Principles before Profits: An Interview with S. Truett Cathy

Interview of S. Truett Cathy with Miles K. Davis and Leyland M. Lucas. Since 1946, S. Truett Cathy, founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A Inc., has run his enterprises based on his understanding of Christian principles. In the following interview, S.Truett offers his perspective on why focusing on principles is more important than focusing on profits and what he thinks it takes to succeed in business and in life

An Analysis of the Impact of Sport Utility Vehicles in the United States

It may be labeled sport utility vehicle, SUV, sport-ute, suburban assault vehicle, or a friend of OPEC (Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries). It has been the subject of comics, the object of high-finance marketing ploys, and the theme of Dateline. Whatever the label or the occasion, this vehicle is in great demand. The popularity of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) has increased dramatically since the late 1970s, and SUVs are currently the fastest growing segment of the motor vehicle industry. Hoping to gain market share due to the popularity of the expanding SUV market, more and more manufacturers are adding SUVs to their vehicle lineup. One purpose of this study is to analyze the world of the SUV to determine why this vehicle has seen such a rapid increase in popularity. Another purpose is to examine the impact of SUVs on energy consumption, emissions, and highway safety

Revision of the MCSAP Allocation Formula: Summary Report

In 1982, Congress authorized the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP), a Federal grant-in-aid program to improve commercial motor carrier safety. MCSAP was reauthorized in 1986, 1991, and 1998. In June 1997, in anticipation of and preparation for reauthorization, a MCSAP Formula Workgroup convened to analyze requirements for a new allocation formula and to develop the formula. Because of provisions in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), a major change in approach was to consider including performance (i.e., safety improvements) in the formula. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) actively participated in the Workgroup activities, provided technical assistance in evaluating factors and conducting scenario analyses, prepared regulatory language for the Federal Register Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), analyzed NPRM comments and recommended responses to the comments, assisted with preparation of the Federal Register Final Rule, developed the final spreadsheet, and prepared an informational brochure on MCSAP for use by the States. The allocation of MCSAP funds for FY2001 will use the new formula

Public consciousness and willingness to embrace ethical consumption of textile products in Mexico

The Mexican economy has been showing a continuous and arguably remarkable growth in the last decade, and it is expected that this strong economic growth is based on a balance between social equity, fiscal growth and environmental protection. This composite situation requires us to have a clear understanding of changes in consumer behaviour and their attitudes towards ethical consumerism in this region. With the use of a semi-structured questionnaire, this pilot study presented a detailed analysis of the consumer attitudes towards ethical consumerism in relation to their socio economic class levels in this region, the public consciousness and willingness to embrace ethical consumption of textile products in Mexico were thus determined. It is hoped that this knowledge provides the basis for the initiation of a framework of activities and measures to develop sustainable consumption habits and to educate consumers on the subject of ethical consumption

Effects of habitat composition and landscape structure on worker foraging distances of five bumblebee species

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are important pollinators of both crops and wild flowers. Their contribution to this essential ecosystem service has been threatened over recent decades by changes in land use, which have led to declines in their populations. In order to design effective conservation measures it is important to understand the effects of variation in landscape composition and structure on the foraging activities of worker bumblebees. This is because the viability of individual colonies is likely to be affected by the trade-off between the energetic costs of foraging over greater distances and the potential gains from access to additional resources. We used field surveys, molecular genetics and fine resolution remote sensing to estimate the locations of wild bumblebee nests and to infer foraging distances across a 20 km2 agricultural landscape in southern England. We investigated five species, including the rare B. ruderatus and ecologically similar but widespread B. hortorum. We compared worker foraging distances between species and examined how variation in landscape composition and structure affected foraging distances at the colony level. Mean worker foraging distances differed significantly between species. Bombus terrestris, B. lapidarius and B. ruderatus exhibited significantly greater mean foraging distances (551 m, 536 m, 501 m, respectively) than B. hortorum and B. pascuorum (336 m, 272 m, respectively). There was wide variation in worker foraging distances between colonies of the same species, which was in turn strongly influenced by the amount and spatial configuration of available foraging habitats. Shorter foraging distances were found for colonies where the local landscape had high coverage and low fragmentation of semi-natural vegetation, including managed agri-environmental field margins. The strength of relationships between different landscape variables and foraging distance varied between species, for example the strongest relationship for B. ruderatus being with floral cover of preferred forage plants. Our findings suggest that favourable landscape composition and configuration has the potential to minimise foraging distances across a range of bumblebee species. There is thus potential for improvements in the design and implementation of landscape management options, such as agri-environment schemes, aimed at providing foraging habitat for bumblebees and enhancing crop pollination services

Isolation and Characterization of Microsatellite Loci in the Asian Rice Gall Midge (Orseolia oryzae) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

Microsatellite loci were isolated from the genomic DNA of the Asian rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzae (Wood-Mason) using a hybridization capture approach. A total of 90 non-redundant primer pairs, representing unique loci, were designed. These simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers represented di (72%), tri (15.3%), and complex repeats (12.7%). Three biotypes of gall midge (20 individuals for each biotype) were screened using these SSRs. The results revealed that 15 loci were hyper variable and showed polymorphism among different biotypes of this pest. The number of alleles ranged from two to 11 and expected heterozygosity was above 0.5. Inheritance studies with three markers (observed to be polymorphic between sexes) revealed sex linked inheritance of two SSRs (Oosat55 and Oosat59) and autosomal inheritance of one marker (Oosat43). These markers will prove to be a useful tool to devise strategies for integrated pest management and in the study of biotype evolution in this important rice pest

Determining a subsidy rate for Taiwan's recycling glass industry: an application of bi-level programming

[[abstract]]This study attempts to optimize the operations of the Recycling Fund Management Board (RFMB), founded by the Environmental Protection Administration of the R.O.C. Government (on Taiwan), through the decision of a subsidy rate for the domestic glass recycling industry. The hierarchical and interactive nature between the two parties is modelled by bi-level programming, where the RFMB plays the upper-level decision unit while the recycling industry is the lower-level counterpart. In order to solve the problem by optimization software, the bi-level formulation is transformed to a single-level problem via Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality conditions and is further transformed to a 0—1 mixed integer programming problem by variable substitution. The problem is solved with real-world data, and the obtained solutions are analysed and compared with the RFMB's current operations. The results suggest that the proposed approach can improve the operations of the RFMB.[[notice]]補正完畢[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]GB

Evaluation of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 promoter polymorphisms identified in human populations

BACKGROUND: Cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase, or ALDH1A1, functions in ethanol detoxification, metabolism of neurotransmitters, and synthesis of retinoic acid. Because the promoter region of a gene can influence gene expression, the ALDH1A1 promoter regions were studied to identify polymorphism, to assess their functional significance, and to determine whether they were associated with a risk for developing alcoholism. METHODS: Sequence analysis was performed in the promoter region by using Asian, Caucasian, and African American subjects. The resulting polymorphisms were assessed for frequency in Asian, Caucasian, Jewish, and African American populations and tested for associations with alcohol dependence in Asian and African American populations of alcoholics and controls. The functional significance of each polymorphism was determined through in vitro expression analysis by using HeLa and HepG2 cells. RESULTS: Two polymorphisms, a 17 base pair (bp) deletion (-416/-432) and a 3 bp insertion (-524), were discovered in the ALDH1A1 promoter region: ALDH1A1*2 and ALDH1A1*3, respectively. ALDH1A1*2 was observed at frequencies of 0.035, 0.023, 0.023, and 0.012 in the Asian, Caucasian, Jewish, and African American populations, respectively. ALDH1A1*3 was observed only in the African American population, at a frequency of 0.029. By using HeLa and HepG2 cells for in vitro expression, the activity of the luciferase reporter gene was significantly decreased after transient transfection of ALDH1A1*3-luciferase compared with the wild-type construct ALDH1A1*1-luciferase. In an African American population, a trend for higher frequencies of the ALDH1A1*2 and ALDH1A1*3 alleles was observed in a population of alcoholics (p = 0.03 and f = 0.12, respectively) compared with the control population. CONCLUSIONS: ALDH1A1*2 and ALDH1A1*3 may influence ALDH1A1 gene expression. Both ALDH1A1*2 and ALDH1A1*3 produce a trend in an African American population that may be indicative of an association with alcoholism; however, more samples are required to validate this observation. The underlying mechanisms contributing to these trends are still unknown

γ-ray spectroscopy of the A=23, T=1/2 nuclei 23Na and 23Mg: High-spin states, mirror symmetry, and applications to nuclear astrophysical reaction rates

Background: Obtaining reaction rates for nuclear astrophysics applications is often limited by the availability of radioactive beams. Indirect techniques to establish reaction rates often rely heavily on the properties of excited states inferred from mirror symmetry arguments. Mirror energy differences can depend sensitively on nuclear structure effects. Purpose: The present work sets out to establish a detailed comparison of mirror symmetry in the A=23, T=1/2 mirror nuclei 23Na and 23Mg both to high spin, and high excitation energy, including beyond the proton threshold. These data can be used to benchmark state-of-the-art shell-model calculations of these nuclei. Methods: Excited states in 23Na and 23Mg were populated using the 12C(12C,p) and 12C(12C,n) reactions at beam energies of 16 and 22 MeV, and their resulting γ decay was measured with Gammasphere. Results: Level schemes for 23Na and 23Mg have been considerably extended; highly excited structures have been found in 23Na, as well as their counterparts in 23Mg for previously known rotational structures in 23Na. Mirror symmetry has been investigated up to an excitation energy of 8 MeV and spin-parity of 13/2+. Excited states in the region above the proton threshold have been studied in both nuclei. Conclusions: A detailed exploration of mirror symmetry has been performed which heavily constrains expectations as to how mirror energy differences should evolve for different structures. Agreement with shell-model calculations provides confidence in using such estimations where real data are absent

Towards the simplification of MHC typing protocols: targeting classical MHC class II genes in a passerine, the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) has drawn the attention of evolutionary biologists due to its importance in crucial biological processes, such as sexual selection and immune response in jawed vertebrates. However, the characterization of classical MHC genes subjected to the effects of natural selection still remains elusive in many vertebrate groups. Here, we have tested the suitability of flanking intron sequences to guide the selective exploration of classical MHC genes driving the co-evolutionary dynamics between pathogens and their passerine (Aves, Order Passeriformes) hosts.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Intronic sequences flanking the usually polymorphic exon 2 were isolated from different species using primers sitting on conserved coding regions of MHC class II genes (β chain). Taking the pied flycatcher <it>Ficedula hypoleuca</it> as an example, we demonstrate that careful primer design can evade non-classical MHC gene and pseudogene amplification. At least four polymorphic and expressed loci were co-replicated using a single pair of primers in five non-related individuals (N = 28 alleles). The cross-amplification and preliminary inspection of similar MHC fragments in eight unrelated songbird taxa suggests that similar approaches can also be applied to other species.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Intron sequences flanking the usually polymorphic exon 2 may assist the specific investigation of classical MHC class II B genes in species characterized by extensive gene duplication and pseudogenization. Importantly, the evasion of non-classical MHC genes with a more specific function and non-functional pseudogenes may accelerate data collection and diminish lab costs. Comprehensive knowledge of gene structure, polymorphism and expression profiles may be useful not only for the selective examination of evolutionarily relevant genes but also to restrict chimera formation by minimizing the number of co-amplifying loci.</p