492 research outputs found
Macromarketing Pedagogy:Empowering Students to Achieve a Sustainable World
The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are challenging the world to work towards a more sustainable future. Its 17 goals are ambitious, requiring concerted and system-based efforts driven by critical and socially aware thinking. However, marketing education is largely falling short of teaching students to think that way. Given macromarketing's unique perspective on the interactions among markets, marketing, and society, macromarketers are poised to contribute to marketing pedagogy and to commit students to realizing the SDGs. This article first looks back at the previous 40 years of macromarketing pedagogy, before offering contemporary approaches to teaching macromarketing through four illustrative case studies found in an online repository called Pedagogy Place. It then looks forward, setting an aspiring vision for macro-oriented classrooms in the coming years
Exact Three Dimensional Casimir Force Amplitude, -function and Binder's Cumulant Ratio: Spherical Model Results
The three dimensional mean spherical model on a hypercubic lattice with a
film geometry under periodic boundary conditions is
considered in the presence of an external magnetic field . The universal
Casimir amplitude and the Binder's cumulant ratio are calculated
exactly and found to be and
A discussion on the relations
between the finite temperature -function, usually defined for quantum
systems, and the excess free energy (due to the finite-size contributions to
the free energy of the system) scaling function is presented. It is
demonstrated that the -function of the model equals 4/5 at the bulk critical
temperature . It is analytically shown that the excess free energy is a
monotonically increasing function of the temperature and of the magnetic
field in the vicinity of This property is supposed to hold for any
classical -dimensional model with a film geometry under periodic
boundary conditions when . An analytical evidence is also presented to
confirm that the Casimir force in the system is negative both below and in the
vicinity of the bulk critical temperature Comment: 12 pages revtex, one eps figure, submitted to Phys. Rev E A set of
references added with the text needed to incorporate them. Small changes in
the title and in the abstrac
Image-guided Placement of Magnetic Neuroparticles as a Potential High-Resolution Brain-Machine Interface
We are developing methods of noninvasively delivering magnetic neuroparticles™ via intranasal administration followed by image-guided magnetic propulsion to selected locations in the brain. Once placed, the particles can activate neurons via vibrational motion or magnetoelectric stimulation. Similar particles might be used to read out neuronal electrical pulses via spintronic or liquid-crystal magnetic interactions, for fast bidirectional brain-machine interface. We have shown that particles containing liquid crystals can be read out with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using embedded magnetic nanoparticles and that the signal is visible even for voltages comparable to physiological characteristics. Such particles can be moved within the brain (e.g., across midline) without causing changes to neurological firing
Phosphorylated DegU Manipulates Cell Fate Differentiation in the <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Biofilm<em/>
Cell differentiation is ubiquitous and facilitates division of labor and development. Bacteria are capable of multicellular behaviors that benefit the bacterial community as a whole. A striking example of bacterial differentiation occurs throughout the formation of a biofilm. During Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation, a subpopulation of cells differentiates into a specialized population that synthesizes the exopolysaccharide and the TasA amyloid components of the extracellular matrix. The differentiation process is indirectly controlled by the transcription factor Spo0A that facilitates transcription of the eps and tapA (tasA) operons. DegU is a transcription factor involved in regulating biofilm formation. Here, using a combination of genetics and live single-cell cytological techniques, we define the mechanism of biofilm inhibition at high levels of phosphorylated DegU (DegU∼P) by showing that transcription from the eps and tapA promoter regions is inhibited. Data demonstrating that this is not a direct regulatory event are presented. We demonstrate that DegU∼P controls the frequency with which cells activate transcription from the operons needed for matrix biosynthesis in favor of an off state. Subsequent experimental analysis led us to conclude that DegU∼P functions to increase the level of Spo0A∼P, driving cell fate differentiation toward the terminal developmental process of sporulation
XBP1 governs late events in plasma cell differentiation and is not required for antigen-specific memory B cell development
The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a stress response pathway that is driven by the increased load of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum of highly secretory cells such as plasma cells (PCs). X box binding protein 1 (XBP1) is a transcription factor that mediates one branch of the UPR and is crucial for the development of antibody-secreting PCs. PCs represent only one class of terminally differentiated B cells, however, and little is known about the role for XBP1 in the other class: memory B cells. We have developed an XBP1fl/fl CD19+/cre conditional knockout (XBP1CD19) mouse to build upon our current understanding of the function of XBP1 in PC differentiation as well as to explore the role of XBP1 in memory cell development. Using this model, we show that XBP1CD19 mice are protected from disease in an autoantibody-mediated mouse lupus model. We also identify a novel developmental stage at which B cells express the traditional PC marker CD138 (syndecan-1) but have yet to undergo XBP1-dependent functional and morphological differentiation into antibody-secreting cells. Finally, we show that memory B cells develop normally in XBP1CD19 mice, demonstrating that XBP1-mediated functions occur independently of any memory cell lineage commitment
Qualia: The Geometry of Integrated Information
According to the integrated information theory, the quantity of consciousness is
the amount of integrated information generated by a complex of elements, and the
quality of experience is specified by the informational relationships it
generates. This paper outlines a framework for characterizing the informational
relationships generated by such systems. Qualia space (Q) is a space having an
axis for each possible state (activity pattern) of a complex. Within Q, each
submechanism specifies a point corresponding to a repertoire of system states.
Arrows between repertoires in Q define informational relationships. Together,
these arrows specify a quale—a shape that completely and univocally
characterizes the quality of a conscious experience. Φ— the
height of this shape—is the quantity of consciousness associated with
the experience. Entanglement measures how irreducible informational
relationships are to their component relationships, specifying concepts and
modes. Several corollaries follow from these premises. The quale is determined
by both the mechanism and state of the system. Thus, two different systems
having identical activity patterns may generate different qualia. Conversely,
the same quale may be generated by two systems that differ in both activity and
connectivity. Both active and inactive elements specify a quale, but elements
that are inactivated do not. Also, the activation of an element affects
experience by changing the shape of the quale. The subdivision of experience
into modalities and submodalities corresponds to subshapes in Q. In principle,
different aspects of experience may be classified as different shapes in Q, and
the similarity between experiences reduces to similarities between shapes.
Finally, specific qualities, such as the “redness” of red,
while generated by a local mechanism, cannot be reduced to it, but require
considering the entire quale. Ultimately, the present framework may offer a
principled way for translating qualitative properties of experience into
mathematics
Modelling financial volatility in the presence of abrupt changes
The volatility of financial instruments is rarely constant, and usually
varies over time. This creates a phenomenon called volatility clustering, where
large price movements on one day are followed by similarly large movements on
successive days, creating temporal clusters. The GARCH model, which treats
volatility as a drift process, is commonly used to capture this behavior.
However research suggests that volatility is often better described by a
structural break model, where the volatility undergoes abrupt jumps in addition
to drift. Most efforts to integrate these jumps into the GARCH methodology have
resulted in models which are either very computationally demanding, or which
make problematic assumptions about the distribution of the instruments, often
assuming that they are Gaussian. We present a new approach which uses ideas
from nonparametric statistics to identify structural break points without
making such distributional assumptions, and then models drift separately within
each identified regime. Using our method, we investigate the volatility of
several major stock indexes, and find that our approach can potentially give an
improved fit compared to more commonly used techniques
Intended Consequences Statement in Conservation Science and Practice
As the biodiversity crisis accelerates, the stakes are higher for threatened plants and animals. Rebuilding the health of our planet will require addressing underlying threats at many scales, including habitat loss and climate change. Conservation interventions such as habitat protection, management, restoration, predator control, trans location, genetic rescue, and biological control have the potential to help threatened or endangered species avert extinction. These existing, well-tested methods can be complemented and augmented by more frequent and faster adoption of new technologies, such as powerful new genetic tools. In addition, synthetic biology might offer solutions to currently intractable conservation problems. We believe that conservation needs to be bold and clear-eyed in this moment of great urgency
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