Sustainability Vision and Practice: The Apparent Gap Between Corporate Leaders’ Pronouncements and the Perceptions of Polish and U.S. MBA Students from Three Universities.

This study focuses on the CEO-asserted critical need for sustainability in corporate strategy and MBA student perceptions of the extent to which their respective programs prepare them to handle sustainability challenges successfully. Students in one Polish and two U.S. mid-tier MBA programs were surveyed regarding their perceptions of four issues: 1) the link between sustainability practices and corporate performance; 2) the barriers to embedding sustainability practices in their current job; 3) the effects of being a sustainability advocate on their careers; and 4) the efficacy of their MBA programs in fostering leadership perspectives and skills related to sustainability. While students generally agreed on the positive link between sustainability practices and performance, they differed on the other issues. The study discusses the implications of these findings for faculty members who want to close the gap between what CEOs say they need from graduates related to sustainability vis-à-vis the ability of current MBA programs to fulfill that need

Sustainability Vision and Practice: The Apparent Gap Between Corporate Leaders’ Pronouncements and the Perceptions of Polish and U.S. MBA Students from Three Universities.

This study focuses on the CEO-asserted critical need for sustainability in corporate strategy and MBA student perceptions of the extent to which their respective programs prepare them to handle sustainability challenges successfully. Students in one Polish and two U.S. mid-tier MBA programs were surveyed regarding their perceptions of four issues:1) the link between sustainability practices and corporate performance;2) the barriers to embedding sustainability practices in their current job;3) the effects of being a sustainability advocate on their careers; and 4) the efficacy of their MBA programs in fostering leadership perspectives and skills related to sustainability. While students generally agreed on the positive link between sustainability practices and performance, they differed on the other issues. The study discusses the implications of these findings for faculty members who want to close the gap between what CEOs say they need from graduates related to sustainability vis-à-vis the ability of current MBA programs to fulfill that need

Chronic pain, psychopathology, and DSM-5 somatic symptom disorder

Unlike acute pain that warns us of injury or disease, chronic or persistent pain serves no adaptive purpose. Though there is no agreed on definition of chronic pain, it is commonly referred to as pain that is without biological value, lasting longer than the typical healing time, not responsive to treatments based on specific remedies, and of a duration greater than 6 months. Chronic pain that is severe and intractable has detrimental consequences, including psychological distress, job loss, social isolation, and, not surprisingly, it is highly comorbid with depression and anxiety. Historically, pain without an apparent anatomical or neurophysiological origin was labelled as psychopathological. This approach is damaging to the patient and provider alike. It pollutes the therapeutic relationship by introducing an element of mutual distrust as well as implicit, if not explicit, blame. It is demoralizing to the patient who feels at fault, disbelieved, and alone. Moreover, many medically unexplained pains are now understood to involve an interplay between peripheral and central neurophysiological mechanisms that have gone awry. The new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, somatic symptom disorder overpsychologizes people with chronic pain; it has low sensitivity and specificity, and it contributes to misdiagnosis, as well as unnecessary stigma. Adjustment disorder remains the most appropriate, accurate, and acceptable diagnosis for people who are overly concerned about their pain.Preparation of this manuscript was facilitated by support from a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology awarded to Dr Katz and a CIHR Canada Graduate Master’s Award to Samantha Fashler

Simulating the mid-Pliocene Warm Period with the CCSM4 model

This paper describes the experimental design and model results from a 500 yr fully coupled Community Climate System, version 4, simulation of the mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP) (ca. 3.3–3.0 Ma). We simulate the mPWP using the "alternate" protocol prescribed by the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) for the AOGCM simulation (Experiment 2). Results from the CCSM4 mPWP simulation show a 1.9 °C increase in global mean annual temperature compared to the 1850 preindustrial control, with a polar amplification of ~3 times the global warming. Global precipitation increases slightly by 0.09 mm day−1 and the monsoon rainfall is enhanced, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Areal sea ice extent decreases in both hemispheres but persists through the summers. The model simulates a relaxation of the zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the tropical Pacific, with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (Niño3.4) ~20% weaker than the preindustrial and exhibiting extended periods of quiescence of up to 150 yr. The maximum Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and northward Atlantic oceanic heat transport are indistinguishable from the control. As compared to PRISM3, CCSM4 overestimates Southern Hemisphere (SH) sea surface temperatures, but underestimates NH warming, particularly in the North Atlantic, suggesting that an increase in northward ocean heat transport would bring CCSM4 SSTs into better alignment with proxy data

An Analysis of Pedestrian Waiting Time at Uncontrolled Crosswalks Using Discrete Choice Model

A study of pedestrians crossing behavior is conducted at an uncontrolled mid-block crosswalk in Istanbul Turkey, to model the pedestrians waiting time, related to their behavior for making the crossing decision. This article focused on the issues encountered in the modeling of the operational behavior of pedestrians. The discrete choice framework is used because of its capacity to deal with individuals’ choice behavior. Pedestrians waiting time is classified into three levels, including low, medium, and high levels based on the level of service of pedestrians waiting time. The pedestrians’ behavior prediction has been improved by analyzing, taking into account three levels for pedestrian behavior

The management of diabetic ketoacidosis in children

The object of this review is to provide the definitions, frequency, risk factors, pathophysiology, diagnostic considerations, and management recommendations for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in children and adolescents, and to convey current knowledge of the causes of permanent disability or mortality from complications of DKA or its management, particularly the most common complication, cerebral edema (CE). DKA frequency at the time of diagnosis of pediatric diabetes is 10%–70%, varying with the availability of healthcare and the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the community. Recurrent DKA rates are also dependent on medical services and socioeconomic circumstances. Management should be in centers with experience and where vital signs, neurologic status, and biochemistry can be monitored with sufficient frequency to prevent complications or, in the case of CE, to intervene rapidly with mannitol or hypertonic saline infusion. Fluid infusion should precede insulin administration (0.1 U/kg/h) by 1–2 hours; an initial bolus of 10–20 mL/kg 0.9% saline is followed by 0.45% saline calculated to supply maintenance and replace 5%–10% dehydration. Potassium (K) must be replaced early and sufficiently. Bicarbonate administration is contraindicated. The prevention of DKA at onset of diabetes requires an informed community and high index of suspicion; prevention of recurrent DKA, which is almost always due to insulin omission, necessitates a committed team effort

Phenotypic Type 2 Diabetes in Obese Youth: Insulin Sensitivity and Secretion in Islet Cell Antibody–Negative Versus –Positive Patients

OBJECTIVE— Some obese youth with a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes have evidence of islet cell autoimmunity with positive autoantibodies. In this study, we investigated the differences in insulin sensitivity and secretion between autoantibody-negative (Ab−) and -positive (Ab+) youth with clinically diagnosed type 2 diabetes in comparison with control subjects

Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology-Transplantation: A Global Initiative to Develop a Core Outcome Set for Trials in Kidney Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Although advances in treatment have dramatically improved short-term graft survival and acute rejection in kidney transplant recipients, long-term graft outcomes have not substantially improved. Transplant recipients also have a considerably increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and infection, which all contribute to appreciable morbidity and premature mortality. Many trials in kidney transplantation are short-term, frequently use unvalidated surrogate endpoints, outcomes of uncertain relevance to patients and clinicians, and do not consistently measure and report key outcomes like death, graft loss, graft function, and adverse effects of therapy. This diminishes the value of trials in supporting treatment decisions that require individual-level multiple tradeoffs between graft survival and the risk of side effects, adverse events, and mortality. The Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology-Transplantation initiative aims to develop a core outcome set for trials in kidney transplantation that is based on the shared priorities of all stakeholders. METHODS: This will include a systematic review to identify outcomes reported in randomized trials, a Delphi survey with an international multistakeholder panel (patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, policy makers, members from industry) to develop a consensus-based prioritized list of outcome domains and a consensus workshop to review and finalize the core outcome set for trials in kidney transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Developing and implementing a core outcome set to be reported, at a minimum, in all kidney transplantation trials will improve the transparency, quality, and relevance of research; to enable kidney transplant recipients and their clinicians to make better-informed treatment decisions for improved patient outcomes

Twelve thousand years of dust: The Holocene global dust cycle constrained by natural archives

Mineral dust plays an important role in the climate system by interacting with radiation, clouds, and biogeochemical cycles. In addition, natural archives show that the dust cycle experienced variability in the past in response to global and local climate change. The compilation of the DIRTMAP paleodust datasets in the last two decades provided a target for paleoclimate models that include the dust cycle, following a time slice approach. We propose an innovative framework to organize a paleodust dataset that moves on from the positive experience of DIRTMAP and takes into account new scientific challenges, by providing a concise and accessible dataset of temporally resolved records of dust mass accumulation rates and particle grain-size distributions. We consider data from ice cores, marine sediments, loess/paleosol sequences, lake sediments, and peat bogs for this compilation, with a temporal focus on the Holocene period. This global compilation allows investigation of the potential, uncertainties and confidence level of dust mass accumulation rates reconstructions, and highlights the importance of dust particle size information for accurate and quantitative reconstructions of the dust cycle. After applying criteria that help to establish that the data considered represent changes in dust deposition, 43 paleodust records have been identified, with the highest density of dust deposition data occurring in the North Atlantic region. Although the temporal evolution of dust in the North Atlantic appears consistent across several cores and suggest that minimum dust fluxes are likely observed during the Early to mid-Holocene period (6000–8000 years ago), the magnitude of dust fluxes in these observations is not fully consistent, suggesting that more work needs to be done to synthesize datasets for the Holocene. Based on the data compilation, we used the Community Earth System Model to estimate the mass balance and variability of the global dust cycle during the Holocene, with dust load ranging from 17.1 to 20.5 Tg between 2000 and 10 000 years ago, and a minimum in the Early to Mid-Holocene (6000–8000 years ago)

A study of the distribution of phylogenetically conserved blocks within clusters of mammalian homeobox genes

Genome sequencing efforts of the last decade have produced a large amount of data, which has enabled whole-genome comparative analyses in order to locate potentially functional elements and study the overall patterns of phylogenetic conservation. In this paper we present a statistically based method for the characterization of these patterns in mammalian DNA sequences. We have applied this approach to the study of exceptionally well conserved homeobox gene clusters (Hox), based on an alignment of six species, and we have constructed a map of Hox cataloguing the conserved fragments, along with their locations in relation to the genes and other landmarks, sometimes showing unexpected layouts