Effectiveness of Government Leadership to Maintain Productivity in a Virtual Environment

The purpose of this qualitative flexible design single case study was to expand the understanding of reasons behind the potential challenges of federal government leaders with maintaining employee productivity in a virtual environment. The general problem addressed was the challenges leaders face with maintaining employee productivity in a virtual environment, resulting in reduced organizational performance. The research included determining the driving factors in employee productivity in the federal government while in a virtual environment and determining if there was a specific leadership style to help maintain productivity and organizational performance. The research questions and sub-questions fully addressed the specific problem statement as they led to knowledge of why leaders face the challenges of maintaining employee productivity in a virtual environment and uncovered ideal leadership styles and behaviors to prevent or reduce failure. The findings of this study illustrated a complete understanding that leaders are still facing communication challenges from leading in a virtual environment but are finding successful styles and methods to overcome these challenges successfully. The results could assist individuals and leaders to understand and recognize practices leadership can use to maintain employee productivity in a virtual environment

Establishment of an Efficient Method for the Synthesis of SRH, an Important Molecule in Bacterial Quorum Sensing

Quorum sensing (QS) is a process of bacterial communication that regulates the expression of virulence genes in many bacteria. The study of QS, could lead to new treatments for bacterial diseases. Interspecies bacterial communication utilizes the signaling molecule autoinducer-2 (AI-2). The LuxS enzyme converts S-ribosyl-L-homocysteine (SRH) into 4(S),5-dihydroxypentane-2,3-dione (DPD), the precursor of AI-2. LuxS inhibitors could prevent QS by halting conversion of SRH. We have developed an efficient synthesis of SRH from D-ribose and L-homocystine. This procedure provides us with both a supply of SRH for biochemical assays and a foundation for the synthesis of SRH analogs for LuxS inhibition

A comparison of the boating and swimming microbial water quality of Calabar River and cross river estuary, Nigeria

Calabar River Estuary is often used by both locals and tourists for boating and swimming making it necessary to assess the microbial recreational water quality of this water body. Five sampling stations were established – 3 in Calabar River and 2 in the Estuary. Calabar River stations were inshore while the estuarine stations were outshore. Sampling was fortnightly and twice on sampling days to cover flood and ebb tides. Water samples were analyzed for total coliform, fecal coliform and intestinal Enterococci. The highest count of intestinal Enterococci (191cfu/100ml) was recorded in station 3 during flood tide in July. Station 2 had the lowest count (17cfu/100ml) of intestinal Enterococci and this was in November during the dry season and during low tide. The 95th percentile of the highest and lowest count of intestinal Enterococci was 190/100ml and 14/100ml respectively. The highest total coliform count (1900cfu/100ml) was recorded at station 3 in July during flood tide while the lowest (163cfu/100ml) was recorded also station2 during ebb tide in November.  Almost the same scenario was observed for fecal coliform. The highest count (250cfu/100ml) was recorded at station 3 in July during flood tide while the lowest count (27cfu/100ml.) was recorded at station 2 in February during ebb tide. Statistical analysis using t- test indicated that there is no significant difference in microbial water quality between Calabar River and the Estuary. All the sampled stations met the WHO, and EC standards for safe recreational waters. Keywords: Boating, Swimming, Water quality, Total coliform, Fecal coliform, Enterococc

Decoding development inXenopus tropicalis

Xenopus tropicalis is rapidly being adopted as a model organism for developmental biology research and has enormous potential for increasing our understanding of how embryonic development is controlled. In recent years there has been a well-organized initiative within the Xenopus community, funded largely through the support of the National Institutes of Health in the US, to develop X. tropicalis as a new genetic model system with the potential to impact diverse fields of research. Concerted efforts have been made both to adapt established methodologies for use in X. tropicalis and to develop new techniques. A key resource to come out of these efforts is the genome sequence, produced by the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute and made freely available to the community in draft form for the past three years. In this review, we focus on how advances in X. tropicalis genetics coupled with the sequencing of its genome are likely to form a foundation from which we can build a better understanding of the genetic control of vertebrate development and why, when we already have other vertebrate genetic models, we should want to develop genetic analysis in the frog

A Comparative Survey of the Frequency and Distribution of Polymorphism in the Genome of Xenopus tropicalis

Naturally occurring DNA sequence variation within a species underlies evolutionary adaptation and can give rise to phenotypic changes that provide novel insight into biological questions. This variation exists in laboratory populations just as in wild populations and, in addition to being a source of useful alleles for genetic studies, can impact efforts to identify induced mutations in sequence-based genetic screens. The Western clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis (X. tropicalis) has been adopted as a model system for studying the genetic control of embryonic development and a variety of other areas of research. Its diploid genome has been extensively sequenced and efforts are underway to isolate mutants by phenotype- and genotype-based approaches. Here, we describe a study of genetic polymorphism in laboratory strains of X. tropicalis. Polymorphism was detected in the coding and non-coding regions of developmental genes distributed widely across the genome. Laboratory strains exhibit unexpectedly high frequencies of genetic polymorphism, with alleles carrying a variety of synonymous and non-synonymous codon substitutions and nucleotide insertions/deletions. Inter-strain comparisons of polymorphism uncover a high proportion of shared alleles between Nigerian and Ivory Coast strains, in spite of their distinct geographical origins. These observations will likely influence the design of future sequence-based mutation screens, particularly those using DNA mismatch-based detection methods which can be disrupted by the presence of naturally occurring sequence variants. The existence of a significant reservoir of alleles also suggests that existing laboratory stocks may be a useful source of novel alleles for mapping and functional studies

T-box genes in early embryogenesis

The T-box gene family, encoding related DNA-binding transcriptional regulators, plays an essential role in controlling many aspects of embryogenesis in a wide variety of organisms. The T-box genes exhibit diverse patterns of spatial and temporal expression in the developing embryo, and both genetic and molecular embryological studies have demonstrated their importance in regulating cell fate decisions that establish the early body plan, and in later processes underlying organogenesis. Despite these studies, little is known of either the regulation of the T-box genes or the identities of their transcriptional targets. The aim of this review is to examine the diverse yet conserved roles of several T-box genes in regulating early patterning in chordates and to discuss possible mechanisms through which this functional diversity might arise

2,5-Bis(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole

In the title compound, C16H14N2O3, the essentially planar 1,3,4-oxadiazole ring [maximum deviation = 0.0021 (11) Å] is inclined at dihedral angles of 8.06 (6) and 11.21 (6)° with respect to the two benzene rings; the dihedral angle between the latter rings is 11.66 (5)°. In the crystal, short inter­molecular C⋯O inter­actions [2.9968 (15) Å] connect adjacent mol­ecules into chains propagating in [203]. The crystal structure is further stabilized by weak inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions