Determinants of Graduating MIS Students Starting Salary in Boom and Bust Job Markets

This study investigates the influence of internship experience, grade-point average (GPA), and job market on the starting salaries of management information systems (MIS) graduates. The seven-year period of the study includes the strong job market of the Internet boom, as well as the weak job market following the Internet bust. The regression results indicate that several factors are significantly related to starting salary including internship experience, GPA, job market, and size of employer. Internship experience was found to play a particularly strong role in predicting MIS starting salaries. A significant interaction effect indicates that the positive effect of internship experience is stronger during a weak job market. Graduates with internship experience also found employment more quickly. The study is based upon academic and placement data collected from 126 graduates from an AACSB accredited MIS program at Western Washington University during the years 1997-2003

Beyond mystery: Putting algorithmic accountability in context

Critical algorithm scholarship has demonstrated the difficulties of attributing accountability for the actions and effects of algorithmic systems. In this commentary, we argue that we cannot stop at denouncing the lack of accountability for algorithms and their effects but must engage the broader systems and distributed agencies that algorithmic systems exist within; including standards, regulations, technologies, and social relations. To this end, we explore accountability in “the Generated Detective,” an algorithmically generated comic. Taking up the mantle of detectives ourselves, we investigate accountability in relation to this piece of experimental fiction. We problematize efforts to effect accountability through transparency by undertaking a simple operation: asking for permission to re-publish a set of the algorithmically selected and modified words and images which make the frames of the comic. Recounting this process, we demonstrate slippage between the “complication” of the algorithm and the obscurity of the legal and institutional structures in which it exists

Insular nestling growth and its relationship to parental care effort in Silvereyes, Zosterops lateralis

The rate at which avian offspring grow can have consequences for survival and reproductive output as an adult and is known to vary widely among and within species. This variation is thought to be an adaptive response to cope with environmental variation. The principal environmental factors affecting growth are food availability and predation risk, predominantly acting as constraints on parental care. Islands pose an interesting system to explore growth rate dynamics, because the characteristic insular features of high population densities and depauperate predator diversity translate into a potentially food limited environment with low predation risk. Insular environments typically produce populations with slower life history strategies and larger body size in small-bodied species, features that are likely to be mediated by growth rate. We describe the nestling growth of an insular population of Silvereyes and how it relates to parental size and parental care. Neither parental size nor parental care explained insular nestling growth rate, even though food acquisition is thought to underpin avian growth rates. This could be due to a mismatch between acquisition and allocation of resources by nestlings. Compared to a small number of mainland nestlings, the island growth curve asymptotes were significantly larger and inflection points much later, but insular growth rates were only marginally slower. This is in line with proposed insular adaptations required to produce larger body size on islands, however understanding the mechanism underlying this pattern will require data on the relationship between food quality and acquisition, and physiological allocation of resources within individuals

The secretion inhibitor Exo2 perturbs trafficking of Shiga toxin between endosomes and the trans-Golgi network

The small-molecule inhibitor Exo2 {4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydrol[1]benzothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl)hydraz-one benzaldehyde} has been reported to disrupt the Golgi apparatus completely and to stimulate Golgi–ER (endoplasmic reticulum) fusion in mammalian cells, akin to the well-characterized fungal toxin BFA (brefeldin A). It has also been reported that Exo2 does not affect the integrity of the TGN (trans-Golgi network), or the direct retrograde trafficking of the glycolipid-binding cholera toxin from the TGN to the ER lumen. We have examined the effects of BFA and Exo2, and found that both compounds are indistinguishable in their inhibition of anterograde transport and that both reagents significantly disrupt the morphology of the TGN in HeLa and in BS-C-1 cells. However, Exo2, unlike BFA, does not induce tubulation and merging of the TGN and endosomal compartments. Furthermore, and in contrast with its effects on cholera toxin, Exo2 significantly perturbs the delivery of Shiga toxin to the ER. Together, these results suggest that the likely target(s) of Exo2 operate at the level of the TGN, the Golgi and a subset of early endosomes, and thus Exo2 provides a more selective tool than BFA for examining membrane trafficking in mammalian cells

Gas phase characterization of the noncovalent quaternary structure of Cholera toxin and the Cholera toxin B subunit pentamer

Cholera toxin (CTx) is an AB5 cytotonic protein that has medical relevance in cholera and as a novel mucosal adjuvant. Here, we report an analysis of the noncovalent homopentameric complex of CTx B chain (CTx B5) using electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry and the analysis of the noncovalent hexameric holotoxin usingelectrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry over a range of pH values that correlate with those encountered by this toxin after cellular uptake. We show that noncovalent interactions within the toxin assemblies were maintained under both acidic and neutral conditions in the gas phase. However, unlike the related Escherichia coli Shiga-like toxin B5 pentamer (SLTx B), the CTx B5 pentamer was stable at low pH, indicating that additional interactions must be present within the latter. Structural comparison of the CTx B monomer interface reveals an additional α-helix that is absent in the SLTx B monomer. In silico energy calculations support interactions between this helix and the adjacent monomer. These data provide insight into the apparent stabilization of CTx B relative to SLTx B

Preclinical Efficacy of Cabazitaxel Loaded Poly (2-alkyl cyanoacrylate) Nanoparticle Variants

\ua9 2024 Valsalakumari et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited.Background: Biodegradable poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate) (PACA) nanoparticles (NPs) are receiving increasing attention in anti-cancer nanomedicine development not only for targeted cancer chemotherapy, but also for modulation of the tumor microenvironment. We previously reported promising results with cabazitaxel (CBZ) loaded poly(2-ethylbutyl cyanoacrylate) NPs (PEBCA-CBZ NPs) in a patient derived xenograft (PDX) model of triple-negative breast cancer, and this was associated with a decrease in M2 macrophages. The present study aims at comparing two endotoxin-free PACA NP variants (PEBCA and poly(2-ethylhexyl cyanoacrylate); PEHCA), loaded with CBZ and test whether conjugation with folate would improve their effect. Methods: Cytotoxicity assays and cellular uptake of NPs by flow cytometry were performed in different breast cancer cells. Biodistribution and efficacy studies were performed in PDX models of breast cancer. Tumor associated immune cells were analyzed by multiparametric flow cytometry. Results: In vitro studies showed similar NP-induced cytotoxicity patterns despite difference in early NP internalization. On intravenous injection, the liver cleared the majority of NPs. Efficacy studies in the HBCx39 PDX model demonstrated an enhanced effect of drug-loaded PEBCA variants compared with free drug and PEHCA NPs. Furthermore, the folate conjugated PEBCA variant did not show any enhanced effects compared with the unconjugated counterpart which might be due to unfavorable orientation of folate on the NPs. Finally, analyses of the immune cell populations in tumors revealed that treatment with drug loaded PEBCA variants affected the myeloid cells, especially macrophages, contributing to an inflammatory, immune activated tumor microenvironment. Conclusion: We report for the first time, comparative efficacy of PEBCA and PEHCA NP variants in triple negative breast cancer models and show that CBZ-loaded PEBCA NPs exhibit a combined effect on tumor cells and on the tumor associated myeloid compartment, which may boost the anti-tumor response

Retrograde traffic in the biosynthetic-secretory route

In the biosynthetic-secretory route from the rough endoplasmic reticulum, across the pre-Golgi intermediate compartments, the Golgi apparatus stacks, trans Golgi network, and post-Golgi organelles, anterograde transport is accompanied and counterbalanced by retrograde traffic of both membranes and contents. In the physiologic dynamics of cells, retrograde flow is necessary for retrieval of molecules that escaped from their compartments of function, for keeping the compartments’ balances, and maintenance of the functional integrities of organelles and compartments along the secretory route, for repeated use of molecules, and molecule repair. Internalized molecules may be transported in retrograde direction along certain sections of the secretory route, and compartments and machineries of the secretory pathway may be misused by toxins. An important example is the toxin of Shigella dysenteriae, which has been shown to travel from the cell surface across endosomes, and the Golgi apparatus en route to the endoplasmic reticulum, and the cytosol, where it exerts its deleterious effects. Most importantly in medical research, knowledge about the retrograde cellular pathways is increasingly being utilized for the development of strategies for targeted delivery of drugs to the interior of cells. Multiple details about the molecular transport machineries involved in retrograde traffic are known; a high number of the molecular constituents have been characterized, and the complicated fine structural architectures of the compartments involved become more and more visible. However, multiple contradictions exist, and already established traffic models again are in question by contradictory results obtained with diverse cell systems, and/or different techniques. Additional problems arise by the fact that the conditions used in the experimental protocols frequently do not reflect the physiologic situations of the cells. Regular and pathologic situations often are intermingled, and experimental treatments by themselves change cell organizations. This review addresses physiologic and pathologic situations, tries to correlate results obtained by different cell biologic techniques, and asks questions, which may be the basis and starting point for further investigations

The walkthrough method : an approach to the study of apps

Software applications (apps) are now prevalent in the digital media environment. They are the site of significant sociocultural and economic transformations across many domains, from health and relationships to entertainment and everyday finance. As relatively closed technical systems, apps pose new methodological challenges for sociocultural digital media research. This paper describes a method, grounded in a combination of science and technology studies with cultural studies, through which researchers can perform a critical analysis of a given app. The method involves establishing an app’s environment of expected use by identifying and describing its vision, operating model, and modes of governance. It then deploys a walkthrough technique to systematically and forensically step through the various stages of app registration and entry, everyday use, and discontinuation of use. The walkthrough method establishes a foundational corpus of data upon which can be built a more detailed analysis of an app’s intended purpose, embedded cultural meanings, and implied ideal users and uses. The walkthrough also serves as a foundation for further user-centred research that can identify how users resist these arrangements and appropriate app technology for their own purposes

Bias in Online Freelance Marketplaces: Evidence from TaskRabbit and Fiverr

Online freelancing marketplaces have grown quickly in recent years. In theory, these sites offer workers the ability to earn money without the obligations and potential social biases associated with traditional employment frameworks. In this paper, we study whether two prominent online freelance marketplaces - TaskRabbit and Fiverr - are impacted by racial and gender bias. From these two platforms, we collect 13,500 worker profiles and gather information about workers' gender, race, customer reviews, ratings, and positions in search rankings. In both marketplaces, we find evidence of bias: we find that gender and race are significantly correlated with worker evaluations, which could harm the employment opportunities afforded to the workers. We hope that our study fuels more research on the presence and implications of discrimination in online environments