Board composition, process, and activism: evidence within American firms

This study provided an empirical test of the effects of compositional and process variables on board activism. The attributes examined were functional area knowledge, independence, duality, and effort norms. The findings from this study provided support for the positive relationships between both functional area knowledge and effort norms and board activism. The strong relationship between effort norms and activism indicates the importance of process variables in board research and the need for additional research using process variables in a board context giving further insight into board activism and governance. Additionally, the relationship between functional area knowledge and board activism highlights how boards ability to meet cognitive demands is critical in board performance. These results as well as future research directions are examined in the discussion.board activism, board governance, board attributes, strategic management.

Identical Response of Caged Rock Crabs (Genera Metacarcinus and Cancer) to Energized and Unenergized Undersea Power Cables in Southern California, USA

Energy generation facilities (i.e., wave and wind) are being sited in offshore marine waters. The electricity generated from these facilities is transmitted to shore through cables carrying alternating or direct current. This current produces an electromagnetic field (EMF) that is emitted from the cable. Concerns have been voiced regarding how marine organisms, in this instance crabs, respond to the EMF emitted by submarine power cables. Two submarine cables, one energized and the other unenergized, and separated by about 7 m, were used in the experiment. Crabs (Metacarcinus anthonyi (Rathbun, 1897) and Cancer productus (Randall, 1839)) were placed in plastic perforated boxes secured to the sea floor with one end in contact with one of the two cables. After one hour and 24 hours, scuba divers ascertained the position of the crabs within the boxes, these positions designated as either “near-half” or “far-half.” EMF readings were taken on the floor of each box at the edge closest to the cable and on the floor of that box furthest from the cable at one and 24 hours. Within the boxes, EMF levels were between 46.2–80.0 microteslas next to the cable an

The Organisms Living Around Energized Submarine Power Cables, Pipe, and Natural Sea Floor in the Inshore waters of Southern California

Between 1 February 2012 and 26 February 2014 using scuba, we surveyed the fishes, invertebrates, and macrophytes living on two energized submarine power cables, an adjacent pipe, and nearby natural habitat in southern California at bottom depths of 10–11 m and 13–14 m. Over the course of the study, average electromagnetic field (EMF) levels at the two cables (A and B) were statistically similar (Cable A = 73.0µT, Cable B = 91.4µT) and were much higher at these two cables than at either the pipe (average = 0.5µT) or sand (0µT). Overall, our study demonstrated that 1) the fish and invertebrate communities on cables, pipe, and natural habitat strongly overlapped and 2) there were differences between the shallower and deeper fish and invertebrate communities. We saw no evidence that fishes or invertebrates are either preferentially attracted to, or repelled by, the EMF emitted by the cables. Any differences in the fish or invertebrate densities between cables, pipe, and natural habitat taxa were most likely due to the differences in the physical characteristics of these habitats. As with the fishes and invertebrates, macrophytes did not appear to be responding to the EMF emitted by the cables. Rather, it is likely that differences in the plant communities were driven by site depth and habitat type

IMPACT: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning. Volume 12, Issue 1, Summer 2023

The essays in this issue explore how to enhance teaching and student learning in the classroom. Our first contributor argues that providing students the opportunity to write questions about course material is a fruitful way to address students’ reticence about asking questions during class and also may result in students performing better on testable material. Moreover, instructors benefit from having students’ questions because the written questions can also be used by the instructor to know better what students are and are not understanding about course material and alerts instructors to where they can further explain or clarify course material. Finally, our first contributor also suggests that students in interdisciplinary classrooms might especially benefit from writing their questions, while instructors of interdisciplinary courses may find the flexibility with using technology to address the written questions in “real time” via the use of technology especially beneficial. In our second contribution, the author argues that pre-service teachers’ educational curriculum should address the academic literature that links poor musical-rhythmic tendencies with reading struggles for reading learners. The author also argues that the rhythm-reading connection is applicable to interdisciplinary educators because it asks those educators to reflect on possible connections between the body and the acquisition of skills that are usually considered purely intellectual. Our Impact book reviewers cover a varied set of interesting and important topics in this issue. One reviewer informs readers about a handbook on community psychology that prioritizes applied and interdisciplinary work; another reviewer details an author’s synthesis of what contemporary archaeology has now come to understand about Maya civilization’s resilient and complex society through time and within their varied mosaic of managed environments; a different reviewer delves into an author’s exploration of how digital media platforms generate novel opportunities for sufferers of trauma to make sense of their experience, and our final reviewer details an author’s accounting of the history, origins, and evolution of the Camp Fire Girls, one of America’s longest-serving girls’ youth movements, its impact on girls’ lives, and how the organization adapted to and resisted dominant ideologies about girls, culture, and race across time

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators for the treatment of arrhythmias and cardiac resynchronisation therapy for the treatment of heart failure: systematic review and economic evaluation

Background This assessment updates and expands on two previous technology assessments that evaluated implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) for arrhythmias and cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) for heart failure (HF). Objectives To assess the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICDs in addition to optimal pharmacological therapy (OPT) for people at increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) as a result of ventricular arrhythmias despite receiving OPT; to assess CRT with or without a defibrillator (CRT-D or CRT-P) in addition to OPT for people with HF as a result of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) and cardiac dyssynchrony despite receiving OPT; and to assess CRT-D in addition to OPT for people with both conditions. Data sources Electronic resources including MEDLINE, EMBASE and The Cochrane Library were searched from inception to November 2012. Additional studies were sought from reference lists, clinical experts and manufacturers’ submissions to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Review methods Inclusion criteria were applied by two reviewers independently. Data extraction and quality assessment were undertaken by one reviewer and checked by a second. Data were synthesised through narrative review and meta-analyses. For the three populations above, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing (1) ICD with standard therapy, (2) CRT-P or CRT-D with each other or with OPT and (3) CRT-D with OPT, CRT-P or ICD were eligible. Outcomes included mortality, adverse events and quality of life. A previously developed Markov model was adapted to estimate the cost-effectiveness of OPT, ICDs, CRT-P and CRT-D in the three populations by simulating disease progression calculated at 4-weekly cycles over a lifetime horizon. Results A total of 4556 references were identified, of which 26 RCTs were included in the review: 13 compared ICD with medical therapy, four compared CRT-P/CRT-D with OPT and nine compared CRT-D with ICD. ICDs reduced all-cause mortality in people at increased risk of SCD, defined in trials as those with previous ventricular arrhythmias/cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction (MI) > 3 weeks previously, non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (depending on data included) or ischaemic/non-ischaemic HF and left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 35%. There was no benefit in people scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft. A reduction in SCD but not all-cause mortality was found in people with recent MI. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) ranged from £14,231 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) to £29,756 per QALY for the scenarios modelled. CRT-P and CRT-D reduced mortality and HF hospitalisations, and improved other outcomes, in people with HF as a result of LVSD and cardiac dyssynchrony when compared with OPT. The rate of SCD was lower with CRT-D than with CRT-P but other outcomes were similar. CRT-P and CRT-D compared with OPT produced ICERs of £27,584 per QALY and £27,899 per QALY respectively. The ICER for CRT-D compared with CRT-P was £28,420 per QALY. In people with both conditions, CRT-D reduced the risk of all-cause mortality and HF hospitalisation, and improved other outcomes, compared with ICDs. Complications were more common with CRT-D. Initial management with OPT alone was most cost-effective (ICER £2824 per QALY compared with ICD) when health-related quality of life was kept constant over time. Costs and QALYs for CRT-D and CRT-P were similar. The ICER for CRT-D compared with ICD was £27,195 per QALY and that for CRT-D compared with OPT was £35,193 per QALY. Limitations Limitations of the model include the structural assumptions made about disease progression and treatment provision, the extrapolation of trial survival estimates over time and the assumptions made around parameter values when evidence was not available for specific patient groups. Conclusions In people at risk of SCD as a result of ventricular arrhythmias and in those with HF as a result of LVSD and cardiac dyssynchrony, the interventions modelled produced ICERs of < £30,000 per QALY gained. In people with both conditions, the ICER for CRT-D compared with ICD, but not CRT-D compared with OPT, was < £30,000 per QALY, and the costs and QALYs for CRT-D and CRT-P were similar. A RCT comparing CRT-D and CRT-P in people with HF as a result of LVSD and cardiac dyssynchrony is required, for both those with and those without an ICD indication. A RCT is also needed into the benefits of ICD in non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy in the absence of dyssynchrony. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO number CRD42012002062. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme

Water sharing, reciprocity, and need: A comparative study of interhousehold water transfers in sub-Saharan Africa

Water sharing between households could crucially mitigate short‐term household water shortages, yet it is a vastly understudied phenomenon. Here we use comparative survey data from eight sites in seven sub‐Saharan African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda) to answer three questions: With whom do households share water? What is expected in return? And what roles do need and affordability play in shaping those transfers? We find that water is shared predominantly between neighbors, that transfers are more frequent when water is less available and less affordable, and that most sharing occurs with no expectation of direct payback. These findings identify water sharing, as a form of generalized reciprocity, to be a basic and consistent household coping strategy against shortages and unaffordability of water in sub‐Saharan Africa

Syntheses, structures and redox properties of tris(pyrazolyl)borate-capped ruthenium vinyl complexes.

Reaction of RuHCl(CO)(PPh3)3 with aryl alkynes HCCC6H4R-4 [1: R = N(C6H4Me-4)2 (a), OMe (b), Me (c), CO2Me (d), NO2 (e)] gives the five-coordinate vinyl complexes Ru(CHCHC6H4R-4)Cl(CO)(PPh3)2 (2a–e). Reaction of 2a with excess PMe3 gives crystallographically characterised Ru{CHCHC6H4N(C6H4Me-4)2-4}Cl(CO)(PMe3)3 (3a), whilst reaction of 2a–e with KTp affords Ru(CHCHC6H4R-4)(CO)(PPh3)Tp (4a–e) bearing the facially capping Tp− ligand. Electrochemical and spectroelectochemical properties of 4a–e are consistent with substantial redox activity associated with the vinyl ligand, and these properties have been satisfactorily modelled by DFT based calculations of electronic structure