Social Awareness Differences Between Collocated and Computer Mediated Teams

This paper reports an empirical investigation into differences in team member perceptions of social intelligence, specifically the subcategory of social awareness, in collocated and computer mediated teams. Members of computer mediated and collocated teams completed the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI) to assess their perceptions of “self” and “other” team members along the ECI dimensions of social intelligence, focusing on social awareness within the present research (Boyatzis & Goleman, 2007). There were significant differences in self perceptions of empathy and social awareness in members of collocated and computer mediated teams. There were significant differences in the team member perceptions of other team members in empathy, organizational awareness, service orientation and social awareness. There were also significant differences in perceptions of how members see themselves versus how their team members see them on these dimensions. These findings have significant implications for the ability of computer mediated teams to form and function effectively in comparison with collocated teams

Application of a watershed model (BasinSim) and a tidal prism water quality model (TPWQM) to the Great Wicomico River, Virginia

The objective of this project is to develop a modeling package to assist in water quality management of small coastal basins (SCBs) of the Chesapeake Bay system. Efforts by the Commonwealth to address water quality and its effect on living resources in tidal, estuarine systems has focused primarily on the Chesapeake Bay and the major tributaries of the lower bay (James, York and Rappahannock Rivers), as evidenced by the extensive monitoring and modeling efforts directed to them. This has been at the expense of smaller coastal basins such as the Great Wicomico River and the numerous tidal creek systems of the Eastern Shore. In many instances there is insufficient information about water quality and living resources in SCBs to even identify system problems, much less to determine what, if any, management action to take. Despite the lack of directed efforts in the small coastal basins, these areas represent significant habitat for living resources that warrant protection from impaired water quality conditions. (more ....

Domestic Value Added and Employment Generated by Chinese Exports: A Quantitative Estimation

We develop an input-output methodology to estimate how Chinese exports affect the country’s total domestic value added (DVA) and employment for 1995 and 2002. Total DVA generated by exports is obtained by subtracting all direct and indirect imported intermediate goods from the gross value of exports, and total employment is obtained by adding all direct and indirect employment generated by exports. To implement these estimations, we use hitherto unpublished Chinese government data to construct several completely new datasets, including an input-output table with separate input-output and employment-output coefficients for processing and non-processing exports. In 2002 (1995), for every US$1,000 dollar of Chinese exports, DVA and employment are estimated to be US$466 (US$545) and 0.242 (0.375) person-year, respectively.Input-output tables, Chinese exports, employment, domestic value added

Evaluation of the economic impact of California's Tobacco Control Program: a dynamic model approach

ObjectiveTo evaluate the long-term net economic impact of the California Tobacco Control Program.MethodsThis study developed a series of dynamic models of smoking-caused mortality, morbidity, health status and healthcare expenditures. The models were used to evaluate the impact of the tobacco control programme. Outcomes of interest in the evaluation include net healthcare expenditures saved, years of life saved, years of treating smoking-related diseases averted and the total economic value of net healthcare savings and life saved by the programme. These outcomes are evaluated to 2079. Due to data limitations, the evaluations are conducted only for men.ResultsThe California Tobacco Control Program resulted in over 700,000 person-years of life saved and over 150,000 person-years of treatment averted for the 14.7 million male California residents alive in 1990. The value of net healthcare savings and years of life saved resulting from the programme was $22 billion or$107 billion in 1990 dollars, depending on how a year of life is discounted. If women were included, the impact would likely be much greater.ConclusionsThe benefits of California's Tobacco Control Program are substantial and will continue to accrue for many years. Although the programme has resulted in increased longevity and additional healthcare resources for some, this impact is more than outweighed by the value of the additional years of life. Modelling the programme's impact in a dynamic framework makes it possible to evaluate the multiple impacts that the programme has on life, health and medical expenditures

Chiral-Odd Fragmentation Functions in Single Pion Inclusive Electroproduction

We consider a sub-leading twist chiral-odd pion fragmentation function and explore its contribution in single pion semi-inclusive electroproduction. We evaluate the single beam-spin azimuthal asymmetry $A_{LU}$ and the double spin asymmetry $A_{LT}$ in polarized electroproduction of pions from an unpolarized and transversely polarized nucleon respectively. The beam asymmetry is expressed as the product of chiral-odd, and $T$-odd and even distribution and fragmentation functions. The double spin asymmetry contains information on the quark's transversity distribution. In a quark diquark-spectator framework we estimate these asymmetries at $6 {\rm GeV}$, $12 {\rm GeV}$, and $27.5 {\rm GeV}$ energies.Comment: 10 pages, 4 eps figures, elsart.cls, typos corrected. To be published in Physics Letters

Identification of a highly transmissible animal-independent Staphylococcus aureus ST398 clone with distinct genomic and cell adhesion properties.

A methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clone known as ST398 has emerged as a major cause of acute infections in individuals who have close contact with livestock. More recently, the emergence of an animal-independent ST398 methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) clone has been documented in several countries. However, the limited surveillance of MSSA has precluded an accurate assessment of the global spread of ST398 and its clinical relevance. Here we provide evidence that ST398 is a frequent source of MSSA infections in northern Manhattan and is readily transmitted between individuals in households. This contrasts with the limited transmissibility of livestock-associated ST398 (LA-ST398) MRSA strains between humans. Our whole-genome sequence analysis revealed that the chromosome of the human-associated ST398 MSSA clone is smaller than that of the LA-ST398 MRSA reference strain S0385, due mainly to fewer mobile genetic elements (MGEs). In contrast, human ST398 MSSA isolates harbored the prophage ϕ3 and the human-specific immune evasion cluster (IEC) genes chp and scn. While most of the core genome was conserved between the human ST398 MSSA clone and S0385, these strains differed substantially in their repertoire and composition of intact adhesion genes. These genetic changes were associated with significantly enhanced adhesion of human ST398 MSSA isolates to human skin keratinocytes and keratin. We propose that the human ST398 MSSA clone can spread independent of animal contact using an optimized repertoire of MGEs and adhesion molecules adapted to transmission among humans

Eccrine Spiradenoma Arising in the Breast Misdiagnosed as an Epidermal Inclusion Cyst

Eccrine spiradenomas are rare, benign, cutaneous tumors that originate in the sweat glands. Eccrine spiradenomas in the breast are very rare and only a few cases have been reported. We report here on the case of a 47-year-old woman with superficial masses in the breast and these masses had gradually increased in size during follow-up. They were confirmed to be an eccrine spiradenoma on pathologic examination. There have been a few reports about the radiologic findings of eccrine spiradenomas of the breast. This is the first case of an eccrine spiradenoma in the breast that was characterized by multiple imaging modalities, including mammography, ultrasonography and MRI. The lesion in our patient was first diagnosed as an epidermal inclusion cyst based on the imaging findings and the mass's superficial location. Although the mammographic and ultrasonographic imaging findings of eccrine spiradenomas and epidermal inclusion cysts are similar, the MRI findings are different between epidermal inclusion cysts and eccrine spiradenomas. Eccrine spiradenomas should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cutaneous and subcutaneous lesions of the breast