Pay openness movement: Is it merited? Does it influence more desirable employee outcomes than pay secrecy?

Organizations are currently moving toward increased pay openness in the workplace; thus, it is important to determine the influence pay communication practices (pay secrecy and pay openness) have on employee outcomes and whether the increase in pay openness is merited and more beneficial for organizations. The purpose of this article is to analyze pay communication’s influence on workplace deviance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Specifically, pay secrecy practices are hypothesized to influence employees to engage in less OCBs and more workplace deviance. Informational justice and distributive justice perceptions are included as mediators. Pay secrecy leads to greater workplace deviance as well as less OCBs and justice perceptions and thus, inferring the pay openness movement is merited. A Pay Communication scale was developed and validated for this study. Practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are provided

The Jews of the Desert: Colonialism, Zionism, and the Jews of the Algerian M'zab, 1882-1962.

This dissertation studies the Jewish community of the Algerian M’zab during the French colonization of the Sahara from 1882 until 1962. French officials refused to extend the 1870 Crémieux Decree that emancipated Algerian Jews to the M’zab after its 1882 annexation. French administrators saw the M’zabi Jews as insurmountably different and consequently excluded them from emancipation. Despite petitions from the community and French and Algerian Jewish advocacy for extending emancipation to the south, successive French colonial and metropolitan governments declined to extend the Crémieux Decree to the M’zab. French officials justified this decision by invoking the insurmountable difference of M’zabi Jews, who were both too Jewish and too similar to Algerian Muslims to be “regenerated” as French citizens. Within the colonial legal system, M’zabi Jews were classified as “indigènes,” or natives, alongside Algerian Muslims. M’zabi Jews faced the restrictions that bounded the lives of Muslims in French Algeria and settler antisemitism that culminated in the Vichy abrogation of the Crémieux Decree in 1940. When Free French forces reinstated the Crémieux Decree in 1943, the French again excluded the M’zabi Jews. Following this, a number of individuals and families from the community left Algeria to join the growing Jewish community in British mandatory Palestine. M’zabi Jews were the only organized Jewish community who left Algeria for Israel. Their history challenges historiography that claims Zionism was unsuccessful in Algeria. M’zabi Jews were not ardent Zionists, but they did take advantage of the opportunities for emigration made possible by international Zionist organizations including the American Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency. In contrast to the larger history of Algerian Jews, the history of the M’zabi Jewish immigration from Algeria to Israel is part of the larger history of Jewish migrations from the Arab world to Israel after 1945. M’zabi Jews won full French citizenship in late 1961, but most still opted to make their way to Israel rather than France.PhDHistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107212/1/rawall_1.pd

Use of Artificial Intelligence to Shorten the Behavioral Diagnosis of Autism

The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is one of the most commonly used instruments for assisting in the behavioral diagnosis of autism. The exam consists of 93 questions that must be answered by a care provider within a focused session that often spans 2.5 hours. We used machine learning techniques to study the complete sets of answers to the ADI-R available at the Autism Genetic Research Exchange (AGRE) for 891 individuals diagnosed with autism and 75 individuals who did not meet the criteria for an autism diagnosis. Our analysis showed that 7 of the 93 items contained in the ADI-R were sufficient to classify autism with 99.9% statistical accuracy. We further tested the accuracy of this 7-question classifier against complete sets of answers from two independent sources, a collection of 1654 individuals with autism from the Simons Foundation and a collection of 322 individuals with autism from the Boston Autism Consortium. In both cases, our classifier performed with nearly 100% statistical accuracy, properly categorizing all but one of the individuals from these two resources who previously had been diagnosed with autism through the standard ADI-R. Our ability to measure specificity was limited by the small numbers of non-spectrum cases in the research data used, however, both real and simulated data demonstrated a range in specificity from 99% to 93.8%. With incidence rates rising, the capacity to diagnose autism quickly and effectively requires careful design of behavioral assessment methods. Ours is an initial attempt to retrospectively analyze large data repositories to derive an accurate, but significantly abbreviated approach that may be used for rapid detection and clinical prioritization of individuals likely to have an autism spectrum disorder. Such a tool could assist in streamlining the clinical diagnostic process overall, leading to faster screening and earlier treatment of individuals with autism

UAS Literary & Arts Journal

Proof copy provided by Tidal Echoes.The 2015 edition of Tidal Echoes presents an annual showcase of writers and artists who share one thing in common: a life surrounded by the rainforests and waterways of Southeast Alaska.Dedication -- Editor’s Note -- Mid-Air -- Acknowledgements -- Salmon (Gohan Desu Yo/It’s Dinner Time) -- Xwaayeenák Richard Dauenhauer -- Loon -- Burney Falls -- Richard Dauenhauer -- Egg Carton Fox -- August Afternoon at Helle’s Pool, Vancouver, Washington -- Oak Run -- Buddy Tabor teaches me to filet a halibut -- Icelander -- Home -- Season’s End -- Young Me, Old Me -- The Window Seat -- Wind -- UAS Student Back Study -- Paintbrush Conversations -- Grey River Soulshine -- Across the Universe -- Aurora-Skaters’ Cabin 1 -- Whiskey and Autumn -- Leaf Wolf -- Spring Cleaning the Perennials -- Ode to a Rose -- Final Point -- After Spring Recital -- Olympic Ceiling -- Rodda-Hard going (too little snow) -- Birch Bark Calligraphy No. 2 -- Fishtailing -- Working the Corks -- Modern Alaskan Storyteller: An Interview with Ishmael Hope -- Bailer at the Back of the Boat (Excerpt) -- Close Up -- Bothering the Dauenhauers -- In Memory of Andrew Hope III -- Wolf Brimhat -- I Am From -- Crossing -- Revelations and Realizations -- The Shrinking Girl -- Untitled (Andi in Niki’s Room) -- Afternoon Reading, Rainy Room -- My Grandmother’s House in Metlakatla -- Deacon Charles Rohrbacher, Icon of St. Nicholas -- Honoring Tibet -- Fumi Matsumoto: Finding Art in Culture -- Pathway of Thorns -- Minidoka Interlude -- Mountain Dew Parrots -- Watch Out for Falling Objects -- Loose Change -- An Unkind Demise -- A Place That Holds Names -- Immortality (skull side) -- Opening Again the Box of Wisdom -- Iff’n I Go -- Colorless Blues -- The Heartsdance -- King of Dreams -- Hungering -- Colonialism -- Inside Out -- Rachel Day -- Lying Here -- Note to Wife -- Death -- Round the Clock -- Untitled (trap) -- Seeds of Racism -- Auschwitz Remembrance -- Moab 1 -- Pearl of the Orient -- Moab 3 -- Scars -- Transporting -- In Eliason Harbor -- Poet Passes: Leaves Words Behind -- Tough Guy -- Wolf Helmet -- Biographie

Influence of GABA and GABA-producing Lactobacillus brevis DPC 6108 on the development of diabetes in a streptozotocin rat model

peer-reviewedThe aim of this study was to investigate if dietary administration of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producing Lactobacillus brevis DPC 6108 and pure GABA exert protective effects against the development of diabetes in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic Sprague Dawley rats. In a first experiment, healthy rats were divided in 3 groups (n=10/group) receiving placebo, 2.6 mg/kg body weight (bw) pure GABA or L. brevis DPC 6108 (~109microorganisms). In a second experiment, rats (n=15/group) were randomised to five groups and four of these received an injection of STZ to induce type 1 diabetes. Diabetic and non-diabetic controls received placebo [4% (w/v) yeast extract in dH2O], while the other three diabetic groups received one of the following dietary supplements: 2.6 mg/kg bw GABA (low GABA), 200 mg/kg bw GABA (high GABA) or ~109 L. brevis DPC 6108. L. brevis DPC 6108 supplementation was associated with increased serum insulin levels (P0.05), compared with non-diabetic controls while all other diabetic groups displayed reduced diversity (P<0.05). L. brevis DPC 6108 attenuated hyperglycaemia induced by diabetes but additional studies are needed to understand the mechanisms involved in this reduction.The authors and their work were supported by the APC Microbiome Institute. The APC Microbiome Institute is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). This publication has emanated from research supported by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number SFI/12/RC/2273

Place and setting in the work of Sarah Orne Jewett

Although Sarah Orne Jewett's active career extended over thirty-four years, studies of her work have tended to ignore its chronological development, and in spite of the admitted importance of her settings relatively little attention has been given to their nature and function in her sketches. Her own comments make it obvious that she habitually worked from setting and character toward incident, and many of her remarks imply that setting suggested character as well. Since Jewett's native region has long been recognized as a major influence on her work, it is not surprising that she considered the places writers knew a major formative influence, and setting for her was an essential matrix generating both writer and story. Thus Jewett agreed with Eudora Welty's suggestion that place is basic to the validity, emotion, and perspective of fiction. Her relationship to her native Berwick, Maine, however, was less serene than many critics have realized, and to this emotional ambivalence must be added the ambiguity inherent in the relationship of real people to real places and of literary characters to their settings. This study demonstrates that Jewett's attitudes and emotions toward her settings are complicated, and the settings themselves are varied and complex. The places she depicts express and interact with her themes, provide a major source of interest in her stories, and supply clues, as they change, to her overall intellectual and emotional development

Triangulating Abuse Liability Assessment for Flavoured Cigar Products Using Physiological, Behavioural Economic and Subjective Assessments: A Within-subjects Clinical Laboratory Protocol

Introduction In the USA, Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit the sale of flavoured cigarettes, with menthol being the exception. However, the manufacture, advertisement and sale of flavoured cigar products are permitted. Such flavourings influence positive perceptions of tobacco products and are linked to increased use. Flavourings may mask the taste of tobacco and enhance smoke inhalation, influencing toxicant exposure and abuse liability among novice tobacco users. Using clinical laboratory methods, this study investigates how flavour availability affects measures of abuse liability in young adult cigarette smokers. The specific aims are to evaluate the effect of cigar flavours on nicotine exposure, and behavioural and subjective measures of abuse liability. Methods and analyses Participants (projected n=25) are healthy smokers of five or more cigarettes per day over the past 3 months, 18–25 years old, naive to cigar use (lifetime use of 50 or fewer cigar products and no more than 10 cigars smoked in the past 30 days) and without a desire to quit cigarette smoking in the next 30 days. Participants complete five laboratory sessions in a Latin square design with either their own brand cigarette or a session-specific Black & Mild cigar differing in flavour (apple, cream, original and wine). Participants are single-blinded to cigar flavours. Each session consists of two 10-puff smoking bouts (30 s interpuff interval) separated by 1 hour. Primary outcomes include saliva nicotine concentration, behavioural economic task performance and response to various questionnaire items assessing subjective effects predictive of abuse liability. Differences in outcomes across own brand cigarette and flavoured cigar conditions will be tested using linear mixed models

A parameterised mathematical model to elucidate osteoblast cell growth in a phosphate-glass microcarrier culture

Tissue engineering has the potential to augment bone grafting. Employing microcarriers as cell-expansion vehicles is a promising bottom-up bone tissue engineering strategy. Here we propose a collaborative approach between experimental work and mathematical modelling to develop protocols for growing microcarrier-based engineered constructs of clinically relevant size. Experiments in 96-well plates characterise cell growth with the model human cell line MG-63 using four phosphate glass microcarrier materials. Three of the materials are doped with 5 mol% TiO2 and contain 0%, 2% or 5% CoO, and the fourth material is doped only with 7% TiO2 (0% CoO). A mathematical model of cell growth is parameterised by finding material-specific growth coefficients through data-fitting against these experiments. The parameterised mathematical model offers more insight into the material performance by comparing culture outcome against clinically relevant criteria: maximising final cell number starting with the lowest cell number in the shortest time frame. Based on this analysis, material 7% TiO2 is identified as the most promising

Role of A1 receptor-activated GIRK channels in the suppression of hippocampal seizure activity

The neuromodulator adenosine is released during seizure activity to provide negative feedback suppression of on-going activity and to delay the occurrence of the next burst of activity. Adenosine acts via multiple G protein coupled receptors including the A1 receptor (A1R) which inhibits neurotransmitter release and hyperpolarises neuronal membrane potential. The hyperpolarisation is produced, at least in part, by the activation of G protein-activated inwardly rectifying K+ (GIRK) channels. We have used tertiapin-Q (TQ), a potent and selective inhibitor of GIRK channels, to assess the role of GIRK channels in controlling seizure activity in areas CA1 and CA2 of mouse hippocampal slices. TQ (100–300 nM) blocked ∼50% of the adenosine-mediated membrane potential hyperpolarisation of hippocampal CA1 and CA2 neurons. TQ (100 nM) had no significant effect on synaptic transmission in area CA1 of the hippocampus but enhanced transmission in CA2, an effect prevented by blocking A1Rs. TQ (100 nM) increased the frequency of spontaneous activity (induced by removing Mg2+ and increasing K+) and blunted the effects of exogenous adenosine on the suppression of activity. TQ had a significantly greater effect on electrically-stimulated seizure activity induced in CA2 versus that in CA1, producing a greater increase in both the duration and amplitude of the stimulated bursts. This is consistent with the greater A1R density and A1R activation tone in CA2. Thus GIRK channels play a role in the supressing effects of adenosine on seizure activity

Parenteral Antibiotics Reduce Bifidobacteria Colonization and Diversity in Neonates

We investigated the impact of parenteral antibiotic treatment in the early neonatal period on the evolution of bifidobacteria in the newborn. Nine babies treated with intravenous ampicillin/gentamicin in the first week of life and nine controls (no antibiotic treatment) were studied. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to investigate the composition of Bifidobacterium in stool samples taken at four and eight weeks. Bifidobacteria were detected in all control infants at both four and eight weeks, while only six of nine antibiotic-treated infants had detectable bifidobacteria at four weeks and eight of nine at eight weeks. Moreover, stool samples of controls showed greater diversity of Bifidobacterium spp. compared with antibiotic-treated infants. In conclusion, short-term parenteral antibiotic treatment of neonates causes a disturbance in the expected colonization pattern of bifidobacteria in the first months of life. Further studies are required to probiotic determine if supplementation is necessary in this patient group