181 research outputs found

    Delivery capabilities impact project performance

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    The aim of this research is to study project delivery capabilities impact project performance. If the companies know the factors that influencing the projectā€™s performance, they will focus on that and can deliver the project successfully. For the factors of project delivery capabilities is a set as independent variable. The factors that have been use in this research are process, organizations, methods, metric and leaderships because these are the top five factors that have impact on project performance. Then, the dependent variable of project performance is time. Sixty respondents from the construction industry in Kuantan, Pahang that are registered under CIDB were surveyed by questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed using mail, google doc, and face to face. Software SPSS was use to analyse the data to get the results. The objectives of this research are to investigate project delivery capabilities practices in project management and to rank the project delivery capabilities according to priorities in project performance Results show that project delivery capabilities impact project performance and the finding are parallel accordance with previous researches but had different ranking of factors

    Inter-subject correlation of audience facial expressions predicts audience engagement during theatrical performances

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    During performances, audiences experience various emotional states, and these are reflected in their ongoing facial expressions. We investigated if audience engagement could be determined by measuring the inter-subject correlation (ISC) of non-invasively recorded audience facial expressions. We filmed the faces of multiple audience members at theatrical performances and determined the intensity of their different facial expressions throughout the performances. Neutral, happy, anger, and disgust expression ISCs accounted for up to 24% of the performance dramaturgeā€™s predictions of audience engagement. Expression synchrony was greater between individuals in close proximity, suggesting effects of emotional contagion or cognitive similarities between neighboring individuals, whereas expression synchrony was greatest between individuals who were younger, female, and with greater levels of empathy, showing that individual characteristics impact shared audience experiences. Together, our results show that facial expression synchronization could be used as a real-time non-invasive indicator of engagement in audiences larger than achieved using previous approaches

    A future agenda for research on climate change and human mobility

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    In the past 15ā€‰years, research activities focusing on the interlinkages between climate change and human mobility have intensified. At the same time, an increasing number of actors and processes have sought to address human mobility in the context of climate change from a policy perspective. Hitherto, research has been limited in terms of geographical preferences as well as conceptual and methodological focus areas. This paper argues that to address the evolving policy space, future research on climate change in the context of human mobility needs to become more differentiated, integrated and generalized. This includes concerted efforts to better integrate researchers from the global South, improved crossā€linkages between different datasets, approaches and disciplines, more longitudinal and comparative studies and development of innovative qualitative and quantitative methods

    A future agenda for research on climate change and human mobility

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    In the past 15 years, research activities focusing on the interlinkages between climate change and human mobility have intensified. At the same time, an increasing number of actors and processes have sought to address human mobility in the context of climate change from a policy perspective. Hitherto, research has been limited in terms of geographical preferences as well as conceptual and methodological focus areas. This paper argues that to address the evolving policy space, future research on climate change in the context of human mobility needs to become more differentiated, integrated and generalized. This includes concerted efforts to better integrate researchers from the global South, improved cross-linkages between different datasets, approaches and disciplines, more longitudinal and comparative studies and development of innovative qualitative and quantitative methods.</p

    Crisis-induced disruptions in place-based social-ecological research ā€ an opportunity for redirection

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    Place-based research faces multiple threats, including both natural and global health hazards and political conflicts, which may disrupt fieldwork. The current COVID-19 pandemic shows how these threats can drastically affect social-ecological research activities given its engagement with different local stakeholders, disciplines, and knowledge systems. The crisis reveals the need for adaptive research designs while also providing an opportunity for a structural shift towards a more sustainable and inclusive research landscape

    Crisis-induced disruptions in place-based social-ecological research ā€ an opportunity for redirection

    Get PDF
    Place-based research faces multiple threats, including both natural and global health hazards and political conflicts, which may disrupt fieldwork. The current COVID-19 pandemic shows how these threats can drastically affect social-ecological research activities given its engagement with different local stakeholders, disciplines, and knowledge systems. The crisis reveals the need for adaptive research designs while also providing an opportunity for a structural shift towards a more sustainable and inclusive research landscape

    Increased oxidative metabolism following hypoxia in the type 2 diabetic heart, despite normal hypoxia signalling and metabolic adaptation

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    Hypoxia activates the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), promoting glycolysis and suppressing mitochondrial respiration. In the type 2 diabetic heart, glycolysis is suppressed whereas fatty acid metabolism is promoted. The diabetic heart experiences chronic hypoxia as a consequence of increased obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiovascular disease. Given the opposing metabolic effects of hypoxia and diabetes, we questioned whether diabetes affects cardiac metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. Control and type 2 diabetic rats were housed for 3 weeks in normoxia or 11% oxygen. Metabolism and function were measured in the isolated perfused heart using radiolabelled substrates. Following chronic hypoxia, both control and diabetic hearts upregulated glycolysis, lactate efflux and glycogen content and decreased fatty acid oxidation rates, with similar activation of HIF signalling pathways. However, hypoxia-induced changes were superimposed on diabetic hearts that were metabolically abnormal in normoxia, resulting in glycolytic rates 30% lower, and fatty acid oxidation 36% higher, in hypoxic diabetic hearts than hypoxic controls. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor Ī± target proteins were suppressed by hypoxia, but activated by diabetes. Mitochondrial respiration in diabetic hearts was divergently activated following hypoxia compared with controls. These differences in metabolism were associated with decreased contractile recovery of the hypoxic diabetic heart following an acute hypoxic insult. In conclusion, type 2 diabetic hearts retain metabolic flexibility to adapt to hypoxia, with normal HIF signalling pathways. However, they are more dependent on oxidative metabolism following hypoxia due to abnormal normoxic metabolism, which was associated with a functional deficit in response to stress

    Plasticity may change inputs as well as processes, structures, and responses

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    Significant work has documented neuroplasticity in development, demonstrating that developmental pathways are shaped by experience. Plasticity is often discussed in terms of the results of differences in input; differences in brain structures, processes, or responses reflect differences in experience. In this paper, I discuss how developmental plasticity also effectively changes input into the system. That is, structures and processes change in response to input, and those changed structures and processes influence future inputs. For example, plasticity may change the pattern of eye movements to a stimulus, thereby changing which part of the scene becomes the input. Thus, plasticity is not only seen in the structures and processes that result from differences in experience, but also is seen in the changes in the input as those structures and processes adapt. The systematic study of the nature of experience, and how differences in experience shape learning, can contribute to our understanding of neuroplasticity in general

    Beyond the Bayley: Neurocognitive Assessments of Development During Infancy and Toddlerhood

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    The use of global, standardized instruments is conventional among clinicians and researchers interested in assessing neurocognitive development. Exclusively relying on these tests for evaluating effects may underestimate or miss specific effects on early cognition. The goal of this review is to identify alternative measures for possible inclusion in future clinical trials and interventions evaluating early neurocognitive development. The domains included for consideration are attention, memory, executive function, language and socio-emotional development. Although domain-based tests are limited, as psychometric properties have not yet been well-established, this review includes tasks and paradigms that have been reliably used across various developmental psychology laboratories

    Prolactin-induced mouse mammary carcinomas model estrogen resistant luminal breast cancer.

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    INTRODUCTION: Tumors that express estrogen receptor alpha (ERĪ±+) comprise 75% of breast cancers in women. While treatments directed against this receptor have successfully lowered mortality rates, many primary tumors initially or later exhibit resistance. The paucity of murine models of this luminal tumor subtype has hindered studies of factors that promote their pathogenesis and modulate responsiveness to estrogen-directed therapeutics. Since epidemiologic studies closely link prolactin and the development of ERĪ±+ tumors in women, we examined characteristics of the aggressive ERĪ±+ and ERĪ±- carcinomas which develop in response to mammary prolactin in a murine transgenic model (neu-related lipocalin- prolactin (NRL-PRL)). To evaluate their relationship to clinical tumors, we determined phenotypic relationships among these carcinomas, other murine models of breast cancer, and features of luminal tumors in women. METHODS: We examined a panel of prolactin-induced tumors for characteristics relevant to clinical tumors: histotype, ERĪ±/progesterone receptor (PR) expression and estrogen responsiveness, Activating Protein 1 (AP-1) components, and phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (Stat5), extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 and AKT. We compared levels of transcripts in the ERĪ±-associated luminal signature that defines this subtype of tumors in women and transcripts enriched in various mammary epithelial lineages to other well-studied genetically modified murine models of breast cancer. Finally, we used microarray analyses to compare prolactin-induced ERĪ±+ and ERĪ±- tumors, and examined responsiveness to estrogen and the anti-estrogen, Faslodex, in vivo. RESULTS: Prolactin-induced carcinomas were markedly diverse with respect to histotype, ERĪ±/PR expression, and activated signaling cascades. They constituted a heterogeneous, but distinct group of murine mammary tumors, with molecular features of the luminal subtype of human breast cancer. In contrast to morphologically normal and hyperplastic structures in NRL-PRL females, carcinomas were insensitive to ERĪ±-mediated signals. These tumors were distinct from mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-neu tumors, and contained elevated transcripts for factors associated with luminal/alveolar expansion and differentiation, suggesting that they arose from physiologic targets of prolactin. These features were shared by ERĪ±+ and ERĪ±- tumors, suggesting a common origin, although the former exhibited transcript profiles reflecting greater differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies demonstrate that prolactin can promote diverse carcinomas in mice, many of which resemble luminal breast cancers, providing a novel experimental model to examine the pathogenesis, progression and treatment responsiveness of this tumor subtype
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