, but not when agreeableness is low. The findings suggest that research on personality and cultural intelligence would benefit from an interactive approach, and that assessment, selection and development of international talents should consider personality traits not in isolation, but in concert

Pre- and post-processing for Cosmic/NASTRAN on personal computers and mainframes

An interface between Cosmic/NASTRAN and GIFTS has recently been released, combining the powerful pre- and post-processing capabilities of GIFTS with Cosmic/NASTRAN's analysis capabilities. The interface operates on a wide range of computers, even linking Cosmic/NASTRAN and GIFTS when the two are on different computers. GIFTS offers a wide range of elements for use in model construction, each translated by the interface into the nearest Cosmic/NASTRAN equivalent; and the options of automatic or interactive modelling and loading in GIFTS make pre-processing easy and effective. The interface itself includes the programs GFTCOS, which creates the Cosmic/NASTRAN input deck (and, if desired, control deck) from the GIFTS Unified Data Base, COSGFT, which translates the displacements from the Cosmic/NASTRAN analysis back into GIFTS; and HOSTR, which handles stress computations for a few higher-order elements available in the interface, but not supported by the GIFTS processor STRESS. Finally, the versatile display options in GIFTS post-processing allow the user to examine the analysis results through an especially wide range of capabilities, including such possibilities as creating composite loading cases, plotting in color and animating the analysis

When do global leaders learn best to develop cultural intelligence? An investigation of the moderating role of experiential learning style

Cultural intelligence is believed to be an important quality for global leaders. To understand how this quality can be developed from international experience, our study employs experiential learning theory to analyze the learning process. We hypothesize that the extent to which the length of overseas work experience contributes to the development of cultural intelligence varies depending on the executives' learning styles. Analyses of data collected from 294 international executives and graduate business students in China and Ireland indicated that the positive relationship between the length of overseas experience and cultural intelligence is strengthened when global executives have a divergent learning style, not when they have an assimilative, convergent, or accommodative learning style

Challenges encountered applying equilibrium and nonequilibrium binding free energy calculations

Binding free energy calculations have become increasingly valuable to drive decision making in drug discovery projects. However, among other issues, inadequate sampling can reduce accuracy, limiting the value of the technique. In this paper, we apply absolute binding free energy calculations to ligands binding to T4 lysozyme L99A and HSP90 using equilibrium and nonequilibrium approaches. We highlight sampling problems encountered in these systems, such as slow side chain rearrangements and slow changes of water placement upon ligand binding. These same types of challenges are also likely to show up in other protein–ligand systems, and we propose some strategies to diagnose and test for such problems in alchemical free energy calculations. We also explore similarities and differences in how the equilibrium and the nonequilibrium approaches handle these problems. Our results show the large amount of work still to be done to make free energy calculations robust and reliable and provide insight for future research in this area

Polarized light field under dynamic ocean surfaces: Numerical modeling compared with measurements

As part of the Radiance in a Dynamic Ocean (RaDyO) program, we have developed a numerical model for efficiently simulating the polarized light field under highly dynamic ocean surfaces. Combining the advantages of the three-dimensional Monte Carlo and matrix operator methods, this hybrid model has proven to be computationally effective for simulations involving a dynamic air-sea interface. Given water optical properties and ocean surface wave slopes obtained from RaDyO field measurements, model-simulated radiance and polarization fields under a dynamic surface are found to be qualitatively comparable to their counterparts from field measurements and should be quantitatively comparable if the light field measurement and the wave slope/water optical property measurements are appropriately collocated and synchronized. This model serves as a bridge to connect field measurements of water optical properties, wave slopes and polarized light fields. It can also be used as a powerful yet convenient tool to predict the temporal underwater polarized radiance in a real-world situation. When appropriate surface measurements are available, model simulation is shown to reveal more dynamic features in the underwater light field than direct measurements

Draft genome sequences of five recent human uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates

This study reports the release of draft genome sequences of five isolates of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), isolated from patients suffering from uncomplicated cystitis in 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that these strains belonged to E. coli phylogroups B2 and D and are closely related to known UPEC strains. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that more conserved proteins were shared between these recent isolates and UPEC strains causing cystitis than those causing pyelonephritis. Additional genomic comparisons identified that three isolates encode a type III secretion system (T3SS) and a putative T3SS effector gene cluster along with an invasin‐like outer membrane protein. The presence of T3SS genes is a rare occurrence among UPEC strains. These genomes further substantiate the heterogeneity of the gene pool of UPEC and provide a foundation for comparative genomic studies using recent clinical isolates.This publication briefly describes the draft genomes of five recent human uropathogenic (UPEC) Escherichia coli isolates. UPEC are of increasing importance to human health. The genomes of these new isolates are clearly and simply described and will be of great utility and interest to this research community.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136326/1/fim12059.pd

Breeding latitude predicts timing but not rate of spring migration in a widespread migratory bird in South America

Identifying the processes that determine avian migratory strategies in different environmental contexts is imperative to understanding the constraints to survival and reproduction faced by migratory birds across the planet. We compared the spring migration strategies of Fork‐tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus s. savana) that breed at south‐temperate latitudes (i.e., austral migrants) vs. tropical latitudes (i.e., intratropical migrants) in South America. We hypothesized that austral migrant flycatchers are more time‐selected than intratropical migrants during spring migration. As such, we predicted that austral migrants, which migrate further than intratropical migrants, will migrate at a faster rate and that the rate of migration for austral migrants will be positively correlated with the onset of spring migration. We attached light‐level geolocators to Fork‐tailed Flycatchers at two tropical breeding sites in Brazil and at two south‐temperate breeding sites in Argentina and tracked their movements until the following breeding season. Of 286 geolocators that were deployed, 37 were recovered ~1 year later, of which 28 provided useable data. Rate of spring migration did not differ significantly between the two groups, and only at one site was there a significantly positive relationship between date of initiation of spring migration and arrival date. This represents the first comparison of individual migratory strategies among conspecific passerines breeding at tropical vs. temperate latitudes and suggests that austral migrant Fork‐tailed Flycatchers in South America are not more time‐selected on spring migration than intratropical migrant conspecifics. Low sample sizes could have diminished our power to detect differences (e.g., between sexes), such that further research into the mechanisms underpinning migratory strategies in this poorly understood system is necessary.Fil: Jahn, Alex. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Cereghetti, Joaquín. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa; ArgentinaFil: Cueto, Víctor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagóica. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica; ArgentinaFil: Hallworth, Michael T.. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Levey, Douglas J.. National Science Foundation; Estados UnidosFil: Marini, Miguel Â.. Universidade do Brasília; BrasilFil: Masson, Diego. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; ArgentinaFil: Pizo, Marco A.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Sarasola, José Hernán. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa; ArgentinaFil: Tuero, Diego Tomas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Alchemical absolute protein-ligand binding free energies for drug design

The recent advances in relative protein–ligand binding free energy calculations have shown the value of alchemical methods in drug discovery. Accurately assessing absolute binding free energies, although highly desired, remains a challenging endeavour, mostly limited to small model cases. Here, we demonstrate accurate first principles based absolute binding free energy estimates for 128 pharmaceutically relevant targets. We use a novel rigorous method to generate protein–ligand ensembles for the ligand in its decoupled state. Not only do the calculations deliver accurate protein– ligand binding affinity estimates, but they also provide detailed physical insight into the structural determinants of binding. We identify subtle rotamer rearrangements between apo and holo states of a protein that are crucial for binding. When compared to relative binding free energy calculations, obtaining absolute binding free energies is considerably more challenging in large part due to the need to explicitly account for the protein in its apo state. In this work we present several approaches to obtain apo state ensembles for accurate absolute DG calculations, thus outlining protocols for prospective application of the methods for drug discovery